Refuting the Doubt That Allah Is in Every Place

The questioner : And this is what the questioner, Muhammad al-Mas'udi, says.

The Shaykh : The doubt raised by those who say that Allah is in every place is that Allah informed us that He is with us wherever we are, and He did not say this with His Essence regarding them. So how do we refute their doubt? The refutation of this doubt is clear. We say that the One who said, "He is with you wherever you are," is the One who said, "The Most Merciful has ascended above the Throne." If you take the first statement and leave the second, you have believed in part of the Book and disbelieved in part. It is well known that if He says He is with us, this does not contradict His being in the sky. We mentioned this to you, saying that this does not contradict it from three angles. In al-Wasitiyyah, the Shaykh al-Islam gave an example of this using the moon: it is said to be with us while it is in the sky.