Continuation of the discussion on the issue of excuse due to ignorance.

The Shaykh : Now, if this Prophetic question, "Where is Allah?" were directed to some of the Shaykhs of Al-Azhar, they would raise objections against you, let alone that they do not approve of the maidservant's answer. They would not say to you, "Allah is in the sky." Even if they possess some knowledge, they would attempt to cast doubt on the authenticity of this hadith. And if they concede its authenticity, they would offer explanations for the maidservant's answer that result in casting doubt on the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) in ways they do not know or realize. I do not see a necessity now to delve into the details of this matter; it is sufficient for me to link this statement to what came before.
If some of the Shaykhs of Al-Azhar, who are the vast majority in Egypt for example, do not adopt the Salafi creed that the noble verses explicitly stated and that the authentic Prophetic hadiths consistently affirmed, and if they do not say that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) possesses the attribute of elevation, then what is the creed of the general Egyptian people? Do they believe as this maidservant believes, while the Shaykhs of Al-Azhar do not believe it? Therefore, we should say that these common people in Egypt and in similar other countries, whether Arab or non-Arab, are excused because they do not live in that Islamic environment from which the maidservant learned that correct creed. How could the maidservant, who was a shepherdess, know this creed that the scholars of Al-Azhar do not know? From the environment of her master and mistress and the people around her, all of whom practiced one religion and adopted one creed, she learned this creed from the society in which she lived. Perhaps she had read and followed the Sunnah of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) in reading Surat Tabaarak, which is prescribed for the Muslim to read every night before lying down to sleep. In it, our Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He) says: So, this maidservant, and in some weak narrations she was a non-Arab, received this correct creed from the environment in which she lived, and her creed was sound. As for the Egyptian environment and the environment of other non-Arab countries, it is infected, and one does not find the correct creed in the individuals. So, in my opinion, they are fully excused.