through which He would address anyone else. Rather, He creates in others a perception of what has always existed, just as He removes blindness from a blind person who cannot see the sun, although it was already manifest and plainly visible—not that the sun itself has newly become manifest and visible. Many of these people say the same regarding seeing Him: it consists solely in the creation of perception; there are no veils external to the beholder, so He neither draws aside nor lifts a veil. The Quran, hadith and reason refute them, as in His words, Most High:

“It is not for any human being that Allah should speak to him except by revelation, or from behind a veil, or by sending a messenger.”

If the veil were merely the absence of vision, then revelation and the sending of messengers would also be from behind a veil.

He also says, Most High:

“When his Lord manifested Himself to the mountain, He made it crumble, and Moses fell unconscious.”

An authentic hadith states:

“When the people of Paradise enter Paradise, a caller will proclaim: ‘O people of Paradise, Allah has a promise for you that He wishes to fulfil.’ They will say: ‘What is it? Has He not brightened our faces, made our scales heavy, admitted us to Paradise and saved us from the Fire?’ He said: ‘Then He will draw aside the veil, and they will look upon Him. Nothing He has given them will be dearer to them than gazing upon Him.’”

There are many reports to this effect.

Furthermore, the Kullābiyyah’s assertion that realities of different kinds are one and the same thing, and the others’ assertion that mutually opposed sounds coexist at a single instant, are views that most scholars of sound reason regard as self-evidently false. These views have been discussed at length elsewhere.