سورة القيامة

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): إِلَی رَبِّهَا نَاظِرَةٌ [Looking to their Lord], they look upon Allah the Mighty and Majestic; the meaning is that they look upon the mercy of Allah and His blessings.

Imam Rida (peace be upon him): وُجُوهٌ یَوْمَئِذٍ نَاضِرَةٌ * إِلَی رَبِّهَا نَاظِرَةٌ [Some faces, that Day, will be radiant, looking to their Lord]; that is, radiant and awaiting the reward of their Lord.

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): The meaning of the verse is that she is awaiting the reward of her Lord.

Imam Rida (peace be upon him): Harawi said: I said to Imam Rida (peace be upon him): "O son of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! What is meant by this hadith that the reward of لا إله إلاّ الله [there is no god but Allah] is looking upon the face of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic?" His Eminence (peace be upon him) said: "O Abu al-Salt! Whoever describes Allah with a face like [other] faces has committed disbelief. The face of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, is His prophets and His proofs (peace be upon him and his family). They are the ones through whom one can turn towards Allah the Mighty and Majestic, and towards His religion and knowledge of Him. Allah the Mighty and Majestic says: كُلُّ مَنْ عَلَيْهَا فَانٍ وَيَبْقَىٰ وَجْهُ رَبِّكَ ذُو الْجَلَالِ وَالْإِكْرَامِ [All that is on it [the earth] will perish, and there will remain [only] the countenance of your Lord, Owner of Majesty and Honour]. (Ar-Rahman/26-27) And He says: كُلُّ شَيْءٍ هَالِكٌ إِلَّا وَجْهَهُ [Everything will perish except His [pure] Self]. (Al-Qasas/88) On the Day of Resurrection, looking upon the station and rank of the prophets and proofs of Allah is a mighty reward for the believers. And the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) says: 'Whoever holds enmity against my kin, on the Day of Resurrection I will not see him and he will not see me.'" Then he said: "Among you there are those who, after they part from me, will no longer see me. O Abu al-Salt! Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, cannot be described by place nor contained, and eyes and imaginations do not grasp Him."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Abu Basir said: I said to Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): "Speak to me about Allah, the Mighty and Majestic; will the believers see Him on the Day of Resurrection?" He said: "Yes, and they have already seen Him before the Day of Resurrection." I said: "When?" He said: "When Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, said: أَ لَسْتُ بِرَبِّکُمْ [Am I not your Lord?] They said: بَلی [Yes]." (Al-A'raf/172) He paused for a moment, then said: "The believers see Him in this world before the Day of Resurrection. Do you not see Him at this very moment of yours?" I said to His Eminence (peace be upon him): "May I be your ransom! Shall I relate this hadith from you to others?" He said: "No, for if you narrate it and an ignorant person does not grasp the meaning of what you are saying and denies it, he might reckon this to be [likening Allah to creation and thus] disbelief. Seeing with the eye of the heart is not like seeing with the outward eye; Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, is exalted above what the anthropomorphists and the disbelievers describe."

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Abu Ma'mar al-Sa'dani said: A man came to Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him) and said, "O Commander of the Faithful! I have come to doubt the Book of Allah that was sent down." The Imam (peace be upon him) said to him, "May your mother be bereaved of you! How have you doubted the Book of Allah that was sent down?" He said, "Because I have found the verses of the Book of Allah contradicting one another; how then should I not doubt it?" The Imam (peace be upon him) said, "The verses of the Book of Allah confirm one another and never contradict one another; but you have not been granted an intellect from which to benefit. Now tell me what you have doubted about in the Book of Allah the Mighty and Majestic." The man said to the Imam, "I have found in the Book of Allah that He says... And as for His saying: 'Eyes do not perceive Him, but He perceives all eyes' (al-An'am 6:103), it is as He said: لا تُدْرِکُهُ الْأَبْصارُ [Eyes do not perceive Him] — imaginations do not encompass Him; وَ هُوَ یُدْرِکُ الْأَبْصارَ [and He perceives all eyes] — meaning He encompasses them. He is the Bestower [of every kind of blessing, and aware of the fine details of created things], and the Knower [of all] things (al-An'am 6:103). This is a praise with which our Lord, Blessed and Exalted, has praised Himself, and He is Pure, Most High and Great, and may His remembrance be with majesty and loftiness. Musa (peace be upon him), while praise of Allah the Mighty and Majestic was on his tongue, requested: 'My Lord! Show Yourself to me, that I may look upon You' (al-A'raf 7:143). His request was a great and enormous matter, and for that he was punished. Allah, Blessed and Exalted, said, 'You shall not see Me in this world until you give up your soul, and then you will see Me in the Hereafter. But if you wish to see Me in this world, look at the mountain; if it remains firm in its place, you will see Me.' Allah the Glorified and Exalted — may His remembrance be with majesty and loftiness — manifested a sign of His signs, and our Lord manifested Himself to the mountain, and the mountain broke into pieces and crumbled, and Musa (peace be upon him) fell down senseless upon the earth — that is, dead. So his punishment was death. Then Allah brought him back to life and raised him again, and he turned in repentance to Him and said, 'Glory be to You [above being seen with the eye]! I turn to You in repentance, and I am the first of the believers' (al-A'raf 7:143) — meaning the first believer among them who believed in You that he shall never see You. As for the saying of the Most High: 'And indeed he saw him another time, near the Sidrat al-Muntaha' (al-Najm 53:13–14), what is meant is Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family), who was beside the Sidrat al-Muntaha, a place beyond which no created being of Allah's creation may pass. The saying of the Most High in other verses: 'His sight never swerved nor did it exceed the limit [what he saw was reality]! Indeed he saw some of the greatest signs of his Lord!' (al-Najm 53:17–18) — He speaks of Jibra'il, whom he beheld in his form twice: this time and one other. That is because the creation of Jibra'il is a magnificent creation, and he is among the spiritual beings whose creation and description none can grasp except Allah, the Lord of the worlds. As for the saying of the Most High: 'On that Day, no intercession shall benefit anyone except the one to whom the Most Merciful has given permission and with whose word He is pleased. He knows what is before them and what is behind them, but they do not encompass Him in knowledge' (Taha 20:109–110) — the knowledge of created beings does not encompass Allah the Mighty and Majestic, for He, Blessed and Exalted, has placed a veil upon the sight of the hearts; thus no understanding reaches His how, and no heart sets limits for Him or describes Him except as He has described Himself. Nothing is like Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing, the First and the Last, the Manifest and the Hidden, the Creator, the Maker, the Fashioner. He created all things, and thus nothing among things is like Him, Blessed and Exalted." The man said, "You have relieved me, may Allah relieve you; you have untied a knot for me, may Allah make your reward great, O Commander of the Faithful!"