RU’YAT of ALLAH - رؤية الله

 

Literally and Etymologically: The act of seeing, beholding and perceiving, whether through physical sight (basar) or basîrah. It denotes mental perception, contemplation and the direct witness of a haqiqah. Derived from the Arabic root r-a-y (ر-أ-ي ), it signifies discerning a thing as it truly is, clear manifestation and profound realisation.

As an Islamic Term: Ru’yat of Allah denotes the supreme felicity of the mu’mins beholding the manifestation of the beauty (Jamâl) of Allah in Jannah through the mystery of Ahadiyyah. The supreme manifestation of this haqiqah was achieved by Prophet Muhammad (asm) during the Mi‘râj. The Qur’an gives the joyous tiding of Ru’yat of Allah through the âyah (75:23)1, and warns that the kâfirs will be utterly veiled and deprived of this supreme favour through the âyah (83:15)2. Since there is no resemblance between the Khâliq and His creation, His essence (Dhât) is entirely free from having a physical body, and hence does not occupy space or direction. Consequently, once the restrictive boundaries of this world and the veils of causes are lifted, ru’yat will be granted to the mu’mins in Jannah without any modality known by our earthly minds (bi-lâ keyf) and completely free from any anthropomorphic or corporeal limitations. It will manifest in a manner beyond human comprehension that man’s worldly intellect cannot grasp.

Excerpts from the Risale-i Nur about the haqiqah of ru’yat:

وَ اِلَيْهِ الْمَصِيرُ3

Thus, this phrase gives the following good tiding, which is superior to all good tidings, and says:

“O man! Do you know where you are going and where you are driven forth? As it is said at the end of the Thirty-Second Word: You are going to the sphere of rahmah and the station of presence of a Jamîl Zuljalâl — one hour of the ru’yat of Whose glorious grace is not equivalent to a thousand years of the life of Jannah, just as one hour of that Jannah life is not equivalent to a thousand years of the happy life of this world.

You are going to the sphere of Presence of an imperishable Mahbûb and an everlasting Ma’bûd. The beauty and grace in all the earthly beings and in the metaphorical beloveds whom you are enslaved by, infatuated with and filled with longing for are but a kind of shadow of the manifestation of His glorious grace and the beauty of His Names; and the entire Jannah with all its subtleties is but a single manifestation of His rahmah, and all desires, loves, attractions and gravitations are but a single flash of His love; and you are invited to Jannah, which is His eternal feasting place. In that case, enter the door of the grave not weeping, but smiling."

The Twentieth Letter-Eleventh Phrase

 

The result of îmân and the love of Allah (muhabbetullah): According to the consensus of the ahl al-kashf and tahqîq, it is the is the shuhûd and ru’yat of a Zuljalâl One, Who owns a Most Holy, transcendent beauty (Jamâl) and perfection (Kamâl) and one hour of whose shuhûd surpasses a thousand years of the blissful life of Jannah, just as one hour of that Jannah life surpasses a thousand years of the happiest life of this world. This is established by the clear nass of the Qur’an and the definite hadiths {Note: As transmitted by the nass of the hadith, "That shuhûd far surpasses all the other pleasures of Jannah, so much so that it causes them to be forgotten. And following that shuhûd the radiant beauty and splendour of those people of shuhûd will increase to such a degree that when they return, it will be only with close scrutiny and difficulty that their families in their palaces will be able to recognise them."}

Everyone feels within their conscience (Vijdân) a yearning-filled curiosity for the ru’yat of a personage like Hazrat Sulayman ‘Alayhissalâm, renowned for his magnificent perfection and curiosity-filled yearning for the shuhûd of a personage like Hazrat Yûsuf ‘Alayhissalâm, distinguished by his beauty. And so compare for yourself — if you can — how incredibly desirable, how curiosity-arousing, and how passionately sought-after is the ru’yat of the One, a single manifestation of Whose beauty (Jamâl) and perfection (Kamâl) is all the beauties and perfections of Jannah, which are thousands of degrees higher than all the beauties and perfections of this world.

The Thirty-Second Word-Third Stopping Place