Journal of Razavi Culture

Reviewing a Hadith Attributed to Imam Reza (A.S) on the Denial of Allah’s Visibility

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Mohammad Hadi Tavakoli

Assistant Professor, Department of Islamic science, Faculty of Philosophy &Theology, Research Institute of Hawzah and University (RIHU), Qom, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22034/farzv.2022.357232.1798
Abstract
On the issue of the possibility of seeing God in some authentic hadith books of the Imamiyah, There is a hadith attributed to Imam Reza (p.b.u.h) according to which the association of seeing God with faith in him in this world and the hereafter is considered forbidden. Shiite thinkers have listed this hadith as one of the difficult and ambiguous hadiths and have tried to explain its meaning; But the problems that are noticed in their explanations indicate their inaccuracy. According to the intellectual foundations of the theologians of the time of Imam Reza (p.b.u.h), an innovative solution can be proposed based on the opposition of “obligation to faith” and “occurrence of essential knowledge”. And the conflict between “seeing God” and “believing in Him” can be seen as related to the mentioned opposition. According to the intellectual foundations of the theologians of the time of Imam Reza (p.b.u.h), an innovative solution can be proposed based on the opposition of “obligation to faith” and “occurrence of essential knowledge”. And the conflict between “seeing God” and “believing in Him” can be seen as related to the mentioned opposition. But this solution is not without problems; therefore, as stated by some thinkers, the attribution of this hadith to the Imam should be negated, at least in the way it appears in the hadith sources; especially, its content is in conflict with some verses of the Qur’an and some hadiths.

Keywords

seeing God
essential knowledge
acquired knowledge
faith
obligation
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