Surat al-A’raf is a Makki surah, which was revealed to show the Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) what previous Messengers faced from their people. The last story is the story of Musa (peace be upon him), and one of the specific scenes highlighted is when Musa (peace be upon him) asked to see Allah.
وَلَمَّا جَآءَ مُوسَىٰ لِمِيقَٰتِنَا وَكَلَّمَهُۥ رَبُّهُۥ قَالَ رَبِّ أَرِنِيٓ
أَنظُرۡ إِلَيۡكَۚ قَالَ لَن تَرَىٰنِي وَلَٰكِنِ ٱنظُرۡ إِلَى ٱلۡجَبَلِ
فَإِنِ ٱسۡتَقَرَّ مَكَانَهُۥ فَسَوۡفَ تَرَىٰنِيۚ
فَلَمَّا تَجَلَّىٰ رَبُّهُۥ لِلۡجَبَلِ جَعَلَهُۥ دَكّٗا وَخَرَّ مُوسَىٰ
صَعِقٗاۚ فَلَمَّآ أَفَاقَ قَالَ سُبۡحَٰنَكَ
تُبۡتُ إِلَيۡكَ وَأَنَا۠ أَوَّلُ ٱلۡمُؤۡمِنِينَ
When Musa came at Our appointed time and his Lord spoke to him, he said, “My Lord, show (Yourself) to me that I may look at You.” He said: “You shall never see Me. But look at the mount. If it stays at its place, you will see Me.” So when his Lord appeared to the Mount, He made it smashed, and Musa fell down unconscious. When he recovered, he said: “Pure are You. I repent to You, and I am the first to believe (that no one can see You in this world.)” [7:143]
Musa (peace be upon him) yearned to see Allah
When Musa (peace be upon him) first fled Egypt, he went to Madyan, where he stayed for at least ten years, and got married and had children. The first time Allah spoke to him directly was on his way back from Madyan to Egypt; this was the first time he received revelation, and this is why Musa (peace be upon him) is called Kaleem Allah, the one who was spoken to by Allah.
After this, he received revelation on several different occasions, and this made his heart yearn to meet Allah. Normally in a meeting, you don’t only hear someone’s voice, you also see them, and Musa (peace be upon him) longed to see Allah.
Allah knew Musa’s capabilities
Allah knew Musa’s capabilities – after all, He created him. So He told Musa (peace be upon him) that he didn’t have the ability to see Him. Even in the dunya, we have things like X-rays, which we can’t see but know can hurt us. Similarly Allah’s power and majesty is too much for us to handle. No human can see Him.
Yet, Allah didn’t tell Musa off for asking for something forbidden. Musa (peace be upon him) didn’t know it was impossible: he had never been a Messenger before, he was effectively learning as he went.
Instead, Allah said that although Musa wouldn’t be able to see Him, He would reveal Himself to the mountain. The word used in the Quran is tajalla, from tajliya – to show Himself clearly. And the mountain, made of solid rock, crumbled to dust.
Did the Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) see Allah?
There is some debate even among the Companions as to whether the Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) saw Allah during his Night Journey. Some of the Companions thought he did, such as Ibn Abbas and Ibn Mas’ud (may Allah be pleased with them), while others thought he didn’t, including Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her).
The reason for this debate is because when the Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) was asked if he saw Allah, he replied, “Nurun anna ara.” The word nurun means ‘He is light’, but the word anna has two meanings: either ‘wherever I looked’, or ‘how could I have seen him?’
Being prepared to see Allah
Scholars have asked how he could have seen Allah if Musa (peace be upon him) and all other humans are incapable of this in our lifetime on earth. The difference is that Musa (peace be upon him) was did not undergo the preparation to be able to see Allah, but the Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) had been undergone the opening of his chest, which happened four times before the night journey. This strengthened his heart so that he could travel on the Night Journey to Jerusalem and ascend through the skies to heaven. He could have seen Allah, though of course Allah has no physical presence, as He is outside the physical world.
The importance of isolation
Going back to Musa (peace be upon him) – the key to note here is that when this episode happened, Musa had gone into isolation for forty days. This is the time for seclusion, to be focused entirely on Allah.
We have Ramadan to do this for us. Of course, it’s different and isn’t total isolation in the same way, but nevertheless you still taste the sweetness of some isolation and increased focus on one task, which is pleasing Allah.
We ask Allah to enable us to be on this journey of pleasing Him always, both during Ramadan and outside it.
Delivered by Shaykh Haytham Tamim on 11th Ramadan 2025. Transcribed by H Khan.