Seeing Allaah in this world is definitely not possible.

 

The evidence for that is the fact that Moosa, who was one of the greatest Messengers and one of the five Messengers of strong will said: “ ‘O my Lord! Show me (Yourself), that I may look upon You’” Allaah said to him: “ ‘You cannot see Me, but look upon the mountain; if it stands still in its place then you shall see Me.’ So when his Lord appeared to the mountain, He made it collapse to dust.” So the mountain crumbled before Moosa as he was looking on, and “Moosa (Moses) fell down unconscious” So he lost consciousness, because he was watching something that he could not bear. “Then when he recovered his senses he said: ‘Glory be to You, I turn to You in repentance and I am the first of the believers.’” [Quotations from al-Araaf 7:143 – interpretation of the meaning].

 

So he repented to Allaah for having asked this question, because it was asking for something that was not possible, and Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): 

“Invoke your Lord with humility and in secret. He likes not the aggressors”

[al-Araaf 7:55] 

 

Seeing Allaah in this world when one is awake is something that is not possible. Even the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) on the night of the Miraaj (ascent into heaven) did not see his Lord. He was asked ‘Did you see your Lord?’ He said, “I saw Light.”

 

According to another report: “Light – how could I see Him?” i.e., between me and Him there was a great veil of light. According to a hadeeth in al-Saheeh, it is narrated that Allaah is veiled in Light. That appears in the hadeeth in which the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “His veil is Light and if He were to remove it, the glory of His Countenance would burn everything of His creation, as far as His gaze reaches.” Because His sight reaches everything, and everything would be burned by this immense Light.

 

Based on this, we say that it is not possible to see Allaah in this world when one is awake. 

 

 

It should be noted that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever sees me in a dream has indeed seen me, for the Shaytaan cannot imitate me.” Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 6994; Muslim, 2266 – this version narrated by Muslim. 

 

In their commentary on this hadeeth, the scholars said that this is to be understood as referring to seeing the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) in the physical form that is described in the saheeh ahaadeeth, for the Shaytaan cannot imitate the form of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). 

 

But if the Shaytaan comes in another form, whether one is asleep or awake, then lies and says, “I am the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him),” then this is false and does not count as seeing the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). 

 

So you should know the physical attributes of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). These attributes have been mentioned in many ahaadeeth which describe his stature, his hands, his fore-arms, his mouth and teeth, his eyes and his hair – (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). 

 

There were many people who resembled the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). Those who most resembled him were al-Hasan ibn Ali (may Allaah be pleased with him), and Abd-Allaah ibn Jafar ibn Abi Taalib. So if you see the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) in the form that is narrated in the Sunnah, then you have truly seen him, but if you see him in a form that is other than that described in the Sunnah and the Seerah – such as if you see him clean-shaven, then there are two scholarly points of view in this case: 

 

1 – That this is indicative of a persons shortcoming in religious commitment 

2 – The view that Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah thought more likely to be correct, which is that this is a false image that comes from the Shaytaan, especially if one sees it whilst awake. That is definitely a false image, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) is alive in al-Barzakh and no one can see him whilst he is awake and he cannot visit anyone or speak to him. 

 

What some people claim, that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) came to them when they were awake, and spoke to them and told them about things, this undoubtedly comes from the shayaateen (devils) and the jinn, especially since that did not happen to the greatest Sahaabah such as Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthmaan, Ali, al-Zubayr, Talhah, Abd al-Rahmaan ibn Awf, Saeed ibn Zayd, Abu Ubaydah and Sad, or the people who had been present at Badr or had given their bayah (oath of allegiance) beneath the tree, and other great and Allaah-fearing Sahaabah.

 

If anyone claims that he saw the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) whilst he was awake, then undoubtedly the one who appeared to him was a devil or a jinn, and no ruling can be established from that.

 

Something worse than that happened to Shaykh Abd al-Qaadir al-Jilaani (may Allaah have mercy on him), when he saw someone sitting on a throne between heaven and earth, saying, “I am your Lord.” He said: “Be gone, enemy of Allaah, for you are Iblees.” He said: “How do you know that I am Iblees?” He said: “Because Allaah cannot be seen in this world until we die, and because you said, ‘I am your Lord’ but you did not dare to say, ‘I am Allaah.’” So visions of this sort come from the Shaytaan. We should not be deceived by the stories that are narrated by some people who are thought to be righteous, such as stories about seeing the Prophets and sitting with them. We may believe that they sat with them but with whom were they sitting? They sat with the jinn and devils so that that may cause fitnah (tribulation). But those whom Allaah protects by their following the Quraan and Sunnah and reciting dhikrs, Aayat al-Kursiy, al-Miwadhaat (the soorahs seeking refuge with Allaah) and seeking the help of Allaah, will be protected against that inshaAllaah, as happened with the awliya (close friends of Allaah) and those who fear Him – as was narrated by Shaykh al-Islam in his valuable book: al-Furqaan bayna Awliya’ al-Rahmaan wa Awliya’ al-Shaytaan.

