THE ARGUMENTS OF THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN THE VISION.

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THE RELIABLE TRADITIONS THAT REJECT THE IDEA OF THE BEATIFIC VISION.Why is the vision of God impossible?

There are three groups with regard to the vision of God among the Muslims.

The first group: This is a group of famous philosophers and scholars. They believe that the beatific vision is actually impossible.

The Second Group: they believe that God has a physical presence and can be seen.

The Third Group: These are the Asharis followers of Abul Hasan Ashari (the famous orator of the third century A.H.). They say something strange. They say that God is free from material existence but can still be seen though not in this world. The believers will see Him on the Judgment Day with these eyes only. (1)

Fazil Al Qaushaji says in the supplementary of Shaykh Tusi’s book Sharho Tajridel-Aqaid, “Asharis believe that God can be seen and the believers will see him in Paradise but this vision will not be direct and without station or place.” He then adds, “Those who disbelieve in this vision are united in saying that we do see God through our minds and hearts. On the other side those who believe in the normal vision say it is possible that the face of God be etched in the eyes or the sight can reach Him”…This is impossible.

We should also note that the ancient philosophers had two ideas about the vision. One group believed that the sight from the eyes can reach Him and they believed that a ray comes out from the eyes at the time of the vision and reaches the object to be seen and thus man is able to see it.

The other group believes that the form of the object is recorded in the eyes.

We know that the scholars of today believe in the second idea and have tried to prove it through the use of senses. They say that the eyes are like cameras and the form of object is recorded in it.

Strange it seems that when the Asharis come to know that these are the two manners by which God can be seen. But God has no material existence then this idea stands invalidated. They reply that the vision does not depend on these two methods especially when it is about the unseen; a blind man can see a thing placed at a distance or he can envisage the grant edifices of Spain while he sits here.

What we learn here is that they are merely playing with words and the meaning of the word vision is very clear in the Arabic dictionaries.

If they mean the vision in the heart then it is plausible and need not be contested. If it is concerned with the material eyes then it is nothing but a recording within it. If there is a third premise then it is unacceptable and vague and we know that confirmation is not possible without imagination.

When the Asharis began having doubts and they had no answer so they retracted their claim. Now they have reached a stage where only the word “vision” exists and its meaning is nothing but the intellectual realization only because we say that the vision of God is bereft any visible image of place and station and this vision can be seen by a blind person too and so this is nothing but a vision through realization and nothing else.

The surprising thing is that some people have tried to creative imaginative changes and they say that on the Day of judgment God will create a sixth sense for the believers through which they will be able to see Him.

This is when the sixth sense is absolutely vague and it cannot solve the difficult issue of vision. Therefore, the word vision here will mean the spiritual realization and nothing else will be true.

The thing that entrapped the Asharis and similar people about the beatific vision are really some traditions that allure the people to this idea. We will have a detailed discussion on them Inshallah.

 


 

1.His name was Ali bin Ismail and his lineage reaches out to Abu Musa Ashari. He was born in 260 or 270 A.H. In the beginning he had a leaning toward the Moatazalli ideology then he reneged from the idea that God is just and Qura’n is a creation. He created a new ideology and religion in the tenets which was very pleasing to the common mass and those with biased views. Many people began following him. Many Ulema like Ghazali, Abu Baker Baqilani, Khwarizmi, Shahristani and Abu Ishaq Shirazi adopted his faith. Those who believed religion to be necessary part of politics like Ayyubis from Egypt and Syria and the Monotheists of western Africa adopted this religion. (See Dairatol-Ma’arif- Abul Hasan Ashari.

 

THE RELIABLE TRADITIONS THAT REJECT THE IDEA OF THE BEATIFIC VISION.Why is the vision of God impossible?
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