Ahmad any explicit statement to that effect, nor from Ibn Abbās. Rather, the reliably transmitted reports from Ahmad are of the same kind as those reliably transmitted from Ibn Abbās: either the vision is specified as being with the heart, or it is stated without qualification. As for specifying that it was with the eyes, this has not been reliably established from either Ahmad or Ibn Abbās.
As for anyone other than the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—Imam Ahmad reported the consensus of the Salaf that no one has seen Him with his own eyes. It is authentically established in Sahih Muslim that the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said:
“Know that none of you will see his Lord until he dies.” (1)
A fuller discussion of this belongs elsewhere.
The point here is that many spiritual wayfarers experience states that overwhelm them (2), until one of them imagines that he himself is God, that God is within him, that God speaks through him, that he sees God, or something similar. In reality, the one whom they behold and address is Satan. Some of them see a throne with a light upon it and see the angels
(1) Muslim, *Sahīh*, 4/2245 (Book of Tribulations and Portents of the Hour, chapter “The Account of Ibn Sayyād”). Ibn Shihāb said: Umar ibn Thābit al-Ansārī informed me that one of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—informed him that, on the day the Messenger of Allah warned the people about the Dajjāl, he said: “The word *kāfir* (unbeliever) is written between his eyes. Whoever detests his deeds will read it—or every believer will read it.” He also said: “Know that none of you will see his Lord, Mighty and Majestic, until he dies.” The hadith also appears in al-Tirmidhī, *Sunan*, 3/345 (Book of Tribulations, chapter “Reports Concerning the Dajjāl”), with the wording: “You know that none of you will see…”—and the remainder of the hadith. Al-Tirmidhī said: “This is a hasan sahīh hadith.”
(2) Al-Qāshānī states in *Istilāhāt al-Sūfiyya*, ed. Muhammad Kamāl Jafar (Egyptian General Book Organization, 1981), p. 30: “*Al-istilām* is an overpowering ecstatic bewilderment that seizes the heart; it is akin to *al-hayamān* (love-induced distraction).” Ibn Arabī likewise states in his treatise *Istilāhāt al-Sūfiyya*, p. 240: “*Al-istilām* is a kind of ecstatic bewilderment that comes upon the heart, causing it to submit to its sway.”