as the hadiths report. The hadiths indicate a difference between this manifestation and that one.
Nor is this manifestation one of the two occasions reserved for those of the highest ranks. Rather, it encompasses everyone who enters Paradise, as the hadith indicates, in agreement with His words:
“For those who do good is the best reward and more”—“Those are the people of Paradise.”
It has also been reported as a statement of Ibn ‘Abbās himself, and through Ka‘b al-Ahbār in a report traced back to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, that “They see Him on every festival day.”
Furthermore, reports transmitted through numerous independent chains establish that He will be seen more than once on the gathering grounds of the Resurrection, before entry into Paradise. This falls outside the two occasions—unless some qualification is proposed, although he stated none, nor does anything in the question indicate it. This therefore decisively invalidates his restriction. Anyone wishing to avoid this objection should formulate the question differently from the wording given above; we have merely presented it as it was put to us.
Moreover, Allah Most High says:
“No soul knows what delights have been hidden for them.”
The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:
“Allah says: ‘I have prepared for My righteous servants what no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no human heart has ever imagined.’”
How, then, can anyone say, “Those other than the highest-ranking will only ever see Allah once a week,” and allow that argument to pass judgment on what He has hidden from every soul and of which He has denied knowledge to every eye, ear and heart? There is a difference between not knowing and knowing that something does not exist, and between the absence of evidence and evidence of absence. If, regarding occasions other than the one in question, a person has nothing beyond a lack of knowledge and a lack of evidence, then, as a matter of necessity and consensus, this cannot preclude what the general evidence entails.
The crux of the first answer is that when the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, says, “The people of