Al-Qur'an Surah Al-An'am Verse 103

Mufti Taqi Usmani

No vision can comprehend Him, and He comprehends all visions, and He is Absolutely Subtle, All-Aware.

Dr. Mustafa Khattab, the Clear Quran

No vision can encompass Him, but He encompasses all vision. For He is the Most Subtle, All-Aware.[[ No one is able to see Allah in this world, but there is extensive evidence in the Quran and the teachings of the Prophet (ﷺ) that the believers will be able to see their Lord on the Day of Judgment.]] 

Ruwwad Translation Center

No vision can encompass Him, but He encompasses all vision, and He is the Most Subtle, the All-Aware.

A. J. Arberry

The eyes attain Him not, but He attains the eyes; He is the All-subtle, the All-aware.

Abdul Haleem

No vision can take Him in, but He takes in all vision. He is the All Subtle, the All Aware.

Abdul Majid Daryabadi

Sights comprehend Him not, and He comprehendeth all sights. And He is the Subtle, the Aware.

Abdullah Yusuf Ali

No vision can grasp Him, but His grasp is over all vision; He is above all comprehension, yet is acquainted with all things.

Abul Ala Maududi

No visual perception can encompass Him, even though He encompasses all visual perception. He is the All-Subtle, the All-Aware.

Ahmed Ali

No eyes can penetrate Him, but He penetrates all eyes, and He knows all the mysteries, for He is all-knowing.

Ahmed Raza Khan

Eyes do not encompass Him – and all eyes are within His domain*; He is the Most Subtle, the Fully Aware. (* control / knowledge)

Ali Quli Qarai

The sights do not apprehend Him, yet He apprehends the sights, and He is the All-attentive, the All-aware.

Ali Ünal

Eyes comprehend Him not, but He comprehends all eyes. He is the All-Subtle (penetrating everything no matter how small), the All-Aware.

Amatul Rahman Omar

The physical vision comprehends Him not, but He comprehends all visions, He is the All-Subtle Being (incomprehensible and imperceptible), the All-Aware.

English Literal

The eye sights/knowledge do not comprehend/reach Him , and He comprehends/reaches the eye sights/knowledge, and He is the most kind/gracious , the expert/experienced.

Faridul Haque

Eyes do not encompass Him - and all eyes are within His domain *; He is the Most Subtle, the Fully Aware. (* Control / knowledge)

Hamid S. Aziz

Vision comprehends Him not, but He comprehends all vision, for He is the Subtle, the Aware.

Hilali & Khan

No vision can grasp Him, but His Grasp is over all vision. He is the Most Subtle and Courteous, Well-Acquainted with all things.

Maulana Mohammad Ali

That is Allah, your Lord. There is no god but He; the Creator of all things; therefore serve Him, and He has charge of all things.

Mohammad Habib Shakir

Vision comprehends Him not, and He comprehends (all) vision; and He is the Knower of subtleties, the Aware.

Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall

Vision comprehendeth Him not, but He comprehendeth (all) vision. He is the Subtile, the Aware.

Muhammad Sarwar

No mortal eyes can see Him, but He can see all eyes. He is All-kind and All-aware.

Qaribullah & Darwish

No eye can see Him, though He sees all eyes. He is the Subtle, the Aware.

Safi-ur-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri

No vision can grasp Him, but His grasp is over all vision. He is the Most Subtle, Well-Acquainted (with all things).

Wahiduddin Khan

No vision can grasp Him, but He takes in over all vision; He is the Subtle and Aware One.

Talal Itani

No vision can grasp Him, but His grasp is over all vision. He is the Subtle, the Expert.

Tafsir jalalayn

Vision cannot attain Him, that is, they [the eyes] cannot see Him -- this is [a denial that applies] in particular [circumstances], since [it is accepted] that the believer will see Him in the Hereafter, as indicated by God's words, On that Day faces shall be radiant, gazing upon their Lord [Q. 75;22f.], and by the hadth of the two Shaykhs [Bukhr and Muslim]; `Verily you shall see your Lord, as clearly as you see the full moon at night') -- and it is also said [to mean] that it [vision] cannot encompass Him; but He attains [all] vision, that is to say, He perceives them, whereas they cannot perceive Him; it is not possible in [the case of] anyone other than Him to attain all vision while it [vision] cannot attain Him or encompass Him in knowledge. And He is the Subtle, [in dealing] with His friends, the Aware, of them.

Tafseer Ibn Kathir

لااَّ تُدْرِكُهُ الَابْصَارُ

No vision can grasp Him,

in this life.

The vision will be able to look at Allah in the Hereafter, as affirmed and attested to by the numerous Hadiths from the Prophet through authentic chains of narration in the collections of the Sahihs, Musnad and Sunan collections.

