Tafsir of Al-Qiyamah 75:23

"ناظرة" in His saying, Exalted is He, "إلى ربها ناظرة" is a second predicate for the subject (al-wujuh), or an adjective for "ناضرة" (radiant). "إلى ربها" is connected to "ناظرة". It is valid for the indefinite noun to be a subject because the context is one of detail, as in the saying: "A day for us and a day against us," and "A day for women and a day for men." It is not based on the idea that the indefinite was specified by "on that day" (yawma'idhin), as Ibn Atiyyah claimed, for a temporal adverb cannot be an adjective for physical bodies. Nor is it based on "ناضرة" being an adjective for it and "ناظرة" being the predicate, as has been said, because it is generally known that an adjective is usually something whose attribution to the described noun is already known to the listener, and the attribution of 'looking' to faces is not like that; thus, it is more fitting to be the predicate. Indeed, more than one person mentioned this as a possibility in the verse. Abu Hayyan said: "It is a permissible statement."

The meaning of them being "looking to their Lord" is that they see Him, the Exalted, immersed in the contemplation of His beauty to such an extent that they are oblivious to everything else, witnessing Him, Exalted is He, in a manner befitting His Essence—and there is no restriction upon Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, in all His manifestations, due to His complete essential transcendence.

It has been objected that placing the object (i.e., "to their Lord") first implies exclusivity, as in its counterparts in this surah and elsewhere, which would not hold if this were interpreted as looking in the aforementioned sense, since they necessarily look at things other than Him. Since exclusivity is established, the interpretation must be void. The response to this is that precedence is not exclusively for restriction; how could it be when the requirement of preserving the rhyme and giving importance exists? Furthermore, even if we concede this, the restriction remains valid in the sense that looking at other than Him, when compared to looking at Him, the Exalted, is not considered "looking" at all, as has been said regarding such expressions. Moreover, this is not the case at all times, but only in some, and in those moments, there is no attention paid to anything other than Him, Glorified be His Majesty.

Muslim and al-Tirmidhi recorded from Suhayb that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said: "When the people of Paradise enter Paradise, Allah, the Exalted, will say: 'Do you want anything more that I may increase for you?' They will say: 'Have You not whitened our faces? Have You not admitted us to Paradise and saved us from the Fire?' He said: 'Then the veil will be removed, and they will not be given anything dearer to them than looking at their Lord.'" In a report by Jar Allah—also recorded by Ibn Majah—it says: "So He looks at them and they look at Him, and they do not turn their attention to any of the blessings as long as they are looking at Him, until He is veiled from them." Hence it is said: "They forget the blessings when they see Him."

How great is the loss of the Mu'tazilah! Often, such self-effacement occurs for the gnostics in this life, as they become immersed in the oceans of love and the lights of unveiling overcome their hearts, such that they turn not to anything of the worldly concerns. When the morning becomes clear, its light erases the light of the stars.

It has been said that the speech is based on the omission of an attached noun, meaning: "Looking to the dominion of their Lord, or His mercy, or His reward," and "looking" is used in its well-known sense. Or, it is based on the omission of an attached noun, and "looking" means "awaiting," for it has come linguistically with this meaning, i.e., awaiting the favor of their Lord. This is countered by the fact that omission is contrary to the apparent meaning; the "caller" (reason) they claim is refuted in its place; and that "looking" in the sense of "awaiting" does not take the preposition "ila" (to), but rather connects directly to the object, and is not attributed to the "face." Thus, one does not say, "Zayd's face is awaiting." The obvious implication of the attribution is attributing the "looking" to the actual faces, which leads to intending the essence by the term "face." Al-Sharif al-Murtada in al-Durar attempted to resolve some of this by saying that "ila" (to) is a noun meaning "bounty," the singular of "ala' (favors)," and it is the object of "nazirah" meaning "awaiting," so the "awaiting" acts directly. This contains a degree of far-fetchedness.

If you examine al-Zamakhshari's words, you will see he did not claim that "looking" means "awaiting" so as to be countered as he was; rather, he intended that "looking," in its conventional sense, is a metonymy for expectation and hope. Thus, the meaning to him is that they do not expect bounty and generosity except from their Lord, just as in the world they did not fear or hope for anyone but Him, Glorified and Exalted is He. The rebuttal to this is that it returns to the meaning of "awaiting," but as a metonymy, and the context does not support "awaiting," for there is no blessing in that. It is said of such: "Awaiting is a red death."

What puts an end to the dispute and strikes at the very root of the lowest of claims is what was recorded by Imam Ahmad, al-Tirmidhi, al-Daraqutni, Ibn Jarir, Ibn al-Mundhir, al-Tabarani, al-Bayhaqi, Abd ibn Humayd, Ibn Abi Shaybah, and others from Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both), who said: The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said: "The lowest of the people of Paradise in rank will look at his gardens, his wives, his blessings, his servants, and his thrones for a distance of a thousand years, and the most honorable of them to Allah is he who looks at His Face morning and evening." Then the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) recited: "Faces on that day will be radiant, looking at their Lord." This is an interpretation from him (peace be upon him), and it is known that he is the most knowledgeable of the first and the last, especially regarding what was revealed to him of the Speech of the Lord of the worlds. Similar to this is what was recorded by al-Daraqutni and al-Khatib in his History from Anas that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) recited to him: "Faces on that day will be radiant, looking at their Lord," and he said: "By Allah, He has not abrogated it since He revealed it. They will visit their Lord, Blessed and Exalted is He; they will be given, they will drink, they will be perfumed, they will be adorned, and the veil will be raised between Him and them, so they will look at Him and He will look at them, Mighty and Majestic is He."

This veil, according to the masters, is from their side, not from His side, Exalted is He. They recited: We thought that Layla was veiled, And that a veil before her prevented the kiss; But it appeared, and by Allah, there was no veil, Except that my eyes were blinded to her beauty.

Furthermore, the most ignorant of people, in their view, are the Mu'tazilah, the most blind, and the lowest in rank, for they denied the possibility of seeing the One besides Whom there is no outward manifestation—nay, there is no existent in reality except Him. The evidences for their denial of the possibility of seeing Him, the Exalted, are mentioned along with their refutations in the books of theology, as are the arguments of the community for its possibility. I imagine that after you have grasped and scrutinized the matter, you will incline toward the fact that He, Glorified and Exalted, is seen, but not from the perspective of His pure Essence, nor from the perspective of every manifestation, even His manifestation in His radiant, unbearable light.

Zayd ibn Ali read "وجوه يومئذ نضرة" without an alif (meaning fresh).