Some important questions...

[Abu Suliman]

I said Salafi Inquisition; not Salaf, there is a great difference.

Brother he's English is not very good he did not understand you write it in arabic : )

[Sulaiman84]

In the Qabr, you'll be asked من ربك؟ and not أين ربك؟ so work on preparing an answer to that question instead.

[Hafiz Gee]

"Where is Allah? Allah is where he has always been."

-Mufti Abdurrahman Ibn Yusuf

the answer to the question where is Allah is not in any way a fundamental part of the religion, and one can be completely oblivious of it altogether. many people live their lives without ever having really ever having thought about this question.

Can our imperfect minds (in this world) ever really hope to encompass the details of Allah`s attributes and existence, nope, just as our eyes (in this world) can never capture his beauty.

stop while your still ahead and leave this question altogether. trust me after reading several threads on this forum and articles/speeches by scholars on this issue, you will come to the same conclusion.

in the case of this issue ignorance truly is bliss. one need not concern themselves with something so trivial...yes it is trivial, "aynallah?" is not an important part our deen.

all we can say is that Allah is not subject to the laws of creation. just as he is timeless so too is he spaceless, for he created time and space and he was in existence long before he did so (pre-eternal). to assign location to allah whether that be location x, or omnipresence (all places at once) is wrong. we cannot speak of Allah in the spatial/physical sense. Allah best knows the secretes and details of his existence and attributes, and we leave these matters to him.

he has commanded us to worship him. the faculty of "curiosity or inquisitiveness" would be better applied to things like science and medical research, where we can unravel many of the secrets of creation that we are able to comprehend, and benefit the creation of allah at the same time.

[abu rwaha]

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته
brothers please be fair with ur selvese n read this carfuly : i am ganna in shaALLAH copy for u wut our scholars said on this topic such as al emam el albani , binothaimeen n bin baz رحمهم الله تعالى

1 : el albany


Who is Allah?
Allah is the proper name applied to the true God who exists necessarily by Himself comprising all the excellent Divine names and attributes of perfection. Allah is One and Unique. He has no son, no partner, nor equal. He is the sole Creator and Sustainer of the universe. Every creature bears witness to His Oneness, Divinity, and Ruboobiyyah[1], and to the uniqueness of His attributes and names.

His essence does not resemble the essences. He does not inhere in anything, nor does anything inhere in Him. "There is none like unto Him." He is the One, the Sole, the Indivisible. He is the Rubb[2] who accomplishes all affairs, Allah is the Omnipotent and the Omniscient.

His knowledge comprehends in perfect manner all things, hidden or manifest. He is greater than can be encompassed by the knowledge of His creatures. He knows everything, and He is aware of all that takes place in the earth and the heavens. Allah, the Supreme, is the Rubb of everything and has a free hand in disposal of all affairs.

His mercy encompasses everything. He is far removed from injustice or tyranny. He is wise in all His actions, just in all His decrees. His justice ensures order in the universe in which nothing is out of order.

There is no one to share His dominion, nor does He take an aide or supporter from His creatures. He is nearer to man than man's own jugular vein[3]. Whenever a believer is in need or distress calls on Him, He responds.

Allah has revealed His final Scripture, the Qur'an, to that last of His Messengers, Muhammed (sallallaahu `alaihi wasallam) who was responsible for conveying the Message of Islam to mankind. He is the Exalted Allah. Glory is due to Him.




Where is Allah?
Allah, the Exalted, has described Himself in His Book, and by the tongue of His Messenger (sallallaahu `alaihi wasallam) as Sublime, Supreme, and Lofty. The Qur'an is full of proofs relevant to the Loftiness of Allah.

Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jama'ah believe in and confirm all of the attributes of Allah without distorting their meaning, and that Allah is above His seven heavens, above His 'Arsh, and separated from His creatures, and His creatures are separated from Him.

This discourse will provide the Scriptural proofs of the Loftiness of Allah is an indivisible part of the inherent faculty of knowing Allah with which Allah has created mankind. Although the aqeedah of Loftiness of Allah is part of man's innate knowledge and cannot be subjected to hypothetical of philosophical argumentation, there are some deviated sects who follow their whims and deny this intuitive and self-evident fact. For this reason, they have twisted Scriptural proofs and distorted them, and manipulated the texts to conform with their deviant argument.

