Will the believers see their Lord in Paradise once, or will they see Him all the time, or will that be only on Fridays?

Question

Praise be to Allah.

Part of the belief of Ahl as-Sunnah wa’l-Jamaa‘ah is that the
believers will see their Lord, may He be glorified, on the Day of
Resurrection and in Paradise, because Allah, may He be exalted, says
(interpretation of the meaning):

“Some faces that
Day shall be Nadirah (shining and radiant).

Looking at their Lord (Allah).”

[al-Qiyaamah :22-23].

And there is other evidence to that effect.

This is the greatest blessing that He, may He be glorified,
will bestow upon them.

See also the answers to questions no.
14525 and 116644.

Secondly:

The people of Paradise will have a gathering with their Lord
every Friday on which they will have the blessing of gazing upon His noble
Countenance.

At-Tabaraani narrated in al-Mu‘jam al-Kabeer (6717)
that Anas ibn Maalik said: The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of
Allah be upon him) said: “Jibreel came to me with something like a white
mirror in his hand, on which there was a black spot. I said: ‘What is this,
O Jibreel?’ He said: ‘This is Jumu‘ah (Friday); it is the master of days and
we call it Yawm al-Mazeed (the day of more – cf. “There
they will have all that they desire, and We have more (for them, i.e. a
glance at the All-Mighty, All-Majestic)” [Qaaf
50:35]).’ I said: ‘O Jibreel, what does “more”
mean?’ He said: ‘That is because your Lord has allocated a valley in
Paradise that is more fragrant than white musk. When Friday comes, among the
days in the hereafter, the Lord, may He be blessed and exalted, will descend
from His Throne (‘Arsh) to His Kursiy, and the Kursiy will be surrounded
with seats of light on which the Prophets will sit. These seats will be
surrounded with footstools of gold on which the martyrs will sit. The people
of the chambers will come down from the chambers and sit on sand hills of
musk, and those who sit on the sand hills will not think that those who sit
on the footstools and seats are any better off than them. Then the Owner of
Majesty and Honour will appear and say: ‘Ask of Me.’ They will say: ‘We ask
for Your good pleasure, O Lord.’ He will say: ‘It is because I am pleased
with you that you are in My Paradise, and you are honoured.’ Then He will
say (again): ‘Ask of Me.’ They will say all together: ‘We ask for Your good
pleasure.’ He will ask them to testify that He is pleased with them. Then He
will say (once more): ‘Ask of Me,’ and they will ask of Him until each one
of them is finished. Then He will grant them that which no eye has seen, no
ear has heard, and it has not crossed the mind of any human.”

It was also narrated by Ibn Abi’d-Dunya in Sifat al-Jannah
(88) via another isnaad; he added: “… there is nothing that they are more
eager for than Friday; the more they gaze more upon their Lord, the more
they will increase in honour.”

Al-Mundhiri (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

It was narrated by Ibn Abi’d-Dunya and by at-Tabaraani in
al-Awsat with two isnaads, one of which is jayyid qawiy. A shorter
version was also narrated by Abu Ya‘la; the men of its isnaad are the men of
as-Saheeh. And it was also narrated by al-Bazzaar.

End quote from at-Targheeb wa’t-Tarheeb, 4/311;
classed as hasan by al-Albaani in Saheeh at-Targheeb, 3761

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him)
said:

Ad-Daaraqutni narrated with a saheeh isnaad from Ibn
al-Mubaarak: al-Mas‘oodi told us, from al-Minhaal ibn ‘Amr, from Abu
‘Ubaydah, from ‘Abdullah ibn Mas‘ood, who said: “Hasten to Jumu‘ah, for
verily Allah will appear to the people of Paradise every Friday when they
gather at a sand hill of camphor, and their closeness to Him will be
commensurate with the degree to which they hastened to Jumu‘ah in this
world.” Then he listed a number of isnaads for it, then he said:

