Continuing off of my last post:
Q: Then what about this hadith in Sahih Muslim?
أَمَا إِنَّكُمْ سَتَرَوْنَ رَبَّكُمْ كَمَا تَرَوْنَ هَذَا الْقَمَرَ، لَا تُضَامُّونَ فِي رُؤْيَتِهِ
Surely you will see your Lord as you see this full moon; you will have no trouble in seeing Him.
A: A simile [tashbeeh] is given - it is a figure of speech comparing one thing to another. Three components are involved:
1. The matter being likened [mushabbah]
2. What it's being likened to [mushabbah bihi]
3. The common feature [wajh al-tashbeeh]
To back up what I'm about to say, let's first look at what Imam al-Nawawi says in the commentary of this hadith.
أي: ترونه رؤية محققة لا شك فيها ولا مشقة، كما ترون هذا القمر رؤية محققة بلا مشقة، فهو تشبيه للرؤية بالرؤية لا المرئي بالمرئي
Meaning: You'll see Him with an actualized vision, without a doubt and without trouble. Just like you're actually seeing this moon, without any trouble. The simile is comparing the vision of both things, not the perceived things themselves.
In other words: the common feature is the apparentness and ease by which both will and can be seen, i.e. the ease of the vision of both. The hadith is comparing the vision of both. It is NOT comparing Allah to the moon, in that He will be viewed in a direction and entering creation. That is a distortion of the hadith's meaning by the Mujassimah.
Q: Then what about this hadith in Sahih Muslim?
أَمَا إِنَّكُمْ سَتَرَوْنَ رَبَّكُمْ كَمَا تَرَوْنَ هَذَا الْقَمَرَ، لَا تُضَامُّونَ فِي رُؤْيَتِهِ
Surely you will see your Lord as you see this full moon; you will have no trouble in seeing Him.
A: A simile [tashbeeh] is given - it is a figure of speech comparing one thing to another. Three components are involved:
1. The matter being likened [mushabbah]
2. What it's being likened to [mushabbah bihi]
3. The common feature [wajh al-tashbeeh]
To back up what I'm about to say, let's first look at what Imam al-Nawawi says in the commentary of this hadith.
أي: ترونه رؤية محققة لا شك فيها ولا مشقة، كما ترون هذا القمر رؤية محققة بلا مشقة، فهو تشبيه للرؤية بالرؤية لا المرئي بالمرئي
Meaning: You'll see Him with an actualized vision, without a doubt and without trouble. Just like you're actually seeing this moon, without any trouble. The simile is comparing the vision of both things, not the perceived things themselves.
In other words: the common feature is the apparentness and ease by which both will and can be seen, i.e. the ease of the vision of both. The hadith is comparing the vision of both. It is NOT comparing Allah to the moon, in that He will be viewed in a direction and entering creation. That is a distortion of the hadith's meaning by the Mujassimah.