Some imagine that Allah the Exalted is inside the sky and that the sky surrounds Him

The questioner : Another question: regarding the saying of Allah the Exalted, . The mistaken answer is that Allah the Exalted is within time and that the sky surrounds Him, as if we were to say so-and-so is in a vessel; then the vessel would contain the reality of him. This leads us to this understanding: that Allah the Exalted is in the sky, and that what is in the sky is His dominion and authority, and the like. We grew up with the position of the Waqifiyyah.

The Shaykh : They say regarding the saying of Allah the Exalted, , meaning: Who is in the sky? The one with dominion and authority is not the one who is in the sky, even though Allah attributed that to Himself. He is not the King; the King is Allah in the sky and the earth, and His authority is in the sky and the earth. But this is a supposition. If we say that Allah is in the sky, it is like saying that a person is in a room or a chamber. Fear.

The questioner : The origin of this confusion and the distinction in the word is that it has one meaning.

The Shaykh : It has one meaning.

The questioner : It has one meaning in all its contexts, and this is a supposition. So fear, for its meaning differs according to what it is attached to. It distinguishes between a thing being in a place, an attribute being in a body, a face being in a mirror, and speech being in written paper. If it were so, would the attribute be like...

The Shaykh : Every time I mention these examples. He says: Water is in the vessel. This means the vessel is what? It surrounds the water.
It surrounds the water, and if it did not surround the water, the water would spill out and not remain. The attribute being in the body: the attribute of description, such as a person being red, white, black, wheat-colored, tall, or short. This is distinguished from saying water is in a dinar. The face being in the mirror: when a person stands in front of the mirror, his face is in the mirror. Does it mean that the face is in the mirror like water is in the vessel? Speech being in written paper also differs from all of this. If you write speech on a paper, it is speech. Therefore, if a man writes the divorce of his wife on a paper, he has divorced her. But is speech being in paper like water being in a vessel or a face being in a mirror? No.
So the meaning of the word differs according to what it is attached to. It is not necessary that Allah the Exalted be in the interior of the sky, and that the sky surrounds Him, because this is impossible for Allah. Yes. What? What? Yes, indeed.
There is a similarity between them. Sometimes Allah the Glorious and Exalted points out what is between them, and sometimes He does not. , and He the Glorious and Exalted says, between them, and indeed . But if it is said "the sky and the earth," it includes what is between them, because what is between them is either the base of the sky or air relative to the earth.

The questioner : If it were asked: Is the Throne in the sky or in the earth? It would be said: The sky, even though the Throne is much larger than the sky?

The Shaykh : Is the Throne in the sky or in the earth? In the sky. You say the Throne is in the sky, and yet it is not in the interior of the sky, but it is above the sky, and larger than the sky, and greater than the sky.