ALLAH IS NOT EVERYWHERE!!!

ALLAH IS NOT EVERYWHERE!!!

Allah is above His Throne He is the All-Knowing, All-Seeing.
Allah is not everywhere as the view of those people who claim Allah is everywhere, or that everything is Allah and Allah is everything(wahdatul-wujud) a sufi belief, in which case they believe Allah is everything and everything is Allah, If one takes a minute to reflect upon this saying one can clearly see the shamefulness of this belief and its belittlement of Allah the Most High, free is He from the charges they make. They also say Allah is everywhere, in the clean places in the dirty places under your feet under his creation etc... No doubt these people have brought forth a detestable and disgusting lie. May Allah rectify the affairs of this Ummah and protect this Ummah from these evil callers. The Belief of Ahlus-Sunnah is as follows.

ALLAH THE MOST HIGH IS ABOVE HIS THRONE:

Imam Abu Hanifah[43]

Abu Muti' Al-Balkhi reported:"I asked Imam Abu Hanifah about a person who says, 'I do not know whether my Rubb is, above the heavens or on earth?' Abu Hanifah, may Allah grant him His mercy, said: 'A person who makes such a statement becomes an apostate because Allah, the Exalted says, 'The Merciful has ascended above the 'Arsh (Throne), and the 'Arsh of Allah is above His heavens'. I further asked Abu Hanifah, 'What if such a person admits, Allah is above His 'Arsh, but exclaims, I do not know whether His 'Arsh is above the heavens or on earth'. Abu Hanifah responded: 'If he denies that the 'Arsh is above the heavens, he is an apostate."[44]

If the person apostatizes by saying that he did not know where is the 'Arsh of Allah, then by right a person who denies the Loftiness of Allah altogether is definitely worse than an apostate.

Imam Malik[45]

Abdullah bin Nafi' reported: Malik bin Anas said: 'Allah is above the heavens, but His knowledge encompasses everything. Nothing escapes His knowledge.'[46]

Imam Ash-Shafi'ee[47]

Imam ash-Shafi'ee said:"The creed which I hold is the same creed the Muslims before me were holding, namely, the Testimony of Faith: "There is no god worthy of being worshipped except Allah, that Muhammed is the Messenger of Allah, and that Allah is above His 'Arsh, above the heavens. He descends to the lowest heaven whenever He wishes."[48]

Imam ibn Khuzaimah, a Shafi'ite himself, said: "Whoever disacknowledges that Allah is above His 'Arsh, above His seven heavens, and that He is separated from His creatures, is a Kafir, (unbeliever). Such person must be ordered to repent and disavow his belief, or else he must be beheaded and thrown on a garbage dump so that neither Ahlul-Qiblah[49] nor Ahludth-dthimmah[50] be annoyed by the foul odor of his carcass."[51]

Abu Bakr Muhammad at-Tamimi, a Shafi'ite imam of Naisaboor, said:"I do not pray behind a person who denies the attributes of Allah and does not recognize that Allah is above His 'Arsh."[52]

Imam Ahmad[53]

He was asked: "Is Allah above His 'Arsh, above the seventh heaven, separate from His creatures, and is His knowledge and power encompassing everything everywhere? He replied: 'Certainly, He is above His 'Arsh and nothing escapes His knowledge."[54]

All of the above show that the entire Muslim ummah, in the past and present, is in unison regarding the belief in the Loftiness and Supremacy of Allah, the Exalted.

Dubious Arguments

Adherents of certain deviant sects promote a false belief that Allah is omnipresent Who inheres in His creation. Rational arguments are deadly available to refute the blasphemy of the Jahmites and those who try to revive their belief today. To prove that Allah is above His 'Arsh, and above the seventh heaven in a manner that suits His Majesty, the Imam of Ahlus-Sunnah, Ahmad bin Hanbal, may Allah be pleased with him, refuted their belief more than one thousand years ago, when he wrote: "Where Allah is and Where He is not - An exposition of the denial of the Jahmites that Allah is above the 'Arsh."

We asked them "Why do you deny that Allah is above the 'Arsh when He has said: 'The Merciful has mounted the 'Arsh?[55] And again,' 'Who in six days created the Heavens and the earth then ascended the 'Arsh,'[56] They replied: "He is under the seven earths as He is on the 'Arsh; He is in heaven, on earth and in every place; there is no place where He is not, nor is He is one place to the exclusion of any other." And they quoted the verse: "And He is Ilaah in the heavens and He is Ilaah on the Earth!"

If you wish to prove the falsehood of the Jahmites who claim that Allah exists everywhere, not in one particular place, ask them, 'Is it not true that Allah was existent when there was nothing in existence?' The Jahmites' answer would be: "Certainly, there was nothing before Allah." Then ask them, "Did Allah create the creation within Himself or outside of Himself?" The Jahmites would be compelled to choose on of the following three answers:

If the Jahmites assert that Allah created the creation within Himself, they would then become apostate instantly by claiming that the Jinn, humans and Satans are all dwelling within Allah.

