Where is Allah?

Sheikh Al-Islam, Abu Al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him, was asked about two men who disagreed in their beliefs. One of them said: "Anyone who does not believe that Allah, may He be exalted and glorified, is in the sky is misguided." The other said: "Allah, may He be exalted and glorified, is not limited to a place." They are followers of the Shafi'i school, so explain to us what we should follow from the beliefs of Imam Shafi'i, may Allah be pleased with him, and what is correct in that?

The answer: Praise be to Allah, the belief of Imam Shafi'i, may Allah be pleased with him, and the belief of the "Salaf of Islam" such as Malik, Al-Thawri, Al-Awza'i, and Ibn Mubarak, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Ishaq ibn Rahawayh, and the belief of the scholars they followed, such as Fudayl ibn Ayyad, Abu Sulayman Ad-Darani, Sahl ibn Abdullah At-Tustari, and others. There is no disagreement among these imams and their likes in the principles of religion

Likewise, Abu Hanifa, may Allah have mercy on him, his established belief in Tawhid and Qadar, and the like, is compatible with the belief of these scholars. And the belief of these scholars is what the companions and those who followed them in righteousness were upon, and it is what the Book and the Sunnah have spoken of

Al-Shafi'i said in the first sermon of "Al-Risalah": "Praise be to Allah, who is as He described Himself and above what His creation describes Him." He clarified that Allah is described as He described Himself in His book and on the tongue of His messenger, peace be upon him

Likewise, Ahmad ibn Hanbal said: "Allah is not described except as He described Himself, or His messenger described Him, without distortion, denial, anthropomorphism, or resemblance. They affirm for Him what He affirmed for Himself of the beautiful names and the lofty attributes and know that there is nothing like Him, and He is the Hearing, the Seeing, in His attributes, essence, and actions”

Until he said: "He is the One who created the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them in six days, then established Himself above the Throne; He is the One who spoke to Moses directly and manifested Himself to the mountain, making it level, and nothing among the creations resembles Him in any aspect of His attributes. His knowledge is unlike anyone else's knowledge, His power is unlike anyone else's power, His mercy is unlike anyone else's mercy, His rising above is unlike anyone else's rising above, His hearing and vision are unlike anyone else's hearing and vision, His speech is unlike anyone else's speech, and His manifestation is unlike anyone else's manifestation

Allah, may He be exalted and glorified, has informed us that in Paradise, there is meat and milk, honey and water, silk, and gold

Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them both, said: "There is nothing in this world that is in the Hereafter except the names”

These are the statements of Sheikh Al-Islam, Abu Al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Taymiyyah, in response to the question about the different beliefs regarding the existence and attributes of Allah

If these unseen creatures are not like the seen creatures - even with agreement in names - then the Creator is greater and more distinguished from His creation than the created is from the created, even if the names agree

He has named Himself as the Living, the All-Knowing, the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing, and some of His names are the Compassionate, the Merciful. The Living is not like the living, the All-Knowing is not like the all-knowing, the All-Hearing is not like the all-hearing, the All-Seeing is not like the all-seeing, the Compassionate is not like the compassionate, and the Merciful is not like the merciful

In the context of the known Hadith of the slave girl, she was asked, "Where is Allah?" She replied, "In the sky." But this does not mean that Allah is in the depths of the sky, or that the heavens contain Him, because none of the early generations or their Imams said this. They unanimously agreed that Allah is above His heavens, on His throne, distinct from His creation. There is nothing of His essence in His creation, and nothing of His creation in His essence

Malik bin Anas said, "Allah is above the sky, and His knowledge is in every place”

So, whoever believes that Allah is confined within the sky, surrounded and in need of the throne or something other than the throne from His creation, or that His rising over His throne is like the rising of the created over his throne, he is lost, an innovator, ignorant. And whoever believes that there is no God to be worshipped above the heavens, and no Lord to be prayed to and prostrated before on the throne, and that Muhammad did not ascend to his Lord and receive the Quran from Him, he is also lost, an innovator. The one who said, "Whoever does not believe that Allah is in the sky is lost," has erred

