What is the response to the one who says: If we affirm the seeing of Allah, we affirm a direction for Him?

The questioner : In my view, if you have done well in this world, you have not done well in the Hereafter.

The Shaykh : Their claim is that it necessitates that Allah be in a direction.

The questioner : Once in a statement.

The Shaykh : If you permit that Allah is seen with the eye, it necessitates that He be in a direction.

The questioner : In this world, if you ask, you say: Allah, Mighty and Majestic, is far away.

The Shaykh : No, in the Hereafter, in the Hereafter, yes.

The questioner : Unfortunately. It has become necessary, and regarding this direction. It is not like the seeing of created beings.

The Shaykh : No, no. Yes.

The questioner : We say to them: O Shaykh, first, how do we deal with the direction? We deal with the direction by saying that it is in a limited thing. This means, in reality, that it is in a direction, specifically the upper direction. This is true, and we affirm it. Yes, meaning, let us also assume before that, O Shaykh, that this direction has not come from the Salaf, so we will not use it.

The Shaykh : So we say: We first dispute with you regarding the direction. Did it come in the Book, the Sunnah, or the words of the Salaf, either its negation or its affirmation? No, with this specific wording, it did not come.
Second, we say: What do you mean by direction? Do you mean a direction that surrounds Allah, Mighty and Majestic? This is impossible, because in the absolute height, there is nothing but Allah, Mighty and Majestic. Nothing is adjacent to Allah in that absolute height, nor does anything surround Allah, Mighty and Majestic. It is an absolute height, a space in which there is nothing. So He is in the direction of height, but nothing surrounds Him, because nothing from the created beings is adjacent to Him. It is an absolute height with no end. If you mean the direction in this sense, it is true and established, and it does not necessitate any deficiency for Allah in any way. And if you mean by direction what surrounds the Lord, Mighty and Majestic, we do not concede that this is necessitated by affirming the seeing, because He is seen while He is in a direction that does not surround Him. This is permissible by reason, and this is what is intended by the hearing (scriptural evidence). Now, what about the body? Ahmad.

The questioner : We say: Like the body, as we said, like the direction, we say that this term did not come with this meaning.

The Shaykh : There is not.

The questioner : So we say that this term did not come, neither in the Book nor in the Sunnah nor from the Salaf.

The Shaykh : Well done. Yes.

The questioner : We say: Also, if you intend by body that it is parts that depend on one another, this is important, and Allah, Mighty and Majestic, is free from this. And if you intend by body that it is a real self, this is true and correct.

The Shaykh : That it is a real self, attributed with the attributes befitting it, doing what He wills, this is true. There is no objection to that. And know that such words as "space," "direction," "body," "attribute," and the like, are all newly coined terms intended by the theologians to reach a way of describing what Allah described Himself with, or what His Messenger described Him with. For this reason, when al-Safarini (may Allah have mercy on him) said in his creed: "Our Lord is not a substance, nor a body, nor an attribute. Exalted is He, the Owner of Majesty," they criticized him, saying: This negation requires evidence. And our Shaykh (may Allah have mercy on him) replaced it with his saying: "The deity is not likened to His slaves in description, with His many names." So it was a verse for a verse, but there is a difference between this and that.