Similarly, Allah has used the word Hand in several places in the Qur’an.

Similarly, Allah has used the word Hand in several places in the Qur’an. But it means His Power and His Mercy, as in the verse: “But His Hands are outspread.”(5) IS ALLAH VISIBLE? As a direct result of the above-mentioned difference, the Sunnis say that Allah can be seen. Some of them, like Ahmad bin Hanbal, say that He can be seen in this world, as well as in the life hereafter. Others say that He can be seen in the life hereafter only.

On the other hand, we, the Shia Muslims say that He cannot be seen anywhere, because He has no body, and because Allah says in the Qur’an: “Sight cannot reach Him.”(6) The Sunni brothers use the following verse as their proof: “Some faces on that day (of judgment) will be fresh, looking towards their Lord.” (7) But in Arabic language the word “Nadhr” does not imply ‘seeing’. Often it is said: I looked towards the new moon but I did not see it?

Therefore, the verse cannot imply that they will see Allah. According to our interpretation, it means that they will be looking forward for the blessings of Almighty Allah. ATTRIBUTES OF ALLAH According to the Shia beliefs, Attributes of Allah can be put in two distinct groups: First: those Attributes which denote His Person. Second: those Attributes which denote His action.

Shaykh Sadooq says: “For example, we say that Allah was forever Hearing, Seeing, Omniscient, Omnipotent, Having power, Living, Self-Existent, One and Eternal. And these are His personal Attributes. “And we do not say that He was from ever Creating, Doing, Intending, pleased, displeased, Giving sustenance, Speaking; because those Virtues describe His actions; and they are not eternal; it is not allowed to say that Allah was doing all these actions from Eternity.

The reason for this distinction is obvious. Actions need an object. If, for example, we say that Allah was giving sustenance from ever, we will have to admit the existence of sustained things from ever. In other words, we will have to admit that the world was from ever. But it is against our belief that nothing except Allah is Eternal”(8) It appears that the Sunni brothers have no clear view of this distinction. In addition, they say that all His attributes are Eternal.

Moreover, that was the actual cause of their belief that Qur’an, being the speech of Allah, is Eternal, not created. Because they said that He was Mutakallim (speaker) from ever.