How do we reconcile the fact that the Throne is the ceiling of the Garden of Firdaus with the fact that the Throne is above the water?
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The questioner : That the Throne is the ceiling of Paradise contradicts the saying of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and it was twenty, okay, what was the previous recitation?
The Shaykh : I mean, in the hadith now.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : And He established it upon the water. No, let us look. As for the saying of Allah the Exalted[Hud 11:7], this is clear; this is the first water. But this water is above the seventh heaven, as that came in the context of the hadith mentioned by Shaykh Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab at the end of the book al-Tawhid. He said: Between the seventh heaven and His Throne is a sea, the distance between its top and its bottom being a journey of five hundred years. As for the Day of Resurrection, it is permissible that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) will knead this water, and the Throne will be the ceiling of Firdaus, the ceiling of Firdaus, yes.
The Shaykh : I mean, in the hadith now.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : And He established it upon the water. No, let us look. As for the saying of Allah the Exalted
And it is He who created the heavens and the earth in six days - and His Throne had been upon water
وَهُوَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ فِي سِتَّةِ أَيَّامٍ وَكَانَ عَرْشُهُ عَلَى الْمَاءِ
Source
قناة «فضيلة الشيخ محمد بن صالح العثيمين»، 4278 - 4600 كيف نجمع بين أن العرش سقف جنة الفردوس وبأن العرش فوق الماء؟ ابن عثيمين — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.