Seeing God in Sufi Qur’an Commentaries

This history of Sufi conceptions of the hereafter – often imagined as a place of corporeal reward (Paradise) or punishment (Hell) – is built upon the study of five medieval Sufi Qur’an commentaries. Pieter Coppens shows that boundary crossing from this world to the otherworld, and vice versa, revolves around the idea of meeting with and the vision of God; a vision which for some Sufis is not limited to the hereafter. The Qur’anic texts selected for study – all key verses on seeing God – are placed in their broader religious and social context and are shown to provide a useful and varied source for the reconstruction of a history of Sufi eschatology and the vision of God.

This history of Sufi conceptions of the hereafter – often imagined as a place of corporeal reward (Paradise) or punishment (Hell) – is built upon the study of five medieval Sufi Qur’an commentaries. Pieter Coppens shows that boundary crossing from this world to the otherworld, and vice versa, revolves around the idea of meeting with and the vision of God; a vision which for some Sufis is not limited to the hereafter. The Qur’anic texts selected for study – all key verses on seeing God – are placed in their broader religious and social context and are shown to provide a useful and varied source for the reconstruction of a history of Sufi eschatology and the vision of God.