the reply is: “In your view, loving Allah and His Messenger means nothing but loving that reward. Yet one is not aware of that reward so as to love it.”
If it is said: “Rather, when the one who says, ‘No other is loved except for his own sake,’ says, in effect, ‘If you obey me, I will give you the greatest thing you love,’ the recipient comes to love the one commanding him,” the reply is: “That is not so. His heart remains devoid of love for the one commanding him; it is attached only to the reward promised for his work. He is like workers who earn their wages through building, sewing, weaving, and other occupations. They may not know their employer, or may not love him, and have no interest in him personally. Their interest lies only in the payment they love.”
This is the basis of the position of the Jahmiyyah, the Qadariyyah, and the Muʿtazilah who deny love for Allah Most High. Hence the Muʿtazilah and their followers among the Shīʿah say that knowing Allah is obligatory because it serves as lutf (an aid) in fulfilling duties established by reason. Thus they made the greatest knowledge subordinate to what they supposed reason made obligatory. They deny loving Allah and looking upon Him, let alone the delight of looking upon Him.
Ibn ʿAqīl, much of whose discourse contained elements of Muʿtazilite thought, heard a man say: “O Allah, I ask You for the delight of looking upon Your Face.” He said: “Sir, suppose He has a Face—would you then take delight in looking upon Him?”
Yet this wording is transmitted from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, in the hadith narrated by al-Nasāʾī and others from ʿAmmār, reporting that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said in supplication:
“O Allah, by Your knowledge of the unseen and Your power over creation, keep me alive so long as life is better for me, and cause me to die when death is better for me. O Allah, I ask You to grant me fear of You in private and in public. I ask You for truthful speech in anger and contentment. I ask You for moderation in poverty and wealth. I ask You for bliss that never runs out, and joy that never ceases. And I ask You for