Since Abū Dharr was better informed about this matter than others, Ahmad followed him, particularly in view of what is established in Sahih Muslim from Ibn Abbās, who said, “He saw Him with his heart twice” (1).
At other times, Ahmad says, “He saw Him,” thus using (2) the wording without qualification and without specifying whether it was with the eyes or the heart (* in adherence to the hadith. At still other times, he approves the statement of one who says, “He saw Him,” but does not say “with his eyes” or “with his heart.” *) (3) None of Ahmad’s disciples who had direct contact with him ever transmitted that he said, “He saw Him with his eyes.” Al-Khallāl recorded what they transmitted from Ahmad in his book al-Sunnah and elsewhere (4).
Likewise, no one has transmitted through an authentic chain from Ibn Abbās that he said, “He saw Him with his eyes.” Rather, what is reliably established from him is either an unqualified statement or one specifying that it was with the heart.
A group of Ahmad’s disciples, such as Judge Abū Ya‘lā (5) and those who followed him, related three reports from Ahmad concerning the Prophet’s vision of Him, exalted be He. One of them states that he saw Him with his eyes, and they adopted this position. Al-Ash‘arī and another group likewise adopted it. Yet none of these authorities transmitted from
(1) Muslim narrated in his *Sahīh*, 1/158–159 (Book of Faith, chapter “The Meaning of Allah’s Words: ‘And indeed he saw Him another time’”), two reports from Ibn Abbās. The first states that Ibn Abbās said, “He saw Him with his heart.” The second, transmitted by Abū al-Āliya from Ibn Abbās, states: Concerning “The heart did not deny what it saw” [Sūrat al-Najm: 11] and “And indeed he saw Him another time” [Sūrat al-Najm: 13], he said, “He saw Him with his heart twice.” Al-Tirmidhī also cited in his *Sunan*, 5/70 (Book of Tafsīr, Sūrat al-Najm), a report transmitted by Ikrima from Ibn Abbās concerning “The heart did not deny what it saw.” He said, “He saw Him with his heart.” Al-Tirmidhī said, “This is a hasan hadith.” A report with the same meaning also appears from Ibn Abbās in the *Musnad* (al-Maārif ed.), 3/294. Shaykh Ahmad Shākir—may Allah have mercy on him—said in his annotation: “In *al-Durr al-Manthūr*, 6/124, al-Suyūtī also attributed it to al-Tabarānī, Ibn Mardawayh, and al-Bayhaqī in *al-Asmā wa-l-Sifāt*.”
(2) H and B read: *wa-yutliqu* (“and he uses [the wording] without qualification”).
(3) The passage enclosed by asterisks is omitted from (H).
(4) Perhaps al-Khallāl transmitted from Ahmad, in *Kitāb al-Sunna*, both this statement and his narration of the hadith of Abū Dharr with its chain of transmission.
(5) N reads: “such as Judge Abū Bakr,” which is a textual corruption.