As for this life, Masruq narrated that Aishah said,

"Whoever claims that Muhammad has seen his Lord, will have uttered a lie against Allah, for Allah the Most Honored, says,
لااَّ تُدْرِكُهُ الَابْصَارُ وَهُوَ يُدْرِكُ الَابْصَارَ
(No vision can grasp Him, but His grasp is over all vision.)"

In the Sahih (Muslim) it is recorded that Abu Musa Al-Ashari narrated from the Prophet,

إِنَّ اللهَ لَا يَنَامُ وَلَا يَنْبَغِي لَهُ أَنْ يَنَامَ يَخْفِضُ الْقِسْطَ وَيَرْفَعُهُ يُرْفَعُ إِلَيْهِ عَمَلُ النَّهَارِ قَبْلَ اللَّيْلِ وَعَمَلُ اللَّيْلِ قَبْلَ النَّهَارِ حِجَابُهُ النُّورُ أَوِ النَّارُ لَوْ كَشَفَهُ لَاَحْرَقَتْ سَبُحَاتُ وَجْهِهِ مَا انْتَهَى إِلَيْهِ بَصَرُهُ مِنْ خَلْقِه

Verily, Allah does not sleep and it does not befit His majesty that He should sleep. He lowers the scale (of everything) and raises it. The deeds of the day are ascended to Him before the night, and the deeds of the night before the day. His Veil is the Light -- or Fire -- and if He removes it (the veil), the Light of His Face will burn every created thing that His sight reaches.

In the previous (revealed) Books there is this statement,

"When Musa requested to see Him, Allah said to Musa;

`O Musa! Verily, no living thing sees Me, but it dies and no dried things sees me, but it rolls up."'

Allah said,

فَلَمَّا تَجَلَّى رَبُّهُ لِلْجَبَلِ جَعَلَهُ دَكًّا وَخَرَّ موسَى صَعِقًا فَلَمَّأ أَفَاقَ قَالَ سُبْحَـنَكَ تُبْتُ إِلَيْكَ وَأَنَاْ أَوَّلُ الْمُوْمِنِينَ

So when his Lord appeared to the mountain, He made it collapse to dust, and Musa fell down unconscious. Then when he recovered his senses he said;"Glory be to You, I turn to You in repentance and I am the first of the believers." (7;143)

These Ayat, Hadiths and statements do not negate the fact that Allah will be seen on the Day of Resurrection by His believing servants, in the manner that He decides, all the while preserving His might and grace as they are.

The Mother of the Faithful, Aishah, used to affirm that;

Allah will be seen in the Hereafter, but denied that it could occur in this life, mentioning this Ayah as evidence,
لااَّ تُدْرِكُهُ الَابْصَارُ وَهُوَ يُدْرِكُ الَابْصَارَ
(No vision can grasp Him, but His grasp is over all vision). Her denial was a denial of the ability to encompass Him, meaning to perfectly see His grace and magnificence as He is, for that is not possible for any human, angel or anything created.

Allah's statement,

وَهُوَ يُدْرِكُ الَابْصَارَ

but His grasp is over all vision.

means, He encompasses all vision and He has full knowledge of them, for He created them all.

In another Ayah, Allah said;

أَلَا يَعْلَمُ مَنْ خَلَقَ وَهُوَ اللَّطِيفُ الْخَبِيرُ

Should not He Who has created know! And He is the Most Subtle, Well Acquainted (with all things). (67;14)

It is also possible that `all vision' refers to those who have the vision.

As-Suddi said that Allah's statement,
لااَّ تُدْرِكُهُ الَابْصَارُ وَهُوَ يُدْرِكُ الَابْصَارَ
(No vision can grasp Him, but His grasp is over all vision.) means,

"Nothing sees Him (in this life), but He sees all creation."

وَهُوَ اللَّطِيفُ الْخَبِيرُ



He is the Most Subtle, Well-Acquainted (with all things).

Abu Al-Aliyah said about Allah's statement that it means,

"He is the Most Subtle, bringing forth all things, Well-Acquainted with their position and place."

Allah knows best.

In another Ayah, Allah mentions Luqman's advice to his son,

يبُنَىَّ إِنَّهَأ إِن تَكُ مِثْقَالَ حَبَّةٍ مِّنْ خَرْدَلٍ فَتَكُنْ فِى صَخْرَةٍ أَوْ فِى السَّمَـوَتِ أَوْ فِى الاٌّرْضِ يَأْتِ بِهَا اللَّهُ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَطِيفٌ خَبِيرٌ

O my son! If it be (anything) equal to the weight of grain of mustard seed, and though it be in a rock, or in the heavens or in the earth, Allah will bring it forth. Verily, Allah is Most Subtle, Well Acquainted. (31;16