Exegesis of the saying of Allah the Exalted: "And He is with you wherever you are," and the meaning of His presence
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Question:
Honorable Shaykh, I seek forgiveness from Allah. The people of the Sunnah say regarding the statement of Allah the Exalted, "And He is with you wherever you are," what does it mean? Is this not an obligation from the perspective that...
Answer:
The presence, my brother, as you have studied, is a general presence and a specific presence with the believers. Presence means encompassing; it means encompassing. It does not mean "with" in the sense of comparison in the language, but "with" in the language is absolute. That is to say, the meaning of presence in the language is not mixing, mixing and touching, but rather its meaning is absolute comparison.
Allah is with us, and He, Glorified and Exalted is He, is on His Throne above His creations, knowing what we are upon. Therefore, Allah began the verse with knowledge and ended it with knowledge, as Imam Ahmad says, indicating that the intended meaning of His presence is knowledge:[Al-Mujadila 58:7] [Al-Mujadila 58:7]. The Qur'an explains parts of itself; thus, it began the verse with knowledge and ended it with knowledge, indicating that the intended meaning of His presence is the presence of knowledge. This presence is absolute companionship, not specific to being side-by-side, touching, or mixing, as these people suppose. Yes.
Honorable Shaykh, I seek forgiveness from Allah. The people of the Sunnah say regarding the statement of Allah the Exalted, "And He is with you wherever you are," what does it mean? Is this not an obligation from the perspective that...
Answer:
The presence, my brother, as you have studied, is a general presence and a specific presence with the believers. Presence means encompassing; it means encompassing. It does not mean "with" in the sense of comparison in the language, but "with" in the language is absolute. That is to say, the meaning of presence in the language is not mixing, mixing and touching, but rather its meaning is absolute comparison.
Allah is with us, and He, Glorified and Exalted is He, is on His Throne above His creations, knowing what we are upon. Therefore, Allah began the verse with knowledge and ended it with knowledge, as Imam Ahmad says, indicating that the intended meaning of His presence is knowledge:
Have you not considered that Allah knows what is in the heavens and what is on the earth?
أَلَمْ تَرَ أَنَّ اللَّهَ يَعْلَمُ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِThere is in no private conversation three but that He is the fourth of them, nor are there five but that He is the sixth of them - and no less than that and no more except that He is with them [in knowledge] wherever they are. Then He will inform them of what they did, on the Day of Resurrection. Indeed Allah is, of all things, Knowing.
مَا يَكُونُ مِن نَّجْوَىٰ ثَلَاثَةٍ إِلَّا هُوَ رَابِعُهُمْ وَلَا خَمْسَةٍ إِلَّا هُوَ سَادِسُهُمْ وَلَا أَدْنَىٰ مِن ذَٰلِكَ وَلَا أَكْثَرَ إِلَّا هُوَ مَعَهُمْ أَيْنَ مَا كَانُوا ثُمَّ يُنَبِّئُهُم بِمَا عَمِلُوا يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمٌ
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 9/2/14 شرح مسائل الجاهلية / الشريط التاسع / جزء٢ — youtube.com (23:46)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.