What is Ru’yatullah (Seeing Allah)?

Dear Brother / Sister,

Man is the special addressee of Allah. Allah gave him intellect, granted him faculties and enriched him with feelings. The greatest grace man will attain will be ru’yatullah. Ru’yatullah means Allah’s being visible to His slaves. If somebody sent a poor man a lot of money every month, the poor man would be very curious about him and think, “What kind of a person is the one who helps me every month?” Similarly, man will definitely become curious about Allah, who grants him numerous bounties. He wants to see Allah a lot.

It is not possible to understand Paradise, which is a realm that “eyes have not seen, ears have not heard and man’s heart has not felt”, (see Bukhari, Tafsir 32/1) truly in this world. Therefore, ru’yah, which is the most advanced blessing in Paradise, cannot be understood in this world. We believe that ru’yah exists but we cannot know its nature.  

The sight of the people of Paradise is much more advanced than that of the world; there is great difference between them like a shadow and its original shape. Thus, the perfect spirit will be overwhelmed by pleasure at once and will lose consciousness due to seeing the Lord free of direction, distance and shape. This attainment is an advanced form of pleasure that cannot be compared to the pleasure taken from the bounties of Paradise.   

The following verse mentions the blessing of ru’yatullah:

إِلَى رَبِّهَا نَاظِرَةٌ   وُجُوهٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ نَاضِرَةٌ  
“Some faces, that Day, will beam (in brightness and beauty);- Looking towards their Lord;.” (al-Qiyama, 22 - 23)

Mutazila interpret the word نَاظِرَةٌ in the verse as “waiting”, not as “looking” and understand it as “waiting for their Lord”; they interpret this verse, which is related to ru’yatullah, differently. “However, the result of a waiting that does not attain the goal is not joy but disappointment and pain.” (Yazır, Hak Dini Kur’ân Dili, VIII, 5483)

According to what is stated in sound hadiths, believers will see Allah in the hereafter as if they see the sun at noon and the full moon at a clear night. (Ibn Hanbal, III, 16; IV, 13-14; Bukhari, Tawhid, 24; Muslim, Iman, 299, Zuhd, 16)

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