then perceives Him, for it is none other than He. He is the seer, that through which seeing occurs, and the seen.
What is denied in this verse lies in His saying, “Eyes do not perceive Him” [al-Anʿām 6:103]. Here sights are meanings through which visible things are perceived; they do not themselves perceive visible things. This differs from the present case: when the Real's entity is your very sight, it is valid to say in such a case, “Sight perceives Him.” Perception is attributed to it, while its being the servant's sight remains valid.
Attend to this question, for it is very beneficial. Through it you know that God has servants for whom He hastens His vision in this world before the Hereafter, and other servants for whom He defers it.
God has servants who see Him only through their own sights in the Hereafter, lower in rank of vision than these. God also has servants who see Him in this world through the sights of their faith, and in the isthmian Hereafter through the eyes of their imagination, in wakefulness, sleep, and death.
(The Knowledge of Consideration and the Veil's Ruling)
From this, those among the people of God who say that knowledge is a veil mean the knowledge of reflective consideration: knowledge the rational person acquires through his consideration concerning God.
This is the meaning of His saying, “I turn his sight away from Me.” None who sees Me sees Me except through Me. Whoever sees Me through his own sight sees only himself, for I disclose Myself to him in his form.
(Communication and Understanding without Reflection)
The men of God know God through God's informing, exalted is He. He is thus their knowledge, as He is their sight. Were reflective consideration conceivable from such people, the Real would be their very thought, as He is their very