If the Jahmites assert that Allah created the creation outside Himself but dwelled in them afterwards, they would also become apostate instantly by claiming that Allah dwells in His creatures.But if the Jahmites say that Allah created the creation outside Himself and has never dwelled in them, they would by giving this answer, join the folds of Ahl-As-Sunnah, for by giving this answer they denounce their own deviant beliefs.

Allah, the Exalted, described Himself in the Torah too that He is above His creatures. Ka'bul-Ahbaar said: "Allah, azza wajall,[57] said in the Torah, 'I, Allah Am above My salves, and My 'Arsh ia above My creatures, and I am upon My 'Arsh running the affairs of My slaves. Nothing is hidden from Me neither in heaven nor on the earth."[58]

Finally, it may be worthwhile to say that even the enemy of Allah, Fir'awn (Pharoah), who flagrantly claimed to be a god of his people, knew where Allah is more than the followers of Jahm today. Allah says:

And Fir'awn said, 'O, Haman, build for me a tower that I may reach the ways; the ways to heavens so that I may have a look at the Ilaah of Musa.[59]

Now consider the words of Fir'awn who wanted Haman to build a tower for him that he might climb all the way to the heavens to see the Rubb of Musa, for Musa already told him that Allah to Whom he is inviting him is above the heavens, and compare this with the groundless argument of the Jahmite off-shoots of today.

A Muslim wonders how could those who believe that Allah is Omnipresent rationalize such assertion knowing that Allah, the Omnipotent, will collect the earth in His hand and fold the heavens in His right hand, as evidenced by the following divine stern warning.

And they have not venerated Allah with the veneration that is due to Him, for on the Day of Resurrection, the earth will be collected in His hand and the heavens will be folded up in His right hand.[60]

Were the above verse to be the only proof of Allah's Loftiness, it would have been more than sufficient. It is certainly sufficient to those who fear Allah and give Him the true veneration that is due to Him.

Conclusion

The first three Muslim generations whose righteousness the Messenger of Allah (sallallaahu `alaihi wasallam) testified for, and whose merits surpassed the merits of all succeeding generation. They are the Companions of the Prophet (sallallaahu `alaihi wasallam) and the two generations that followed them. They all believed in the apparent meaning of the Qur'anic ayaat that deal with the divine attributes without giving them farfetched interpretations based on Greek philosophies.

The Believer must believe that there is none like unto Allah, the Exalted, in His essence, attributes, nor His actions. He must also believe that Allah stands in need of none of His creatures. Neither a thing nor a place encompasses Him. He is above His 'Arsh, above the seventh heaven, and above all His creature essentially and realistically not allegorically. There is none of His creatures that touches Him.

Based on this it is not permissible to say that Allah is everywhere, or He inheres in any of His creatures, for Allah was when there was nothing. He who asserts that Allah is not outside the universe, not only denies the existence of Allah, but he worships a non-existent god.

We ask Allah to keep us on the straight path of His Messenger (sallallaahu `alaihi wasallam) and his Companions and to make us join their company on the Day when neither wealth nor offspring would avail. Walhamdu lillahi Rabbil-aalameen.

This discourse has been based mainly on two books: Ithbat Uluwil-Lah, by Usamah bin Yusuf al-Qassas, may Allah grant him His mercy, and Ar-Rahman alal Arsh Istawa, by Dr. Awad Mansoor.

Footnotes & References:
[43] Abu Hanifah, one of the four Imam was prominent jurist living from 80 to 150 AH.

[44] Sharhut-Tahawiyyah, p.288

[45] Malik bin Anas, one of the four Imams, was prominent jurist and traditionist (93-179 H).

[46] Abdullah bin Ahmad, as-Sunnah, and others.

[47] Abdullah Muhammad bin Idris ash-Shafi'ee one of the prominent four Imams. Prominent jusrit (150-204 H).

[48] Al-Juyoosh al-Islamiyyah, Ibn al-Qayyim, p.93

[49] The Muslims in general.

[50] Christian or Jewish subjects of a Muslim country.

[51] Ibid.

[52] Ibid.

[53] Ahmad bin Muhammad bin Hanbal, the great Imam, was nicknamed the Imam of Ahlus-Sunnah. This name was to become in Islam the watchword for uncompromising belief. Imam Ahmad, may Allah be pleased with him, was a hero and victim of the violent inquisition during the reign of the Caliph al-Ma'moon, who ordered his subjects, under pain of severe punishment, to adopt the belief that the words of Allah of which the Qur'an is composed are created, thus resembling the belief of the Christians. Imam Ahmad, who refuted to endorse this belief was subjected to harassment, imprisonment, and torture.

[54] Al-Juyoosh al-Islamiyyag, Ibn al-Qayyim, p.123.

[55] Q 20:4

[56] Q 25:60

[57] Azza wajall, Allah is the Powerful, the Glorious.

[58] Adth-Thahabi and others.

[59] Q 40:36,37

[60] Q 39:67