(1) Ibn Batta (may Allah have mercy on him) states in Al-Ibana, 3/72-74: “The Jahmiyya claim that the expression ila rabbiha nazira (Q 75:23) means only that the faces ‘are waiting’ for their Lord. By this reading they contradict every register of Arabic speech and the usage known to its eloquent speakers, for the Quran was revealed in the language of the Arabs. Allah, Exalted be He, says: wa hadha lisanun arabiyyun mubin (‘this is a clear Arabic tongue,’ Q 16:103) and qur’anan arabiyyan ghayra dhi ‘iwaj (‘an Arabic Quran free of deviation,’ Q 39:28). No one conversant with Arabic would take ila rabbiha nazira to mean ‘waiting.’ Observe: no one says, ‘I am looking at you,’ intending, ‘I am waiting for you’; rather he says, ‘I am waiting for you.’ Once the preposition ila is introduced, the phrase can denote nothing but actual looking; one says anzuru ilayka (‘I look at you’). The same holds for ila rabbiha nazira. Had the verse meant ‘waiting,’ it would have said li-rabbiha muntazira or li-rabbiha nazira. This is perfectly clear to those whom Allah has granted knowledge of His Book and insight into His religion. He further said: I heard Abu Bakr ibn al-Anbari, the grammarian, explain the verse wujuhun yawma’idhin nadira, ila rabbiha nazira: ‘Had nazira meant ‘‘waiting,’’ the faces could not be described as nadira (radiant), for the one who waits wears on his face anxiety—he is expecting something that has not yet reached him—whereas nadira conveys brightness, radiance, joy and good cheer. Another indication: if nazira had meant ‘‘waiting,’’ the wording would have been li-rabbiha nazira, not ila rabbiha nazira.’ Ibn Mandah writes in Al-Rad ‘ala al-Jahmiyya, p. 102: ‘The exegetes are unanimous—among them Ibn Abbas and other Companions, and from the Followers Muhammad ibn Ka‘b, Abd al-Rahman ibn Sabit, al-Hasan ibn Abi al-Hasan, Ikrima, Abu Salih, Sa‘id ibn Jubayr and others—that the meaning is: “looking at the Face of their Lord.” As for the report that it means “expecting the reward,” it is an isolated, unreliable view.’ Al-Darimi says in his Refutation of the obstinate Jahmi al-Marisi, 1/367-368: