Did Muhammad (salla Allahu `alayhi wa sallam) see Allah directly?

I believe I was listening to a lecture not too long ago which explained that Allah has a veil, and that this veil is made out of light. I wasn't sure if I had heard the lecturer correctly, so then I went and checked it out. Yup, the statement was valid:

The Messenger described Allah, as "His veil is Light, if He unveils it, the Light of His Face will burn all what His Sight reaches (which is everything!)" [Muslim]

So, then reading into the links posted on linguaislamica I noticed that on the Amr Khaled site, there is mention of what scholars say about what Muhammad (salla Allahu `alayhi wa sallam) saw on his trip:

"There is a great controversy among scholars whether prophet Muhammad (SAWS) saw Allah (SWT) or not. The Prophet (SAWS) himself does not mention any details on this subject."

Um... so, what about that hadith above about the veil of light? He did explain in not so many words what Allah looked like, no? Probably something missed in translation, Allahu a`lam.

I think I'm looking too much into this, but this is fascinating me, Muhammad (salla Allahu `alayhi wa sallam) was in the direct "presence" of Allah, as it was said on linguaislamica. I believe the reason I wrote this is because of the word "direct" because if he saw him directly without the presence of Allah's veil then that couldn't be.

subHan Allah, simply to imagine the veil of Allah, it must have been magnificent.

Hmm, since I'm speaking about the veil of Allah it would be nice to reflect upon the story of Musa (`alayhi sallam) and when he met up with Allah:

Therefore Musa (AS), when Allaah spoke to Him, his heart reached out to Allaah and there was an exchange of words between him and Allaah. When Allaah spoke to Moses, his heart was attached to Allaah and Musa thought that there was no harm in trying to see Allaah. He said, 'O my Lord, let me see You.' Allaah, 'You will never see Me, but if you so wish, look at the mountain and if it stands in its place (when Allaah unveiled Himself to the mountain), then you will see Me.' So Allaah (SWT) said, 'And when Allaah revealed Himself to the mountain,' and as bin Malik said the light of Allaah was only a small bit and when Allaah revealed Himself to the moutain, it smashed the mountain, Musa fell down in a state of unconsciousness. The mountain could not carry the beauty of Allaah (SWT). It could not stand in front of the Majesty of Allaah and it became levelled with the earth and Musa fell down in a state of unconsciousness. When he was revived, he said, 'Glory be to You O Allaah! I repent and I am the first of the believers.'

subHan Allah, subHan Allah, subHan Allah...

I just realized something, it would be accurate to say direct presence, because right now we are in the presence of Allah; however, we are not in the direct presence of His veil.

Oh subHan Allah, to be able to be in this kind of presence... subHan Allah.

I remember once reading or maybe hearing a very nice analogy. Let me see how well I may remember it... well, it went something like this: If you cannot bear looking directly at the light of the sun, then what makes you think you can bear the light of Allah subHanahu wa ta`ala... I really liked that, only I wish I could remember how it was worded. in sha' Allah if I remember I'll come back and fix this, but it's still a very good point.

ya Rabbi, it's just something amazing to think about... I shouldn't dwell on this, so I'm going to stop here. There's no doubt that there is a desire to be in the presence of Allah, if Allah is to be pleased with me, subHan Allah... I only hope this desire intensifies into a strong taqwa, and a strong sense of Ihsan, in sha' Allah.