Arinī: Declined at the Boundary?

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the discussion of Moses’ request to God to see Him (Q7:143) in the Qur’an commentaries. It hsows that within some Sufi understandings this story signifies an attempt to temporarily restore a paradisiacal state of constant vision in this world: the yearning for the vision of God promised in Paradise was so strong that they were looking for ways to have a similar experience in the current abode. For some this took the form of a visionary encounter, a foretaste of what was to come in the hereafter.