(1) Ibn al-Qayyim, may Allah have mercy on him, writes in his Hadi al-Arwah ila Bilad al-Afrah (The Guide of Souls to the Land of Joy), p. 402: “Chapter sixty-five: On the believers’ vision of their Lord, Blessed and Exalted, and His manifesting Himself to them with a smile. This is the most exalted chapter of the book, the highest in rank and the dearest to the hearts of Ahl al-Sunnah wa-l-Jama‘ah, while it is the most distressing for the people of innovation and misguidance. It is the ultimate goal for which the earnest strive, the prize over which competitors contend, the finish line at which racers aim—so let those who work, work for it. Once the people of Paradise attain this vision they forget every other delight; being deprived of it and veiled from it is, for the people of Hell, harsher than Hell’s own torment. All the prophets and messengers, the Companions, the Successors, and the leading scholars of Islam throughout the generations agreed upon it, whereas it has been denied by the deviant sects: the Jahmiyyah lost in speculation, the ‘Pharaonites’ who negate the divine attributes, the Batiniyyah who have abandoned every religion, the Rafidah who cling to Satan’s snares and are cut off from the rope of Allah. He then adds: The third proof is the saying of the Most High: ‘Allah calls to the Abode of Peace and guides whom He wills to a straight path. For those who excel there shall be al-husna (the finest reward) and something more; no dust or humiliation shall cover their faces. Such are the people of Paradise, abiding therein’ (Yunus, 25-26). Al-husna is Paradise, and “the something more” (al-ziyadah) is to gaze upon His noble Face, as explained by the Messenger of Allah—peace be upon him—who received the Qur’an, and after him by the Companions. He cites the hadith of Suhayb, and the reports of Anas, Ka‘b ibn ‘Ujrah, Ubayy ibn Ka‘b and Abu Musa al-Ash‘ari, all mursal back to the Prophet—peace be upon him—stating: ‘Al-husna is Paradise, and al-ziyadah is to look at His noble Face.’ He also transmits this interpretation as a Companion’s statement from Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman, Abu Musa al-Ash‘ari and Ibn Mas‘ud. Likewise, he records that the same explanation was adopted by: ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Layla, ‘Amir ibn Sa‘d, Isma‘il ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Suddi, al-Dahhak ibn Muzahim, ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Sabiṭ, Abu Ishaq al-Sabi‘i, Qatadah, Sa‘id ibn al-Musayyib, al-Hasan al-Basri, ‘Ikrimah (freedman of Ibn ‘Abbas), and Mujahid ibn Jabr.