The ruling on attributing the doctrine of the unity of existence to Abu Hanifah

Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, I found a book in the library in English containing a story in which Abu Hanifah (may Allah have mercy on him) is asked, "Where is Allah?" The Imam answered, according to the claim of the author of the report, by saying, "Have you seen milk? Is there not butter in it?" The questioner said, "Yes." The Imam then asked, "Do you know where the butter is?" The questioner said, "No." The questioner asks: Honorable Shaykh, is this not a clear call by the Imam to the unity of existence?

Answer:
This is a false statement, and we exonerate Imam Abu Hanifah (may Allah have mercy on him) from this claim. This is a lie against the Imam. The Imam, as known in the commentary on the Tahawiyyah, which is in the Tahawi Mosque, when asked about the one who says, "I do not know, is our Lord in the sky or on the earth?" said, "This is a disbeliever," because Allah says: So Abu Hanifah holds that the one who does not know where Allah is is a disbeliever. This is found in the text of the Sahawiyyah, which is a work by Imam al-Sahawi al-Hanafi (may Allah have mercy on him).