Tafsir of Al-A'raf 7:143

{For Our appointed time}: For the time We set for him, which We delimited. The lam (in li-mīqātinā) denotes specification; it is as if it were said: "His coming was specified for Our appointed time," just as you say, "I came to him for ten days having passed of the month."

{And his Lord spoke to him}: Without an intermediary, just as a king speaks. His speaking is the creation of speech, articulated in some physical body, just as He created it inscribed upon the Tablet. It is narrated that Moses (peace be upon him) would hear that speech from every direction. Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "He spoke to him for forty days and forty nights, and wrote the Tablets for him." It is also said: "He only spoke to him at the beginning of the forty."

{Show me, that I may look at You}: The second object of arinī (show me) is omitted; that is, "Show me Yourself, that I may look at You." If you say: "Vision is the same as looking, so how can it be said: 'Show me, that I may look at You'?" I say: The meaning of "Show me Yourself" is "Enable me to see You by manifesting Yourself to me, so that I may look at You and see You." If you say: "Why did He say, 'You will not see Me' (lan tarānī) and not 'You will not look at Me' (lan tanẓura ilayya), given his request 'that I may look at You'?" I say: When he said "Show me" in the sense of "Enable me to see," which is perception, it was understood that the request was for vision, not for looking, which involves no perception. Thus, it was said: "You will not see Me," and not "You will not look at Me."

If you say: "How could Moses (peace be upon him) request that, when he is among the most knowledgeable of people regarding Allah, His attributes, what is permissible for Him, and what is not? He knows His transcendence above vision, which is perception by the senses—a concept that is only valid for things in a direction, whereas that which is neither a body nor an accident cannot be in a direction."

I say: The request for vision was only to silence those whom he called "the foolish" and "the misguided," and from whose actions he dissociated himself. When they demanded to see Allah openly, he rebuked them and pointed them toward the truth. They persisted in their obstinacy, saying: "We will not believe you until we see Allah openly." So, he wanted them to hear the text from Allah regarding the impossibility of this—which is His saying: "You will not see Me"—so that they might be certain and the doubts that had entered their hearts might be removed. That is why he said: "My Lord, show me, that I may look at You."

If you say: "Why did he not say, 'Show them, that they may look at You'?" I say: Because Allah spoke to Moses while they were listening. When they heard the speech of the Lord of Might, they wanted Moses to see His Essence so that they might see Him with him, just as he heard His speech and they heard it with him—a desire based on a false analogy. Therefore, Moses said: "Show me, that I may look at You." Furthermore, when he was rebuked for what he requested, and it was denied to him—despite his prophethood, his distinction, and his proximity to Allah—it was a greater rebuke to others, for the Messenger is the leader of his nation, and what he is addressed with applies to them.

His saying "that I may look at You," with its implication of confrontation—which is pure anthropomorphism—is evidence that it is a translation of their proposal and a narration of their words. Far be it from the author of this statement to consider Allah as something to be looked at, confronted by the sense of sight! How could he, who is more deeply rooted in the knowledge of Allah than Wāṣil ibn ʿAṭāʾ, ʿAmr ibn ʿUbayd, al-Naẓẓām, Abū al-Hudhayl, the two Shaykhs, and all the theologians?

If you say: "What is the meaning of lan?" I say: It is an emphasis of the negation provided by lā. Lā negates the future; you say, "I will not do it tomorrow." When you emphasize the negation, you say, "I will lan (never) do it tomorrow." The meaning is that the action contradicts my state, as in: "They will never create a fly, even if they gathered for it" (22:73). Thus, "Vision perceives Him not" (6:103) is a negation of vision in the future, and "You will not see Me" is an emphasis and clarification, because the negated thing contradicts His attributes.

If you say: "How does the istidrāk (rectification/exception) in 'But look at the mountain' connect to what precedes it?" I say: It connects in the sense that "Looking at Me is impossible, so do not request it. But you must look at something else: look at the mountain—which is shaking with you and those for whom you requested the vision—how I act upon it and how I make it dust because of your request for vision." This is so that he might realize the gravity of what he has undertaken through the sign of its effect. It is as if He, the Exalted, confirmed at the request for vision what is similar to the attribution of a son to Him: "And the mountains fall down breaking into pieces, that they attribute a son to the Most Merciful" (19:90-91).

{If it remains in its place}—as it was, stable and fixed—{then you will see Me}. This is a condition for the existence of vision, contingent upon something that cannot happen: the mountain remaining in its place when He reduces it to dust and levels it with the earth. This is speech woven together, presented in a wondrous style and an ingenious pattern. Do you not see how he transitioned from "looking" to "looking" via the word of istidrāk? Then, how he built the threat of the shaking—caused by the request for vision—upon the condition of the existence of vision?

{Then when his Lord manifested to the mountain}: When His power appeared to it and His command and will confronted it, {He made it dust}—that is, pulverized. It is a verbal noun in the sense of a passive participle. {And Moses fell unconscious} from the terror of what he saw. He was struck by a ṣaʿqah (thunderbolt/swoon). It is said that the angels passed by him while he was unconscious and began to nudge him with their feet, saying: "O son of menstruating women, did you covet the vision of the Lord of Might?"

{Then when he recovered} from his swoon, {he said: "Exalted are You!"}—I declare You free from what is not permissible for You, such as vision and other things—{"I have repented to You"} from the request for vision, {"and I am the first of the believers"} that You are neither visible nor perceivable by any of the senses.

If you say: "If the request for vision was for the purpose I mentioned, what did he repent from?" I say: From uttering that great statement, even if it was for a valid purpose on his tongue, without permission from Allah. Look at how Allah magnified the matter of vision in this verse, how He shook the mountain for the one who requested it and made it dust, how He struck them with a swoon, and how He did not exempt His interlocutor from the negation of it—all to emphasize the gravity of the matter. Look at how he glorified his Lord, seeking refuge in Him, repented for letting that word pass his tongue, and said, "I am the first of the believers." Then, wonder at those who call themselves Muslims and "People of the Sunnah and the Community," how they have adopted this grave matter as a doctrine! Do not be deceived by their hiding behind bi-lā kayfa (without asking how), for it is one of the fabrications of their elders.

Another interpretation: It is that he meant by his saying "Show me, that I may look at You": "Make Yourself known to me with a clear, manifest knowledge," as if it were a showing in its clarity, by a sign like the signs of the Resurrection that compel creation to know You. "That I may look at You" means: "I will know You with a compelled knowledge, as if I were looking at You," as it came in the Hadith: "You will see your Lord as you see the moon on the night of the full moon"—meaning: You will know Him with a clear knowledge that is, in its clarity, like your seeing the moon when it is full and complete.

"He said: 'You will not see Me'"—meaning: You will not be able to know Me in this manner, and your strength will not bear that compelled sign. "But look at the mountain," for I will bring upon it and show it one of those signs. If it remains firm for its manifestation and stays in its place without crumbling, then you will be able to bear it and will be capable of it. "Then when his Lord manifested to the mountain"—when one of the signs of His power and greatness appeared to it—"He made it dust, and Moses fell unconscious" due to the greatness of what he saw. "Then when he recovered, he said: 'Exalted are You! I have repented to You'" from what I proposed and dared, "'and I am the first of the believers'" in Your greatness and majesty, and that nothing can stand against Your strike and Your might.