Fakhr al-Din Al-Razi and Allameh Tabatabaei's Views On Seeing God

Some of the Quranic verses such as 7:143 and 70:23 confirm the possibility of seeing God while some others like 7:103 deny it. The 'Asharites, relying on the first group of verses, believe in the possibility of sighting God, while the Mutazilites and Imammiyehs, referring to the second group, decline it. The comparison between the views of Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, the great Asharite theologian and the author of Mafatih al-Ghayb commentary with those of Allamah Tabatabaie, the prominent Shia philosopher and the writer of al-Mizan commentary regarding the notion of seeing God can lead us to a more profound understanding of the Quranic verses alluding to the subject. Furthermore, the notion of seeing and Ibsar has great function in epistemology and can take us to a true cognition of God. Sighting God based on Fakhr Al-din Al-Razi's view. He believes that God can be seen but this does not entail believing in the bodily existence of God and assuming location for Him. Also believing that God can be seen does not mean he is visible, like when someone says he sees the picture of the moon in water, it does not mean that the moon is visible, since it is visible only when it is before one's eyes. He considers the seeing of God neither as speculative nor essential knowledge nor as observing the worldly objects. Referring to traditions and Quranic verses, he states that the visual conception of God is possible while its quality is not well-known. In other words, his view about seeing God is mostly negative rather than affirmative. Seeing God from the perspective of Allamah Tabatabaie He believes that the notion of seeing God according to the general conception of the word "see" surely refers to the physical observing occurring by the eyes, which is a physical and sensational process. It is because such sighting needs the visual organs. Such sighting cannot be used for describing the conceiving of God since it is impossible based on the logical demonstrations. Also, based on the holy Quran, God lacks body and bodily features. Thus, our eyes are capable of seeing material and bodily objects and are beyond seeing the immaterial or metaphysical fats. Eventually, for this reason the word seeing is not normally used for God since generally it is understood as observing something with bodily eyes and may lead to a wrong interpretation. But he considers a second meaning for the word "see" the one which he thinks can be applied for God and thus, wherever is used in the Quran or trasitions, this meaning has been meant. He thinks, by "see" the reality of essential knowledge has been meant. Whenever God speaks of being seen with the mentioned features He surely means the essential knowledge which is present within everyone and can be seen by everybody. Conclusion 1-Based on the superficial meanings of some verses and traditions, Fakhr al-Din al-Razi considers the seeing of God possible and regards it as an optical vision in a way that does not entail God's bodily existence and His requirement to location. Allamah Tabatabaie, although regards the traditions and verses as the proofs for the sighting of God, he thinks this seeing is seeing through the heart and is described as presential knowledge. 2- Fakhr al-Din al-Razi interprets the verses such as 7:103 which seems to deny the possibility of seeing God as a non-appeared meaning, while Allamah Tabatabaie interprets them based on apparent meaning. 3-The disputes among different theological sects about the seeing of God such as Asharits, Mutazelites and Imamiyeh have caused some theologians like Fakhr al-Din al-Razi to fail to handle the notion properly. Meanwhile, Allamah Tabatabaie, being away from such disputes and for the sake of discovering the truth has profoundly reviewed the traditions and verses and made a conclusion disregard of which theological sects may benefit. Therefore, he sometimes speaks of the possibility of seeing God and sometimes denies it. It is because he considers two different meanings of optical and mental vision for the word seeing and says some of the Quranic verses refer to the fist and some refer to the second.