A Study of Moses’ Request to See God and the Issue of his Infallibility

Document Type : Scholary

Authors

1 Assistant Professor, the Department of Hadith and Qur’an Sciences, College of Farabi, University of Tehran, Qom, Iran

2 Assistant Professor, the Department of Islamic world Studies, Al-Mustafa International University, Qom, Iran

Abstract

The request to see God is one of the theological paradoxes mentioned in the life story of Prophet Moses (a) that apparently opposes his infallibility. The verse 143 of the chapter A’rāf is one of the places this story is narrated. The opponents of infallibility suggest that Moses knew God is not physical or visible, nor occupies a place, so why did he have such a request? The answer is that he made a mistake by asking so. Therefore, it negates his being an infallible. On the other hand, Hadiths as well as the views of the exegetes of the Qur’ān and theologians believe that Moses spoke out on behalf of his people and it wasn’t his real request.

Keywords


The Qur’ān with an English Paraphrase (2004), trans. Sayyid Alī Qulī Qarā'ī, London, Islamic College for advanced studies press.
Abulfutūh Rāzī, ῌussain B. Alī (1988), Roz al-Janān wa Rūh al-Bayān fī Tafsīr al- Qur’ān, Mashhad, the institute for Islamic researches of Āstān Quds Raḍawī.
Baghdādī, Alī b. Muḥammad (1979), Tafsīr al-khāzin, Beirut, Dār al-fikr.
Bukhārī, Muḥammad b. Ismā‘īl (n.d), Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Beirut, Dār ibn Kathīr. 
Fakhr Rāzī, Muḥammad b. Omar (1999), Mafātīḥ al-ghayb, Beirut, Dār Ihya al-Torāth al-‘Arabī.
Hillī, ῌassan b. Yūsuf (1959), Anwār al-malakūt fī Sharḥ al-yāqūt, Tehran, Tehran University Publications.
Hillī, ῌassan b. Yūsuf (1999), Kashf al-murād fī Sharḥ Tajrīd al-I'tiqād, Alī Muḥammadī, Qom, Dār al-Fikr.
ῌussainī Tehrānī, ῌāshim (1961), Tuḍiḥ al-Murād Ta'iligh Sharḥ Tajrīd al-I'tiqād, Tehran, Muṣṭafawī.
ῌussainī Shīrāzī, Muḥammad (1980), Taqrīb al-Qur’ān ila al-Azhan, Beirut, Alwafā Institute.
Ibn Taymiyah, Aḥmad b. Abdulḥalīm (1987), Alfatāwā Al-Kubrā, Dār al-kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah. `
Ibn Shar Āshūb, Muḥammad b. Alī (1990), Mutashābih al-Qur’ān wa Mukhtalafihī, Qom, Bīdār Publication.
Kāshānī, Fatḥullāh (1926), Tafsīr Kabīr Menhāj al-Ṣādiqayn fī Ilzām al-Mukhālifīn, Tehran, Islāmiyyah bookstore.
Lāhījī Qomī, Mullā Abdurrazāq (1953), Sarmāyih Imān Dar Osul I'tiqādāt, Tehran, Azzahrā. 
Majlisī, Muḥammad Bāqir b. Muḥammad Taqī (1984), Biḥār al-Anwār, Beirut, Alwafā Institute.
Makārim Shīrāzī, Nāṣir (1995), Tafsīr Nimūne, Tehran, Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyyah. 
Miṣbāh, Muḥammad Taqī (n.d), Āmūzish ‘Aqāyid, available at: www.mesbahyazdi.ir/node/1027
Najafī Khumainī, Muḥammad Jawād (1978), Tafsīr Āsān, Tehran, Islāmiyyah Publication.
Nakhjawānī, ni'matullāh b. Maḥmūd (1999), Al-Fawatiḥ al-Ilāhiyyah wa al-Mafātīḥ al-Ghaybiyah, Egypt, Dār Rikābi Linnashr.
Qurayshī, Alī Akbar (1998), Tafsīr Āsān al-Hadīth, Tehran, Bi'that Foundation.
Rāzī, Alī b. Muḥammad (1981), kifāyat al-Athar fī al-Nass alā A’immat Ithnā ‘Ashar, Qom, Bīdār Publication.
Sadūq (Muḥammad b. Alī) (1959), Oyūn Akhbār al-Riḍī, Tehran, Jahān Publication.
Id. (1978), Al-Tuḥīd, Qom, Jāmi' Mudarrisīn.
Id. (1997), Al-Amālī, Tehran, Kitābchī.
Sharīf Lāhijī, Muḥammad b. Alī (1954), Tafsīr Sharīf Lāhijī, Tehran, Dād Publication.
Sharīf, Murtaḍā (1834), Tanzih al-Anbiyā' wa al-A'immah, Qom, Al-Sharīf al-Rāzī,
Ţabrisī, Aḥmad b. Alī (1982), Al-Iḥtijāj alā Ahl al-Lijāj, Mashhad, Nashr Murtaḍā.  
Ţabrisī, Faḍl b. ῌassan (1982), Majma' al-Bayān fī Tafsīr al-Qur’ān, Tehran, Nāṣir Khusrū publication.
Tabātabā’ī, Muḥammad ῌussain (1996), Al-Mīzān fī Tafsīr al-Qur’ān, M. Mūsawī Hamidānī, Qom, publication for Jāmi' Mudarrisīn.
Id. (n.d), Nahāyat al-Hikmah, Qom, Al-Nashr al-Islāmī Institute.
Uthaymīn, Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ (2010), Al-Kanz al-Thamīn fī tafsīr b. Uthaymīn, Beirut, Nāshirūn.
Zamakhsharī, Muḥammad (1987), Al-Kashāf fī Haqā‘īq Qawāmiz al-Tanzīl, Beirut, Dār al-Kitāb al-‘Arabī.