Did the Prophet see his Lord in this world?

Did the Prophet see his Lord in this world, on the night of the Night Journey and Ascension? Sunni scholars agree that the believers will see their Lord in the hereafter (the vision of God in the hereafter). The Prophet's vision of his Lord in this world, says the editor of Kitab al-Tawhid, is a question disputed among Sunnis, on which the Companions themselves differed: affirmation is reported from Ibn 'Abbas and his circle, Ka'b al-Ahbar and Abu Dharr, denial from 'A'isha and Ibn Mas'ud, and both views from Abu Hurayra (may God be pleased with him). ³

Ibn Khuzayma devotes chapter 47 to "the affirmation of the Prophet's vision of his Creator", saying God singled him out with the vision as He singled out Abraham with close friendship, since God raised some messengers above others. ³ The first report in it is Ibn 'Abbas's saying: "Do you wonder that close friendship should be Abraham's, speech Moses' and the vision Muhammad's?" ⁴ A following chapter gathers the reports from 'A'isha denying it. ²

On the verses of al-Najm, he takes Ibn Mas'ud's reports to show that al-Najm 18 is the vision of Gabriel, and finds it "not objectionable" that al-Najm 13 means what Ibn 'Abbas said, that the Prophet saw his Lord twice. ⁵ He then grants that it is established that the Prophet, asked about this verse, said he had seen Gabriel in his true form, but adds: "It is possible that the Prophet saw his Lord, as Ibn 'Abbas reported." ⁶ Abu Dharr's report, he says, was interpreted differently by their scholars because its wording can bear both denial and affirmation. ⁵

The editor observes that the reports from the Prophet adduced for affirmation come from only two Companions, Ibn 'Abbas and 'Abd al-Rahman ibn 'A'ish al-Hadrami, and that al-Hadrami's report has defects — his status as a Companion is disputed and its chain varies in three forms, though al-Bukhari and al-Tirmidhi judged one of them sound — while the evidence for a vision of the heart comes from more Companions. ⁷