the devil of Ezra over those who worshipped Ezra.’ Even trees, pieces of wood, and stones will be made to appear before them, while the people of Islam remain crouching.
“They will be asked, ‘Why do you not depart as the people have departed?’
“They will reply, ‘We have a Lord whom we have not yet seen.’
“He said: They will then be asked, ‘How will you recognize your Lord if you see Him?’ They will reply, ‘There is a sign between us and Him; if we see Him, we will recognize Him.’
“They will be asked, ‘What is it?’
“They will reply, ‘He will uncover a shin.’” He then related the rest of the hadith.
This hadith indicates that the believers had not seen Him before He manifested Himself specifically to them. Those who hold the other view say that this means they had not seen Him among those gods whom the people follow, and therefore they did not follow anything.
This is supported by another hadith in the two Sahīhs, narrated by Zayd ibn Aslam, from ‘Atā’ ibn Yasār, from Abū Sa‘īd al-Khudrī:
“We said, ‘Messenger of Allah, will we see our Lord on the Day of Resurrection?’
“The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, replied, ‘Yes. Do you have any difficulty seeing the sun at midday when the sky is clear and there are no clouds? And do you have any difficulty seeing the moon on the night of the full moon when the sky is clear and there are no clouds?’
“They replied, ‘No, Messenger of Allah.’
“He said, ‘You will have no more difficulty seeing Allah, Blessed and Exalted, on the Day of Resurrection than you have seeing either of them. When the Day of Resurrection comes, a caller will proclaim: “Let every community follow what it used to worship.” None of those who worshipped anything besides Allah—idols or standing stones—will remain; they will all fall into the Fire. When none remain except those who worshipped Allah, both righteous and wicked, together with the remaining People of the Scripture, the Jews will be summoned and asked, “What did you worship?”
“‘They will reply, “We worshipped Ezra, the son of Allah.”
“‘He will say, “You have lied! Allah has taken no consort