Sahih Muslim
Sahih Muslim 178a
حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ أَبِي شَيْبَةَ، حَدَّثَنَا وَكِيعٌ، عَنْ يَزِيدَ بْنِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ، عَنْ قَتَادَةَ، عَنْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ شَقِيقٍ، عَنْ أَبِي ذَرٍّ، قَالَ سَأَلْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم هَلْ رَأَيْتَ رَبَّكَ قَالَ " نُورٌ أَنَّى أَرَاهُ " .
Abu Bakr ibn Abi Shayba narrated to us: Waki‘ narrated to us, from Yazid ibn Ibrahim, from Qatada, from ‘Abdullah ibn Shaqiq, from Abu Dharr, who said: I asked the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), ‘Did you see your Lord?’ He replied, ‘Light—how could I see Him?’
Translation notes
The concise Arabic answer can be parsed as ‘Light—how could I see Him?’; the intended relation of ‘light’ to the question is not explicit.
قَالَ سَأَلْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم هَلْ رَأَيْتَ رَبَّكَ قَالَ " نُورٌ أَنَّى أَرَاهُ " .
The short answer ‘nur, anna arahu’ can be read as ‘Light—how could I see Him?’ or as indicating that light prevented the vision; the Arabic wording leaves the relation elliptical.
Should a later editor retain the elliptical wording or make the implied relation explicit?