Sunan Ibn Majah
Sunan Ibn Majah 196
حَدَّثَنَا عَلِيُّ بْنُ مُحَمَّدٍ، حَدَّثَنَا وَكِيعٌ، حَدَّثَنَا الْمَسْعُودِيُّ، عَنْ عَمْرِو بْنِ مُرَّةَ، عَنْ أَبِي عُبَيْدَةَ، عَنْ أَبِي مُوسَى، قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ " إِنَّ اللَّهَ لاَ يَنَامُ وَلاَ يَنْبَغِي لَهُ أَنْ يَنَامَ يَخْفِضُ الْقِسْطَ وَيَرْفَعُهُ حِجَابُهُ النُّورُ لَوْ كَشَفَهَا لأَحْرَقَتْ سُبُحَاتُ وَجْهِهِ كُلَّ شَىْءٍ أَدْرَكَهُ بَصَرُهُ " . ثُمَّ قَرَأَ أَبُو عُبَيْدَةَ {أَنْ بُورِكَ مَنْ فِي النَّارِ وَمَنْ حَوْلَهَا وَسُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ} .
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Ali ibn Muhammad reported to us: Waki reported to us: al-Masudi reported to us, from Amr ibn Murrah, from Abu Ubaydah, from Abu Musa, who said: The Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and grant him peace) said, ‘Allah does not sleep, nor is it fitting for Him to sleep. He lowers the balance and raises it. His veil is light; if He removed it, the radiance of His Face would burn everything His sight reaches.’ Then Abu Ubaydah recited, ‘Blessed is He who is in the Fire and whoever is around it; glory be to Allah, Lord of all worlds.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The Qur’anic verse is included as transmitted and rendered from the source passage.
لَوْ كَشَفَهَا
The pronoun refers to the veil/light, whose Arabic grammatical gender is feminine.
Should the English make the referent explicit as ‘if He removed the veil’?