Clearer than all of this in showing that the “first vision” encompasses everyone at the gathering is the lengthy hadith of Abū Razīn al-‘Uqaylī. A number of scholars have narrated it, and most hadith scholars have accepted it. Ibn Khuzaymah narrated it in his Kitāb al-Tawhīd (The Book of Divine Oneness), stating that he relied in that book only on reliably established hadiths. In this report, the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“You will emerge from the graves and from the places where you fell dead. You will look upon Him, and He will look upon you.”

He related: I asked, “Messenger of Allah, how can we look upon Him and He look upon us when He is one Person and we fill the earth?”

He replied, “Shall I tell you of something comparable among Allah’s wonders? The sun and moon are a small sign from Him. You see them simultaneously, and they see you, without your having any difficulty seeing them. By the life of your God, He is far more able to see you and let you see Him than they are to see you and let you see them.”

I asked, “Messenger of Allah, what will our Lord do with us when we meet Him?”

He replied, “You will be presented before Him, your faces laid bare before Him, and nothing about you will be hidden from Him. Your Lord will take a handful of water in His Hand and sprinkle it towards you. By the life of your God, not one of your faces will fail to receive a drop. As for the believer, it will leave his face like a white cloth; as for the disbeliever, it will mark his nose like black charcoal. Then your Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, will depart, and the righteous will follow in his footsteps—or he said, ‘The righteous will depart after him.’” He said, “They will then proceed along a bridge of fire.” He went on to relate the account of the Bridge.

The compilers of the Sunan collections have narrated a portion of Abū Razīn’s hadith with a good chain of transmission:

Abū Razīn said: I asked, “Messenger of Allah, will each of us see his Lord on the Day of Resurrection? What sign of this is there in His creation?”

He replied, “Abū Razīn, does not each of you see the moon as though alone with it?”

I said, “Yes.”

He said, “Allah is greater.”