An-Najm 53:18

وَلَقَدْ رَ‌آهُ نَزْلَةً أُخْرَ‌ىٰ 'And indeed he saw him another time' is explicit on the point. This verse too has two possible interpretations: [ 1] he saw Jibra'il (علیہ السلام) ; and [ 2] he saw Allah. That he saw Jibra'il (علیہ السلام) is perfectly obvious to any scholar. But there may be a hint to the fact that he saw Allah also, because seeing requires proximity and closeness to Allah, and the verse 14 عِندَ سِدْرَ‌ةِ الْمُنتَهَىٰ 'by sidrat-ul-muntaha (the lote-tree in the upper realm) indicates this closeness, meaning when the Holy Prophet ﷺ was near sidrat-ul-muntaha and had reached a high stage of nearness to Allah, he saw Him. The Tradition cited below supports the notion of the Vision of Allah:

وَاَتَیتُ سِدرَۃَ المُنتَھٰی فَغَشِیَتنِی ضَبابَۃ خَرَتُ لَھَا سَاجِداً وَھٰذِہِ الضّبابۃُ ھِیَ الظُّلَلُ مِنَ الغَمَامِ الَّتِی یَاتِی فِیھَا اللہُ وَیَتَجَلّٰی۔

'When I reached sidrat-ul-muntaha, I was overshadowed by something like the cloud and I fell prostrate for it. On the Day of Resurrection, there will be something like clouds overshadowing in which His Majestic Descent will manifest.'

Likewise, verse [ 53:17] مَا زَاغَ الْبَصَرُ‌ وَمَا طَغَىٰ (The eye neither went wrong, nor did exceed the limit.) includes both possibilities - vision of Jibra'il I and Vision of Allah - and it further proves that the this vision took place in the state of wakefulness with his physical eyes [ that is, it was not a dream experience ].

In sum, verses that relate to the Night of Mi` raj and contain words pertaining to 'seeing' carry the equal possibility of seeing Jibra'il (علیہ السلام) and seeing Allah Ta’ ala Himself. Other scholars too have interpreted them as the Vision of Allah. The Qur'anic words have possibility to be interpreted in that way.

The Question of the Beatific Vision of the Creator

All Companions, their immediate followers and overwhelming majority of the Ummah concur that the inmates of Paradise and the believers in general will see Allah. Authentic Traditions bear ample testimony to this fact and verity. They indicate that the Vision and Witnessing of Allah is not impossible. However, human sight cannot bear to see Him in this mundane world, because the capacity of the eyes is not powerful enough. Thus nobody can see Allah in this world. Regarding the Hereafter, the Qur'an says:

فَكَشَفْنَا عَنكَ غِطَاءَكَ فَبَصَرُ‌كَ الْيَوْمَ حَدِيدٌ

"You were heedless of this. Now We have removed your veil from you; so your sight today is sharp." [ 50:22]

Venerable Imam Malik (رح) says that it is not possible for any human being to see Allah in this world, because his sight is perishable, and Allah is Eternal. In the Hereafter, man will be given non-perishable sight, as a result nothing will prevent it from the seeing Allah. Venerable Qadi ` Iyad says something similarly. A narration recorded in Muslim in the following words makes the point explicit:

وَاعلَمُوا اَنَّکُم لَن تَرَوا رَبَّکُم حَتّٰی تَمُوتُوا

"And know that you shall never see your Lord, until you die" (Fath-ul-Bari: vol 8/p. 493)

This indicates the possibility that if the Holy Prophet ﷺ is equipped with extraordinarily powerful faculty of sight, he should be able to see Allah in this world too on a special occasion. But on the Night of Ascension he was called in the most distinguishable manner from this world to see and witness the heavens, Paradise and Hell, and other great Signs of Allah and manifestation of His power. On this occasion, the Vision of Allah is an exception to the general rule, because he is out of the mundane world. The possibility of the Vision of Allah has thus been confirmed and verified.

So far we have proved that the possibility does exist, but the question is whether it really occurred. In this matter, the Traditions vary, and the Qur'anic verses are interpretable in two possible ways. Therefore, this question was always debatable among the Companions, their followers and leading authorities on religion. Ibn-Kathir says that under the interpretation of these verses Sayyidna ` Abdullah Ibn ` Abbas ؓ verifies that the Holy Prophet ﷺ saw Allah and a group of righteous predecessors have followed him. Other groups of Companions ؓ and their followers have differed from this viewpoint. He further adduced the evidences of both the groups.

Likewise, Hafiz (رح) in Fath-ul-Bari [ vol 8/p.494] under the Tafsir of Surah An-Najm has cited the differences of the Companions and their followers and then quoted some such statements which reconcile the divergent views. He further says that Qurtubi in his work mufhim prefers to observe silence in the matter and not to decide either way, because this question does not concern our practical life so that we have to choose a particular direction. The question concerns our belief system, in which case incontestable evidence is required. In any matter which cannot be proved incontestably, the rule is to observe silence. This author believes that this is the most sound and circumspect approach to the issue. Therefore, the arguments of the two groups have not been cited. Allah, the Pure and the Exalted, knows best!