…Ibn al-Qayyim then set out the clear, conclusive proofs for the beatific vision of Allah in the Hereafter and added: Al-Tabari states: “When all the reports on the Vision transmitted by the Companions from the Messenger of Allah are collated, they come to twenty-three narrators,” and he proceeded to list them. He continued: “As for the Followers (tabiʿun), the successive generations of Islam, and the cohorts of faith among the masters of hadith, fiqh, tafsir and tasawwuf, their affirmations are too numerous for anyone but Allah to encompass.” Ibn al-Qayyim then quoted several statements from the Followers, the four Imams, their peers, teachers and disciples, before concluding: “This is the doctrine of all believers.” The “Imam of the Imams” Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Khuzayma writes in his book: “The believers are unanimously agreed that they will see their Creator on the Day of Return; whoever denies this is, in their view, no believer.” He further says: “It is also the consensus of the Arabic linguists.” Abu ʿAbd Allah Ibn Batta relates: I heard the philologist Abu ʿUmar Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahid say: I heard Abu al-ʿAbbas Ahmad ibn Yahya Thalab commenting on the verses, “He is ever Merciful to the believers… their greeting on the Day they meet Him shall be ‘Peace’” (al-Ahzab 33:43–44); he said, “All specialists in Arabic agree that ‘meeting’ here can only mean direct sight with the eyes.” Such a chain of transmission is authentication enough. Ibn al-Qayyim then devoted a chapter to the threat awaiting those who deny the Vision—we seek refuge in Allah from that—and we ask You, O Allah, to delight our eyes and soothe our hearts by allowing us to behold You in the Garden of Bliss. See: Ibn al-Qayyim, Hadi al-Arwah, pp. 402–477.