This that Ibn Mas‘ood told us is something that he could only
know from a Prophet or from someone who took it from a Prophet. Thus it is
known that Ibn Mas‘ood took it from the Prophet (blessings and peace of
Allah be upon him), and it is not possible for him to have taken it from the
People of the Book, for several reasons:

i.The Sahaabah were forbidden to
believe the People of the Book in what they told them. Hence it is
impossible for Ibn Mas‘ood (may Allah be pleased with him) to have narrated
for the purpose of teaching, or as the basis for a ruling, something that
the Jews told him.

ii.Ibn Mas‘ood (may Allah be
pleased with him) in particular was one of the strictest of the Sahaabah
(may Allah be pleased with them) in denouncing those who took things from
the teachings of the People of the Book.

iii.Jumu‘ah (Friday) was enjoined
only for us, and coming early to Jumu‘ah is only prescribed in our religion.
Hence it is unlikely that such a report could have been taken from the
earlier Prophets, and it is unlikely that the Jews would speak of such a
virtue to this ummah, when they characteristically concealed knowledge and
were miserly with it, and they were envious of this ummah.

End quote from Majmoo‘ al-Fataawa, 6/403-405

Muslim (2833) narrated from Anas ibn Maalik that the
Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “In
Paradise there is a market to which they will come every Friday. Then the
north wind will blow and will blow on their faces and garments, and increase
them in beauty. Then they will return to their families having increased in
beauty and their families will say to them: By Allah, you have increased in
beauty, and they will say: By Allah, you too have increased in beauty.”

Shaykh al-Islam [Ibn Taymiyah] said:

It may be that this hadeeth is shorter
than other hadeeths. The reason for the increase in beauty is “seeing Allah,
may He be exalted”, and all the joy that results from that. Based on that,
it may be that the believing women will see Allah in their homes in Paradise
in such a way that their beauty increases, if the reason for that is seeing
Allah, as is explained in other hadeeths…

… Once that is clear, then we say: In
some of the other hadeeths that give more details than this hadeeth it
mentions seeing Allah on Fridays, but there is nothing to connect it to
Jumu‘ah prayer in this world. In the hadeeth of Abu Hurayrah it mentions the
Friday marketplace of Paradise, and in some of the hadeeths it says that on
Fridays in the hereafter they will sit with Allah, with the degree of
closeness to Him commensurate with the degree to which they hastened to
Jumu‘ah in this world. There is no mention of seeing Him – as mentioned
above in the marfoo‘ hadeeth of Ibn Mas‘ood. And in some reports there is
mention of both things [seeing and sitting] together; these are the majority
of the hadeeths.

End quote from Majmoo‘ al-Fataawa,
6/408-409

He also said:

Seeing Allah in the Hereafter in general
is connected to the congregational prayers. If it was prescribed for people
in this world to gather to remember Allah, converse with Him, and find joy
in meeting Him in prayer every Friday, then in the Hereafter they will be
allocated a meeting every Friday to converse with Him, see Him and find joy
in meeting Him.

If the Sunnah stated that the women should
be enjoined to go out on ‘Eid, even those who remained in seclusion and
those who were menstruating, and at the time of the Messenger of Allah
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) most of the women went out on the
Eid, their Eid in the Hereafter will include seeing Him, commensurate with
their Eid in this world.

End quote from Majmoo‘ al-Fataawa,
6/420

Thirdly:

The idea that the people of Paradise will
see their Lord, may He be glorified, every Friday does not mean that they
will not see Him at other times. The people of Paradise will enjoy various
delights, and the greatest bliss is to see the Lord, may He be exalted, in
Paradise. Just as they will vary in terms of the physical delights of
Paradise, they will also vary in terms of intangible bliss.

But affirming or denying the idea of
seeing Him every day depends on a sound report from the Prophet (blessings
and peace of Allah be upon him) to that effect, and no such report has
reached us as far as we know.

Shaykh al-Albaani (may Allah have mercy on
him) said:

The believers will see their Lord every
Friday; as for every hour or every moment, we have no knowledge concerning
that.

End quote from Duroos Mufraghah
li’sh-Shaykh al-Albaani (43/3)

And Allah knows best.