Say, “My Lord has only forbidden immoralities – what is apparent of them and what is concealed – and sin, and oppression without right, and that you associate with Allah that for which He has not sent down authority, and that you say about Allah that which you do not know.” (Qur’an 7:33)
“And who is more unjust than he who invents a lie about Allah ? Those will be presented before their Lord, and the witnesses will say, “These are the ones who lied against their Lord.” Unquestionably, the curse of Allah is upon the wrongdoers.” (Qur’an 11:18)
“Even in the case of Prophet Moses (Peace be upon him) Prophet Musa (alayi salam) begged Allah to see him. Because he could hear him. Now he wanted to see him. He said, and that is recorded in surah Al Araf My Lord allow me to see you. His Lord said, You will never be able to see me….in this life. But when he insisted He said: Look at the mountain if the mountain stands still then perhaps you can see me. And a mountain is definitely much more stronger and powerful than Musa and all the human beings. So Allah The Almighty did as follows: The ayat 143 of surah Al Araf So Allah The Almighty allowed light beam of his light to shine at the mountain, the mountain turned into dust. Full of thunder, it turned into dust, like shredded wool. Then Musa (alayi salam) upon seeing what happened to the mountain he fell unconscious and then when he came back to his consciousness he realized that he was mistaken when he insisted on seeing Allah The Almighty. I repent unto you, I shall not ask for that again.” -Dr. Muhammad Salah
There are quite a few things wrong here with what the Salafi preacher had said.
#1) No where in the Qur’an does Allah (swt) say, “You will never be able to see me in this life” as if to indicate you will see Allah (swt) in the next life. It simply says, ‘You will never be able to se me!’ These people will tell lies about Allah (swt) and go against the clear text of the Qur’an and the Sunnah.
#2) Actually what Musa (alayi salam) said was:
“Highly Exalted are You; I have indeed repented to you, and I am the first of the believers.“
First of the believers in what?
Let us look at how various translations deal with verse in question:
“When Moses came at the appointed time and his Lord spoke to him, he said, “My Lord, show [Yourself] to me, so that I might see You.” Allah said, “You can never see Me. However, behold this mountain. If it remains firm in its place, then you will see Me.” As soon as his Lord revealed His limitless glory to the mountain, He caused it to crumble to dust and Moses fell down unconscious. After he recovered, he said, “May You be exalted in Your glory! I repent! I will be the first of the believers!” (Qur’an 7:143)
https://www.islamawakened.com/quran/7/143/
Time to manipulate English translations based upon the theological bent one has!
“Never can you see me.”
“You can never see me”
Both of the above translations are correct. It is the one that Dr. Muhammad Salah uses as well. Except, that he added to what Allah (swt) stated with the “in this life.”
“You cannot see me” This translation can be understood as “You cannot see me now” Notice the absence of the word ‘never’.
“But when his Lord manifested Himself to the mountain.” Is the belief that Allah (swt) did reveal himself to the mountain.
Did Allah (swt) really reveal himself to that mountain? In the anthropomorphic sense that the Salafi claim? He appeared in His true form? Then where is he after this Transfiguration? Did he remain there or did he disappear? Did he vanish? Allah (swt) is the friend of the Blessed and Noble Messenger, Ibrahim who said in the same Qur’an:
“When the night overshadowed him, he saw a star and said, “This is my Lord!” But when it went down he said, “I do not like things that vanish.” (Qur’an 6:76)
“When his Lord manifested His glory on the mountain.” This is more sensible especially when consider that even the revelation of Allah (swt), the Qur’an could crush mountains.
“If We had sent down this Qur’an upon a mountain, you would have seen it humbled and coming apart from fear of Allah. And these examples We present to the people that perhaps they will give thought.” (Qur’an 59:21)
What is the view of the Muslims, The Ahl Al Haqq Wal Istiqamah?
Well, dear reader, know that we Muslims put the Qur’an first. We do not attribute words and sayings to Allah (swt) that Allah (swt) did not say. This is a huge sin.
Musa (alayi salam) was aware of the impossibility of seeing Allah, but in asking for it he did not intend obtaining the impossible. He only intended thereby to hold back his people, who were stubborn in seeking it and made their belief in his Message dependent upon it.
“And recall when you said, “O Moses, we will not believe in you unless we see Allah plainly.” Thereupon the thunderbolt struck you while you were beholding.” (Qur’an 2:55)
It is obvious that these demands came before the Musa (alayi salam) approached Allah (swt). Musa (alayi salam) It is not difficult to see that this was a repeated request on their behalf, as the Qur’an mentions this in another place as well.
“The People of the Book demand that you make a book physically come down to them from heaven, but they demanded even more than that of Moses when they said, ‘Show us Allah face to face,’ and were struck by the thunderbolt for their presumption. Even after clear revelations had come down to them, they took the calf as an object of worship, yet We pardoned this, and gave Moses clear authority.” (Qur’an 4:153)
Now is it sensible to think that Musa would ask for the very same thing that they asked for and received the rebuke that they did for doing so?
By Allah, to allege such a thing is nothing other than to put Musa (alayi salam) among the despicable ones from among the Children of Israel and to lower him to the level of the ignorant ones.
The proof that Musa (alayi salam) was not asking for himself, is because Allah (swt) could have replied to Musa (alayi salam), “You can never see Me.” This would have been sufficient for a believer.
The proof is that the mountain was destroyed.
Who witnessed the destruction of this mountain? Do you not think people would notice the sudden destruction of a mountain?
If the following happened to Musa (alayi salam) “He caused it to crumble to dust and Moses fell down unconscious.”
What do you think happened to the children of Israel who witnessed this?
“Thereupon the thunderbolt struck you while you were beholding.”
“and were struck by the thunderbolt for their presumption“
Notice after Musa (alayi salam) recovered he says, “”May You be exalted in Your glory! I repent! I will be the first of the believers!“
Why did Musa (alayi salam) say that he will be ‘the first of the believers’ when he is already a believer? Did the incident prove that Allah (swt) can be seen or not seen? Was Allah (swt) seen? No! So Musa (alayi salam) was testifying that he would be foremost among those who deny that Allah (swt) can be seen.
This is the belief of the Muslims, those who are upon sound theology.
Prima Quran 