Mukhtasar Muslim

Narrated from Masruq: I was sitting with Umm al-Mu’minin Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) reclining on a cushion, when she said, “O Abu Aisha!” (this was Masruq’s kunya) “There are three things, whoever claims any of them has fabricated a great lie against Allah.” I asked, “What are those three things?” She said, “(One is) whoever thinks that Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) saw Allah, he has fabricated a great lie against Allah.” Masruq said: I was reclining on a cushion, but when I heard this, I sat up and said, “O Umm al-Mu’minin! Let me speak and do not rush. Did not Allah say: ‘He saw him at the clear horizon’ (Surah at-Takwir: 23), and ‘And indeed he saw him another time’ (an-Najm: 13)?” Umm al-Mu’minin Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) said: “I was the first of this Ummah to ask the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) about these verses, and he said: ‘These refer to Jibreel (peace be upon him). I did not see him in his true form except twice, as mentioned in these verses. I saw him descending from the sky, and his great size filled the space between the sky and the earth.’” Then Umm al-Mu’minin Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) said: “Have you not heard that Allah says: ‘Vision perceives Him not, but He perceives [all] vision; and He is the Subtle, the Acquainted’ (Surah al-An’am: 103)? Have you not heard that Allah says: ‘It is not for any human being that Allah should speak to him except by revelation or from behind a veil, or that He sends a messenger to reveal, by His permission, what He wills. Indeed, He is Most High and Wise’ (Surah ash-Shura: 51)?” (The second is) “whoever thinks that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) concealed anything from Allah’s Book, he has also fabricated a great lie against Allah. Allah says: ‘O Messenger! Convey that which has been revealed to you from your Lord. If you do not, then you have not conveyed His message’ (al-Ma’idah: 67).” Umm al-Mu’minin Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) said: “And whoever says that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) knew what would happen tomorrow (i.e., knowledge of the unseen), he has also fabricated a great lie against Allah. Allah Himself says: ‘Say: None in the heavens and the earth knows the unseen except Allah’.” And Dawud has added so much that Umm al-Mu’minin Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) said: “If the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) were to conceal anything of what was revealed to him (i.e., the Qur’an), he would have concealed this verse: ‘And [remember] when you said to the one on whom Allah bestowed favor and you [also] bestowed favor, “Keep your wife to yourself and fear Allah,” while you concealed within yourself that which Allah is to disclose. And you feared the people, while Allah has more right that you fear Him’ (Surah al-Ahzab: 37).”