 

The scholars have stated that if a person sees the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and he tells him something that goes against the apparent meaning of the Quraan or Sunnah, or tells him of some matter concerning which there has to be proof, he should not act upon it, because what one sees in a dream is not binding; what is binding is the facts that one learns when awake. You should note that the dreams of the Prophets are wahy (revelation), but seeing the Prophets in a dream is not wahy – according to scholarly consensus. Rather it is bushra (glad tidings), as was explained by al-Nawawi (may Allaah have mercy on him).

 

 

The angels have been created from light, as was narrated by Muslim (2996), and no one can claim to have seen them in their true form unless he is a Prophet whose words are to be believed. As for those who see them in human form, this is possible for both the common folk and the elite. There are many such reports in the saheeh Sunnah, whether that happened among this ummah or among the nations who came before. 

 

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), who was blessed with deep wisdom and understanding of religion, could not bear to see Jibreel (peace be upon him) in his true form with which Allaah created him, so how can these people bear it – even if we assume that they saw him at all? 

 

Shaykh Umar al-Ashqar said: 

Because the angels have subtle bodies of light, people cannot see them, especially since Allaah has not given our eyes the ability to see them. No one in this ummah has seen the angels in their true form except the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). He saw Jibreel twice in the form with which Allaah created him. The texts indicate that humans can see angels if the angels appear in human form. 

Aalam al-Malaa’ikah al-Abraar, p. 11.

{Translator’s note: this book by Umar al-Ashqar is available in English under the title The World of the Noble Angels, published by International Islamic Publishing House (IIPH), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia} 

 

He also said, in the context of affirming the humanity of the Messengers and refuting those who said that they were angels: 

It is difficult to see the angels. When the kuffaar demanded to see the angels, and expected that the Messengers who were sent to them should be angels, they did not understand the nature of the angels and they did not know the difficulty and hardship that they might encounter as a result of seeing them. 

 

Contacting the angels and seeing them is not something easy. Although the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was the best of mankind and was physically and spiritually strong to a great degree, when he saw Jibreel in his true form, he was stricken with immense fear and fled back to his house with his heart trembling.

 

He (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) suffered great hardship when the Revelation came to him, hence Allaah said, refuting them (interpretation of the meaning): 

“On the Day they will see the angels no glad tidings will there be for the Mujrimoon (criminals, disbelievers, polytheists, sinners) that day”

[al-Furqaan 25:22]  

 

That is because the kuffaar only see the angels at the time of death or when the Divine punishment descends, so when they are able to see angels, that is the day of their doom. 

 

It was essential that human Messengers be sent, so that they would be able to address mankind, and so that mankind would be able to learn from them and understand. If Allaah had sent messengers from among the angels to them, that would not have been possible.  

 

“And nothing prevented men from believing when the guidance came to them, except that they said: ‘Has Allaah sent a man as (His) Messenger?’

95. Say: ‘If there were on the earth, angels walking about in peace and security, We should certainly have sent down for them from the heaven an angel as a Messenger’”

[al-Isra 17:94, 95] 

 

But those who live on the earth are human, and the mercy and wisdom of Allaah dictated that their Messengers should be of their own kind. 

“Indeed, Allaah conferred a great favour on the believers when He sent among them a Messenger (Muhammad) from among themselves”

[Aal Imraan 3:164] 

 

Since humans cannot easily see the angels and learn from them, this means that if Allaah had wanted to send an angel as a messenger to mankind, He would have had to make him a man: 

“And had We appointed him an angel, We indeed would have made him a man, and We would have certainly confused them in which they are already confused (i.e. the Message of Prophet Muhammad)”

[al-Anaam 6:9] 

 

To sum up: 

 

It is not permissible for anyone – after the Prophets – to claim to have see the angels, for they have bodies of light which Allaah has not enabled humans to see, unless the angels appear in human form. 

It is not permissible for anyone to claim to have seen the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) when he was awake. Perhaps these illusions came from some of those who do not have any Islamic knowledge or maturity, so they imagine things that are not there. 

And Allaah knows best.