When the slave girl was asked where Allah is, she said, "In the sky." Is the intended meaning "above the sky"?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question : The phrase "Allah is in the sky" and the slave girl's statement "in the sky"—does this meaning imply "above the sky"?
Answer : Yes. This issue is found in the Qur'an:[Al-Mulk 67:16], "Do you feel secure from [Al-Mulk 67:16] in the heaven?" It is known that *fi* (in) indicates location. If we take it as indicating location, there is a problem with this.
Because the container surrounds the contained object and is wider than it. If I say "the water is in the cup," which is wider? The cup, because it surrounds the water. So there remains a problem with this.
The scholars answered this in one of two ways. The first is that *fi* indicates location and "the heaven" means the height. This is because "descent" is used for height in the Arabic language and in the Qur'an. Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, said:[Al-An'am 6:99] and He said: [Al-Furqan 25:48]. He made the sending down from the heaven, and what is meant here is certainly the height, not the heaven which is the preserved ceiling. The evidence for this is His saying, Blessed and Exalted is He: "Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and the earth... and the clouds sent between the heaven and the earth" [An-Nur 24:43]?
Therefore, "in" indicates location and "sky" means height, and infinite height above the skies, and there is no problem with this. The second approach is that they said "in" means "upon."
"In" means "upon" and not location, and the sky is the heavens. In that case, we need a proof to support the claim that "in" means "upon."
So they cited as evidence the saying of Pharaoh to the magicians:[Taha 20:71], "on the trunk of the palm tree," meaning on the trunk of the palm tree, because the meaning is not that he splits the trunk and then puts the man inside it, but rather that he crucifies him on the trunk. And His saying, Exalted is He: [Al-An'am 6:11], "Travel in the land," meaning on it, because the dwellings of the deniers, whose dwellings we see, are on the surface of the earth, not inside it. And with this, the problem is resolved.
Answer : Yes. This issue is found in the Qur'an:
Do you feel secure that He who [holds authority] in the heaven
أَأَمِنتُم مَّن فِي السَّمَاءِDo you feel secure that He who [holds authority] in the heaven would not cause the earth to swallow you and suddenly it would sway?
أَنBecause the container surrounds the contained object and is wider than it. If I say "the water is in the cup," which is wider? The cup, because it surrounds the water. So there remains a problem with this.
The scholars answered this in one of two ways. The first is that *fi* indicates location and "the heaven" means the height. This is because "descent" is used for height in the Arabic language and in the Qur'an. Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, said:
sends down rain from the sky
أَنزَلَ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ مَاءًand We send down from the sky pure water
وَأَنزَلْنَا مِنَ السَّمَاءِ مَاءً طَهُورًاDo you not see that Allah drives clouds? Then He brings them together, then He makes them into a mass, and you see the rain emerge from within it.
أَلَمْ تَرَ أَنَّ اللَّهَ يُزْجِي سَحَابًا ثُمَّ يُؤَلِّفُ بَيْنَهُ ثُمَّ يَجْعَلُهُ رُكَامًا فَتَرَى الْوَدْقَ يَخْرُجُ مِنْ خِلَالِهِTherefore, "in" indicates location and "sky" means height, and infinite height above the skies, and there is no problem with this. The second approach is that they said "in" means "upon."
"In" means "upon" and not location, and the sky is the heavens. In that case, we need a proof to support the claim that "in" means "upon."
So they cited as evidence the saying of Pharaoh to the magicians:
I will crucify you on the trunks of palm trees
وَلَأُصَلِّبَنَّكُمْ فِي جُذُوعِ النَّخْلِSay, "Travel through the land; then observe how was the end of the deniers."
قُلْ سِيرُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ ثُمَّ انظُرُوا كَيْفَ كَانَ عَاقِبَةُ الْمُكَذِّبِينَ
Source
قناة «فضيلة الشيخ محمد بن صالح العثيمين»، 4283 - 4600 عند ما سئلت الجارية أين الله فقالت في السماء هل المقصود على السماء؟ ابن عثيمين — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.