From the Shahid to the Ghayb: The Vision of God in Late Antiquity, the Qur'an, and Islamic Theology

This dissertation examines the origin, content, and controversy of the doctrine of the vision of God in the Qur’an and the Muslim theologians who interpreted it. The dissertation’s core thesis is that the Qur’an is deeply engaged in late antique theological discourses about the vision of God and articulates its own distinct approach to the topic. The theological controversy among theologians in the 9-10th centuries AD over whether one could see God with bodily eyes arises from an attempt to account for the Qur’an’s affirmations of God’s invisible, non-anthropomorphic transcendence and of the believer’s beatific vision of God in the eschatological future.

本论文深入探讨《古兰经》中上帝之视觉教义的起源、内容及其争议，以及解读此教义的穆斯林神学家。论文的核心论点是，《古兰经》对上帝视觉之晚古时期神学论辩进行了深刻的涉猎，并阐发了其对该主题的独特见解。公元9-10世纪间神学家们关于是否可用肉身之眼目睹上帝的争论，源于对《古兰经》对上帝无形、非拟人化超越性的肯定以及信徒在末日未来对上帝福乐视觉的期待的解释尝试。