Seeing Allah

Did anybody see Allah (swt) in the dunyā? No one. No one has seen Allah (swt) with his eyes. But Muhammad (peace be upon him) saw Allah (swt) in his dunyā — but not with his eyes. He saw Him with his heart. Now, what does it mean to see Allah with your heart? When you are dreaming, your eyes are closed, but you can still see and hear. When you dream about things, you see things and you hear things. So some of the scholars say that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was able to see Allah in the dunyā with his heart, but not with his eyes.

In the ākhirah, can anybody see Allah? Who are the ones who will see Allah (swt)? Al-muʾminūn, the believers in Jannah. Those in the lower levels of Jannah will see Allah (swt) every Jumuʿah. At the time of Ṣalāt al-Jumuʿah, the people of Jannah will go to a certain meeting place, and their seats will have been reserved ahead of time — that is in the hadith. You cannot just go and pick a spot and sit. You have the leisure to do that in the masjid: you can come and pick a spot. But there, in Jannah, you cannot. The seats are already reserved.

And on what basis are they reserved? On how close you were to the khaṭīb at Jumuʿah — that is in the hadith. The closer you were to the imam in Ṣalāt al-Jumuʿah, the closer you are going to be to Allah (swt) in those meetings on Jumuʿah. So here in the dunyā you can come and pick that spot: the earlier you come, the better and the closer the spot you will get. So you have the freedom to choose this place when you are in the dunyā, but in the ākhirah, that is it — it is reserved. And those who used to sit in the first ṣaff are the ones who will receive the first ṣaff, the first line, in Jannah.

That is for the lower ranks of Jannah. And then the people of Firdaws, the higher levels, will see Allah (swt) twice a day. That is for the people of the higher levels of Jannah.