Another such rule is that scholars should not make this question a test and a badge of allegiance by which they judge the standing of their brethren and opponents. Such conduct is displeasing to Allah and His Messenger. Nor should they raise it with ordinary Muslims who are safe and free from discord. However, if someone is asked about it, or encounters a person suited to being informed about it, he should share whatever knowledge he possesses that he hopes will prove beneficial. This differs from believing that the believers will see their Lord in the Hereafter: belief in that is an obligatory duty, because of the mass-transmitted reports concerning it from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, his Companions, and the early generations of the Muslim community.

Another such rule is that no one may state without qualification that the disbelievers will see their Lord, for two reasons.

First: an unqualified reference to “seeing Him” has come to convey honour and reward. To use it without qualification is therefore misleading and unsettling. No one may use wording that suggests something contrary to the truth unless it has been transmitted from the early generations, and this wording has not been transmitted from them.

Second: when a statement applies generally, but expressly singling out one of its instances would depart from propriety in speech, such singling out is forbidden. Allah is the Creator of everything and wills every event that occurs. Nevertheless, a person is forbidden to single out created things regarded as filthy, or events deemed reprehensible by the revealed law, by saying in isolation, “O Creator of dogs,” or “O One who wills adultery,” and the like. This differs from saying, “O Creator of all things, O You by whose will everything takes place.”