All of the divine attributes are intrinsically related to the attribute of divine Loftiness. Therefore, accepting or rejecting them must be based on accepting or rejecting the Loftiness of Allah. Whoever believes that Allah is above His 'Arsh[4] and separated from His creatures, also believes in the rest of the attributes of Allah, and believes as well that the heaves and the earth submit to His will, and that He is the Great Rubb of the worlds. Allah does whatever He wills and rules according to His Own wishes. Glory be to Him.

Denial of the divine Loftiness is one of the basic doctrinal heresy promoted by the Jahmites[5] and their off-shoots of today in order to confuse the Muslims' minds. Denying this divine attribute also leads by necessity to the denial of the attribute of the istiwaa of Allah above His Arsh. There is no doubt that the denial of the attributes of Allah clashes with the clear Qur'anic verses in which the unique essential attributes and beautiful names of Allah confirmed. These attributes must be affirmed as identical with Allah.

The essential divine attributes of Allah constitute an integral part of His essence and are not superadded to it. They are accepted literally by Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jama'h without questioning the 'how' of these attributes. To deny them is clear unbelief and heresy.

It is for this reason this discourse has been prepared to deal with the creed of Loftiness of Allah, or the question, 'Where is Allah?' with the Scriptural evidences from the Qur'an and the authentic prophetic traditions, as well as the traditions of those early Muslims, the pious predecessors.
By their emphasis on reason in establishing religious truth, the rationalists, the modernists, and the Jahmites assert the preeminence of reason over the divine revelations. Whereas the Loftiness of Allah which is clearly enunciated in the Qur'an and the Sunnah, is beyond the reach of reason.

The true believers, contrary to the rationalists, believe that the 'Arsh of Allah is above the seven heavens. They also believe that having created the seven heavens and the earth and what is in them, Allah, the Exalted, has mounted His great 'Arsh. Allah says: "Declare your Rubb, the Supreme, to be far removed from every imperfection or impurity."[7]

The "Supreme", linguistically, is in the superlative signifying that Allah is higher than everything and is above all things in essence, power, and invincibility. Commenting on this verse, Ibnul-Qayyim, may Allah grant him His mercy, said:

All Muslims in the past and in the present, when supplicating Allah or imploring His help, they always raise their hands with palms towards the heaven. They do not lower their hands with palms towards the earth, nor do they turn them right or left, nor towards any other direction. They raise their hands up, knowing that Allah is above them. The Muslims also say in prayer while prostrating, "I declare my Rubb, the Supreme, to be far removed from every imperfection or impurity."[8]

If Allah is everywhere, as the deviated sects allege, why then the above verse does not read, 'Declare your Rubb, (around you), (below you), or (everywhere)?' Allah says:"They fear their Rubb above them."[9]

This verse refers to the angels who are above us, and above them is our Rubb, the Blessed, the Exalted. Lest anyone be confused, Allah confirms in this verse that He is above the angels who are the residents of the heavens:"The Compassionate has ascended the 'Arsh.[10]

And:"And verily, your Rubb is Allah who created the heaven and earth in six days, and then ascended the 'Arsh.[11]

Allah also says:"Are you sure that He Who is Above the heaven will not cleave the earth beneath you? Or are you sure that He Who is above the heaven will not send against you a stone-charged hurricane."[12]

The renowned exegetes and commentators are agreed that the One Who is above the heaven is none but Allah Who has mounted His Arsh and is above it in the manner which suits His Majesty.

Those who believe that Allah is everywhere base their argument on verses such as:"And He is Ilaah in the Heavens and He is Ilaah on the Earth!"

The term, 'Ilaah' is classical Arabic means, 'the worshipped'; thus the meaning of the above verse is, "It is He Who is worshipped in the heaven and worshipped on the earth". It would have been redundant were the verse to speak about the existence of Allah in the heaven and on the earth, for the term Illah' is an adjective of Allah, while the pronouns, 'He' in the verse is used in lieu of the name 'Allah', therefor, when the name 'Allah' replaces the pronoun 'He', we get the proper meaning of the verse: 'And it is Allah Who is worshipped in the heaven and on the earth'. But according to the deviated sect who consider the term, 'Ilaah' as 'Allah', we get the redundant meaning, 'And Allah is Allah in the heaven and Allah is on the earth,' a sentence which is grammatically, linguistically and logically incorrect.

