Is it permissible to say that the presence of Allah the Exalted with His believing servants is essential?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
The questioner says: Honorable Shaykh, is the presence of Allah with His righteous servants a real, essential presence? We do not say it is essential, because that implies indwelling in the minds of the common people, leading them to disbelief?
Answer:
We say what the Salaf said. The Salaf say that the presence is with them by His knowledge and His encompassing awareness. Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) is with all creation by His knowledge and His encompassing awareness. He is with the believers by His support, His backing, and His assistance, which is a special presence. We do not say it is by His essence. This is what the Salaf said. This term was not used by the Salaf, so introducing it is a religious innovation (bid'ah). It is not permissible to speak in this way.
The questioner says: Honorable Shaykh, is the presence of Allah with His righteous servants a real, essential presence? We do not say it is essential, because that implies indwelling in the minds of the common people, leading them to disbelief?
Answer:
We say what the Salaf said. The Salaf say that the presence is with them by His knowledge and His encompassing awareness. Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) is with all creation by His knowledge and His encompassing awareness. He is with the believers by His support, His backing, and His assistance, which is a special presence. We do not say it is by His essence. This is what the Salaf said. This term was not used by the Salaf, so introducing it is a religious innovation (bid'ah). It is not permissible to speak in this way.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، هل يجوز القول أن معية الله تعالى لعباده المؤمنين ذاتية؟ #فتاوى الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.