leading to a kind of knowledge of God that surpasses the usual kinds of knowledge. Among what he said in this context is: "Just as it is not far-fetched that a cataract or a veil or darkness in the eye could be a cause, by the rule of custom, for the impossibility of seeing imagined things, so it is not far-fetched that the turbidity of the soul and the accumulation of the veils of preoccupations could be, by the rule of custom, a barrier to seeing knowable things. If what is in the graves is scattered and what is in the chests is obtained, and the hearts are purified by the pure drink, and are refined by types of purification and growth, it is not impossible that it would lead to a greater perfection and clarity in the essence of God, the Generous, the All-Knowing. The degree of its elevation from the known world would be like the elevation of sight from imagination. Thus, this is expressed as meeting God Almighty, or witnessing Him, or seeing Him, or perceiving Him." The Mahdi's opinion agrees with Al-Ghazali's opinion on the three points, from the phrases we mentioned earlier. The latter adds an attempt to explain the reality of the vision and interpret it as a type of knowledge that God bestows upon His servants. The Mahdi's opinion does not deviate much from Ibn Hazm's opinion either. He says regarding vision: "We have never permitted this vision [the vision known to us] of God Almighty. Rather, we said that He Almighty is seen in the Hereafter with a power other than this power placed in the eye now, but with a power bestowed by God Almighty. Some who hold this view have called it the sixth sense. The explanation is that we know God Almighty with our hearts with a correct knowledge. This is beyond doubt. So God Almighty places in the eyes a power by which they see God and perceive Him, like that which He placed in the heart in this world, and like that which God Almighty placed in the ear of Moses, peace be upon him, to hear His word. So each has its own faculty." This opinion agrees with the Mahdi's opinion in its three elements, and adds to it by mentioning this power that God creates in man in the Hereafter, by which vision is completed.