Qatadah, a renowned exegete, interpreted this verse as: 'He is worshipped in the heaven and on the earth'.

Imam al-Aajurri said: 'al-Ilaah, is the worshipped. He is worshipped in the heaven as He is worshipped on the earth'.

The Omnipresence of the Divine Knowledge

And He is Allah above the heaven and on the earth He knows your private and public affairs. And He knows what you achieve.[13]

Those who deny that Allah is above His ‘Arsh, dubiously argue that this verse supports their argument. Their argument is refuted by realizing that this verse refers to the knowledge of Allah, according to the renowned exegetes, not His essence. They further assert that this verse signifies that the knowledge of Allah encompasses all things in the heavens and on the earth. The reference to the divine knowledge is made clearly by repeating the clause, 'He knows' twice in this verse, that is to say: "Allah, the Exalted, knows the hidden and the open, and He knows what you achieve".

Had the verse ended with the word, 'earth', one might take their dubious argument into consideration, but Allah, the Exalted, makes it abundantly clear that it is His knowledge, not His essence that encompasses all things.

Another dubious argument is presented by those who deny the fact that Allah, the Exalted, is above His 'Arsh, by alleging that the following verse supports their argument. "Do you not see that Allah knows all that is in the heavens and all that is on the earth? There is no secret counsel of three, but He is their fourth, nor of five, but He is their sixth, nor of fewer than that, nor of more, but He is with them wherever they may be. Then on the Day of Resurrection He will inform them of what they did. Surely, Allah knows all things full well."[14]

The above verse, they contend, signifies that Allah is essentially everywhere. This argument is refuted by the prominent exegete, Ibn Kathir who says: "This means that Allah is well acquainted with their utterances, and private talks and thoughts."

Al-Qurtubi commented on this verse saying: "He knows and hears their private counsel. This is evidenced by the fact that the opening and concluding clauses of this verse confirm the knowledge of Allah."

Al-Qasimi says: "The scholars among the Prophet's companions, who transmitted the meaning of the Qur'an to their successors, held this verse to mean that Allah is above His 'Arsh, but His knowledge is everywhere."

The linguistic analysis of this verse proves the following points:

The opening words of the above verse speak of Allah's knowledge, not His location.
Private counsel, or secret talk, is the theme of this verse. Allah says, 'There is no secret counsel of three, but He is their fourth'. He does not say, 'There are not three, but He is their fourth'. Thus the meaning becomes quite clear that it is the knowledge of Allah what encompasses all His creatures.
Allah confirms that He will inform them of their secret talk on the Day of Resurrection.
The verse ends, therefore, confirming Allah's knowledge.
Allah begins the surah of al-Mujadilah (Chapter 58), of which the verse in question is part, with the following verse: "Allah has indeed heard the speech of the woman who pleads with you concerning her husband and complains to Allah. And Allah has heard your dialogue. Verily, Allah is All-Hearing and All-Seeing.[15]
Allah, the Exalted, states that He has heard the woman who was complaining to the Prophet (sallallaahu `alaihi wasallam) , and has certainly heard her arguing with her husband, but He did not state in the verse that He was their third.

In the subsequent verse, Allah emphasizes that He is well acquainted with the deeds of His slaves.
If one were to believe that Allah is essentially everywhere, it would follow then that He also dwells in filthy places. Only an insane person would dare to impute to Allah such an attribute. Far removed is Allah of what they ascribe to Him.

It would also follow that Allah is mingling with His creatures in the heavens and on the earth. Such belief has paved the way for panatheism[16], and promoted the myth of god incarnate. Allah is far removed from what they ascribe to Him. It should be clear in the minds of the true believers that there is nothing to surround Allah, the Exalted, nor is there a place to contain Him. Things and places are creatures, and Allah is above all His creatures. All creatures need Him, while He is separated from His creatures, and stands in need of none of them.

to be continue.......