“While he was teaching them matters of their religion, their eyes became fixed, so he said …” He then cited it.

I say: This is a sound chain of transmission. Abu Bakr ibn Abi Dawud—al-Sijistani—was a hadith master, son of a hadith master. All the remaining narrators are trustworthy and are among those listed in al-Tahdhib.

This is strong corroboration for al-Bukhari’s hadith (7435), from Jarir ibn ‘Abd Allah, who said that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

“You shall indeed see your Lord openly.”

When al-Tabarani narrated it in al-Mu‘jam al-Kabir (2/296/2233), through Abu Shihab al-Hannat (the original has: al-Khayyat), with his authentic chain from Jarir, al-Tabarani said:

“The word ‘openly’ was transmitted solely by Abu Shihab, who was a precise hadith master and one of the trustworthy Muslims.”

I say: A group of narrators corroborated him regarding the basic hadith, but not this additional wording. For that reason, I had previously judged it anomalous in Zilal al-Jannah (1/201/461). I have now retracted that judgment because of this strong corroboration. Perhaps this is why al-Hafiz relied on it as evidence in al-Fath (13/426) and did not deem it defective on account of anomaly. And Allah knows best.

Al-Suyuti cited the hadith with al-Bukhari’s wording in al-Jami‘ al-Kabir, but attributed it only to al-Tabarani, even though others besides them also narrated it, as you can see in al-Zilal.

It also refutes the Mu‘tazilah and the Ibadis, who deny this tremendous blessing—the believers’ seeing their Lord on the Day of Resurrection—as well as those who affirm it but interpret it as meaning knowledge. See al-Fath. *