Prophet Moses wanted to see GOD and GOD responded

Yes — this is in Surah Al-A’raf (7:143). After Allah spoke to Musa (peace be upon him) at Mount Sinai, Musa asked to see Him directly.
The verse describes Musa asking, “My Lord, show me Yourself so that I may look at You.” Allah responds that Musa cannot bear to see Him directly, but tells him to look at a nearby mountain — if the mountain can withstand a manifestation of Allah’s glory, only then could Musa look. When Allah manifested His glory upon the mountain, it crumbled to dust, and Musa fell unconscious. Upon recovering, Musa turned to Allah in repentance, declaring His glory and affirming his belief.
A few notes relevant to your tafsir work:
∙ Mawdudi’s commentary on this passage typically discusses this as an illustration of human limitation in perceiving divine reality directly in this worldly life — connecting to broader Quranic themes about the nature of divine self-disclosure.
∙ This pairs naturally with discussions in Surah Al-Qiyamah (75:22-23), where the Quran describes faces on the Day of Judgment looking toward their Lord (wajooh… naazirah) — a verse that’s been central to classical debates (Ash’ari vs Mu’tazili/rationalist positions) about whether believers will see Allah in the afterlife, even though it’s established He cannot be seen in this world.
Want me to pull the exact Arabic text and Mawdudi’s fuller commentary on 7:143, or would this tie better into your current Al-Qiyamah work?

How scholars explained this

Good question to address for dawah content — this comes up constantly online. Here’s how scholars across different angles have approached it:

1. The capacity argument (most common classical response)
   Human perception is built for a finite, physical world. Allah is not a physical object bound by space, direction, or matter — so “seeing” Him with eyes designed for light and matter is a category error, not God “hiding.” Musa’s request in 7:143 illustrates this literally: even a Prophet, even with divine permission requested, could not bear the encounter in this worldly form. Mawdudi reads this as proof that the limitation is on the created being’s side, not a withholding on Allah’s side.
2. It’s not hiding — it’s exactly the opposite
   Scholars point out the irony in the objection: the Quran says Allah is closer to you than your jugular vein (50:16) and with you wherever you are (58:7). The complaint “why is God hiding” assumes hiddenness, but the Islamic claim is the reverse — overwhelming nearness that humans can’t perceive sensorially yet. Hiddenness implies distance; Tawheed asserts the opposite problem: He’s too close/too vast for a sensory organ to capture.
3. The test/free-will argument (Ghazali, and modern apologetics)
   If Allah were visible the way objects are visible, belief would no longer be a moral choice — it would be coerced by overwhelming evidence, like believing the sun exists. The whole structure of taqwa (God-consciousness) and akhirah (testing in this life) depends on faith operating through reflection, signs (ayat), and reasoning rather than direct perception. This is why the Quran constantly says “do they not look/reflect” (afa la yandhuroon) rather than “look at God” — the signs are the evidence, not the Self.
4. Deferred, not denied — the afterlife distinction
   Classical theology (especially Ash’ari, building on hadith like the Prophet ﷺ’s description of seeing Allah “like the moon on a clear night”) holds that the beatific vision happens in Jannah, in a transformed state of existence — tying directly into the verse you’re working on, 75:22-23, “wajoohun yawma’idhin naazirah… ila Rabbiha naazirah” (faces that Day, radiant, looking towards their Lord). The “why can’t I see Him now” question gets a direct Quranic answer: this life isn’t the venue for it; the next one is.
5. Mu’tazili/rationalist counter-view (worth knowing for completeness)
   Mu’tazila and some rationalists (and you’ll see this echoed by modern rationalist-leaning voices) argue 75:23 means “awaiting/anticipating their Lord’s reward,” not literal sight, because they hold Allah is categorically beyond any vision, even in the afterlife, since vision implies a body/location. Ahlus Sunnah scholars (Tabari, Ibn Kathir, Mawdudi included) reject this reading as linguistically strained and contrary to authentic hadith, but it’s useful to mention if you want the piece to engage objections fairly.
   For your social media format — the punchiest framing is usually #2 (nearness, not absence) paired with #3 (sight would void the test), since that directly flips the “hiding” accusation rather than just defending against it.
   Want me to draft this as a short-form post (Instagram/Twitter style) or a longer article piece tying into your Al-Qiyamah work?​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​