In Arabic language the word "Nadhira" that is used in the above verse does not imply "seeing", and our Imams (AS) used other verses of Quran to prove this.
In fact, the word "Nadhira" has been used in Quran with the meaning of "Muntadhira" that means expecting/waiting. On the commentary of this verse, IMAM ALI (AS)said:
"... The verse means looking forward to what Allah, to Whom belong Might and Majesty, has *promised them*. And the word 'Nadhira'
sometimes means 'expecting/waiting' ('al- Muntadhira'). Haven't you heard the saying of Allah: '(But I am going to send him a present) and I am looking forward (Nadhira) to what (answer) the ambassadors will return (27:35).'
This means I am waiting (al-Muntadhira) for what the ambassadors will return..."
- al-Ihtijaj, v1, p243
- Bihar al-Anwar, v90, p101, Hadith #1
In another Hadith on the commentary of the verse "Some faces on that day will be brilliant, looking towards their Lord", Imam Ali Ibn Musa al-Ridha (AS) said:
"It means (their faces) are radiant and they are looking forward to the REWARD of their Lord."
- al-Ihtijaj, v2, p409
- Kitab al-Tawhid, p116, Hadith #19
- al-Amali, Shaikh Saduq, p409, Hadith #1
- al-Bihar, v4, p28, Hadith #3
On the impossibility of seeing, visualising, or thinking Allah, Abu Hashim al-Ja'fari narrated:
About the verse "Visions can not reach Him and He grasps all visions (6:103)",
Imam al-Ridha (AS) said: "O Aba Hashim! The thinking/imagination of the mind is more delicate than the vision of the eyes. By your imagination, you can reach to India and other places that you have not entered and your eyes have not reached.
Thus the thinking of minds can not reach Him, then how could the visions of eyes do?"
- al-Kafi, v1, p99, Hadith #11
- Kitab al-Tawhid, p113, Hadith #12
- Bihar al-Anwar, v4, p39, Hadith #17
Similarly he narrated:
Imam al-Ridha (AS) said: "Verily the imagination of the mind is more (powerful) than the vision of the eyes.
Thus (the verse means) minds can not reach Him, and He reaches to all minds."
- Al-Kafi, v1, p98, Hadith #10
-Kitab al-Tawhid, p112, Hadith #11
- Bihar al-Anwar, v4, p39, Hadith #16
Impossibility of seeing Allah is out of question when mind cannot encompass Him. In another Hadith, Ibrahim al-Karkhi narrated:
I said to Ja'far Ibn Muhammad al-Sadiq (AS): "There is a person who claims to see Allah in dream. How is this possible?" He (AS) replied:
"That man has no religion. Verily Allah can be seen neither in awareness, nor in dream, nor in this world, NOR IN THE HEREAFTER."
- al-Amali, Shaikh Saduq, p610, Hadith #5
- Bihar al-Anwar, v4, p32, Hadith#7