If he meant by that the one who does not believe that Allah is in the depths of the sky, so that He is confined and surrounded by it, then he has erred. If he meant by that the one who does not believe in what is mentioned in the Quran and the Sunnah, and agreed upon by the early generations and their Imams, that Allah is above His heavens, on His throne, distinct from His creation, then he is correct. For the one who does not believe in that is denying the Prophet and following a path other than that of the believers. In reality, he is denying his Lord, and does not have a God to worship, or a Lord to ask for help and seek guidance from. Indeed, Allah has created His servants - Arabs and non-Arabs - with the innate understanding that when they call upon Allah, their hearts turn towards the highest, and they do not intend Him to be beneath their feet

And that is why some of the knowers said: No knower has ever said, "O Allah!" except that he found in his heart - before his tongue moved - a meaning seeking exaltation, not turning right or left

As for those who specialize in finding excuses and obstacles in this matter, they bring forth suspicions with which they contradict the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger, peace be upon him, as well as the consensus of the early generations of the Ummah and its scholars. These are supported by the true intellectual evidence, as all these evidences concur that Allah is above His creation, exalted over it. Allah created the elderly, the young, and the Bedouins upon this in the Scripture, just as He created them to acknowledge the Creator, exalted be He

The Prophet, peace be upon him, said in an authentic Hadith: "Every child is born upon the fitrah (natural disposition), then his parents make him Jewish, Christian, or Magian, just as an animal gives birth to a complete offspring; do you notice anything defective in it?" Then Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, recited the verse: "The natural religion of Allah upon which He created mankind. There is no change in the creation of Allah”

This is the meaning of the statement of Umar bin Abdul-Aziz: "Adhere to the religion of the Bedouins and the young in the Scripture, cling to what Allah has created them upon, for indeed Allah has created His slaves upon the truth and the messengers were sent to complete and confirm the fitrah, not to alter or change it

As for the enemies of the messengers, such as the Jahmiyyah and their likes, they want to change the fitrah of Allah, and they raise doubts among the people with ambiguous words, which many people do not understand their intent and are not able to respond to them.

The root of their misguidance is their use of general words that have no basis in the Book, the Sunnah, or the sayings of any of the Muslim scholars, such as terms like Takyif (asking how), Tashbih (resemblance), direction, and the like

Whoever understands the resolution of their doubts among them, let him do so, and whoever does not, let him avoid their statements and only accept what is supported by the Book and the Sunnah, as it was said, "And when you see the people and the scholars speaking about Our verses, then turn away from them until they speak about something else. And whoever speaks about Allah and His names and attributes in a way that contradicts the Book and the Sunnah is engaging in falsehood

Many of these people attribute to the Muslim scholars what they did not say: They attribute to Ash-Shafi'i, Ahmad bin Hanbal, Malik, and Abu Hanifah beliefs that they did not utter. And they say to those who follow them: "This is the belief of Imam so-and-so," but when asked for authentic narration from the scholars, the falsehood of their claims becomes apparent

Ash-Shafi'i said, "My ruling regarding the people of rhetoric is to flog them with palm branches and sandals, and make them wander among the tribes and clans, and it is said, 'This is the recompense for one who abandons the Book and the Sunnah and turns to rhetoric”

Abu Yusuf Al-Qadi said, "Whoever seeks the religion through rhetoric commits apostasy”

Ahmad said, "No one adopts rhetoric and succeeds”

Some of the scholars said, "The one who presents obstacles worships nothingness, and the one who depicts images worships idols. The one who presents obstacles is blind, and the one who depicts images is blind. The religion of Allah is between those who go to extremes in it and those who turn away from it”

Allah the Most High says: "And thus we have made you a just community”

The Sunnah in Islam is like Islam in religions. This is the end, and all praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. [Majmu' al-Fatawa (5/256-261)]