A story of the Shaykh that happened to him in Mina with some of the Azhar scholars, along with continuing the refutation of the ta'til (denial of the divine attributes) group.

The Shaykh : I remember this well, on the occasion of the Noble Azhar.

The questioner: Peace be upon you.

The Shaykh: And upon you peace.
And that he affirms this creed.
Abu Ahmad and the one who handed him the cup made a mistake. You made a mistake by not warning him. The error started with him, and you followed him. It is possible...
I remember very well, from ten years ago or more, that we were in Mina during Hajj. On one of the beautiful nights in Mina, the weather there was calm, and our Lord was manifesting Himself to His servants. I was sitting and talking with some of the pilgrims there, some from Egypt, some from Syria, and so on. When an Egyptian Azhar scholar came in and sat down after greeting us, he sensed that the one speaking had a specific orientation; that is, the broad pen they call Wahhabi, whereas we call it Salafi. He wanted to stir up a problem, saying that the Wahhabi group are those who ascribe a body to Allah, claiming that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is in the sky and has risen above the Throne. I listened to him so that I could respond to him. When he finished speaking, I said to him: Shaykh, is this the speech of humans or the speech of Allah? I heard you say that the Wahhabis say this, but this is the speech of the Lord of the Worlds! What did the poor man say? He said: Yes, this is the speech of the Lord of the Worlds, but the meaning is not as they say. What do they say? I asked him. He said: They say: meaning He is above. I said to him: Or what is the meaning other than this? He said: No, its meaning is that we have confined our Lord to a place—and here the point and the joke come in. I said to him: Shaykh, you are misunderstanding the group. They are the ones who purify Allah from being in a place, and those who oppose them are the ones who place Allah in a place. He said: How? I said to him: Is a place created or pre-existing? He said: No, it is created; because whatever comes into existence, . We said to him: Okay; now we are sitting here in Mina; are we not in a place? He said: Yes. We said to him: What is above us? He said: The lowest heaven. I said to him: Is it a place? He said: Yes. And above the lowest heaven? Without a long story: the seventh heaven, and what is above the seventh heaven? He said: The Throne. We said to him: Okay; and what is above the Throne? Here the joke came in. He said—and here is the point—he said: The Kerubim angels.

The questioner : Who?

The Shaykh : The Kerubiyun angels.

The questioner : Do you mean the angels who are close to Allah?

The Shaykh : No, no, the Kerubiyun. This term is borrowed, but it is not correct. I ignored the issue and said to him: What are the Kerubiyun angels? He said: These are among the angels that our Lord created. I said to him: Are these above the Throne? He said: Yes. I said to him: Is there a verse that says above the Throne? Is there , is there a verse about the Kerubiyun angels rising above the Throne? He said: No. I said to him: Okay; is there a hadith? He said: No. I said to him: Strange; where did this creed come from for you? He said: The Noble Azhar taught us this. I said to him: Glory be to Allah!—here is the point—I said to him: Glory be to Allah! The Noble Azhar affirms that a sound hadith with a verified chain from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) does not establish a creed. Okay; here there is no verse and no hadith, where did you get this creed from? In any case, this is an interjection on his part. I want to continue the discussion with him regarding . We said to him: Okay; let us set aside for now this creed which you admitted has no basis in the Book or the Sunnah, but it is an Azhari creed. Let us assume for the sake of argument that there are Kerubiyun angels above the Throne, and what is above the Kerubiyun angels? He said: There is nothing. We said to him: Okay; let us mention something important to you. I said to him: When I asked about the place, you derived it from "what comes into existence" and so on. He said: Yes. I said to him: Is the universe limited or unlimited? He said to us: Limited. We said to him: So our search led us to the Throne, and he brought up the myth of the Kerubiyun angels, and I followed him later. I said to him: Suppose there are Kerubiyun angels; what is after that? Is there anything there? Did the universe end? He said: The universe ended. So there is no place left? There is no place left. So when we say the Most Merciful rose above the Throne, why do you accuse us of placing Him in a place? There is no place, my brothers, by our admission and the agreement of all that the universe is limited, and the last of the universe, after which there is no created thing, is the Throne. And our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) is above the Throne, above all created things, as the jurist-poet also said:
"And the Lord of the Throne is above the Throne, but without the description of occupying a place or being connected to it."
So He is the One who is free of need from the worlds, but there is no escape, by reason and by the Shari'ah, from saying that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is above all created things; because He is free of need from the worlds. Or we say that He is inside all created things, within them, and as they say: mixing, what? Water with ice. And some of the extremists of the Sufis said, and Allah is not like what?

Another questioner : Like a monk in a church.

The Shaykh : No, no, like ice, like water in ice, or something like that.
The summary.

Another questioner : Like ice in water.

The Shaykh : Oh?

Another questioner : Like milk in milk.

Another questioner : Like milk in water.

The Shaykh : The point is, either we say that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is above all created things, or we say He is inside them, or we say as I heard one of my shaykhs in Damascus, on the pulpit, on the greatest day, Friday, say: Allah is not above or below, not right or left, not in front or behind, not inside the world nor outside it, not connected to it nor separated from it. ... If one were to ask the most eloquent of the Arabs in speech and expression: Describe for us the non-existent? He would not be able to describe it with more than what these people describe their object of worship! Allah is not above or below, not right or left, not in front or behind, not inside the world nor outside it, not connected to it nor separated from it!! This is the non-existent!! This is the non-existent!!
Therefore, I really liked the words of one of the intelligent princes, Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him and reward him for Islam with good). He struggled greatly in the defense of the methodology of the Salaf. And as you know, the people of innovation always rise up against the people of the Sunnah, especially in the past and in the time of Ibn Taymiyyah, all the shaykhs were against him, so they complained about him to the prince in Damascus... The discussion began on some creedal points; among them that Ibn Taymiyyah says: Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has the attribute of being above all created things. They say: No, Allah is in every place, just as you hear in this time, at the slightest occasion they tell you: Allah is present in every existence. How is Allah present in every existence? Among the existences are sewers, drains, toilets, bars, inns, taverns, and so on. Allah is present in every existence.
In summary: A discussion took place between Ibn Taymiyyah and the shaykhs. Ibn Taymiyyah established the proof against them with words like what you heard and more. What did this intelligent, reasonable prince say? He was not a scholar, but he heard the discussion between Ibn Taymiyyah and the group of shaykhs, so he said about the shaykhs: "These are a people who have lost their Lord!!" This is a correct statement; because one tells you: Allah is not above or below, not right or left, and so on, this whole cliché. These people have indeed lost their Lord; they do not know the Lord they worship. When you prostrate, you say: Glory be to my Lord, the Most High. You do not know!! Glory be to my Lord, the Most High, He is in every place! What does "Glory be to my Lord, the Most High" mean? ; that is: He rose above it. Therefore, it is very, very, very necessary that we hold fast to this methodology, which is acting according to the Book and the Sunnah and on the methodology of the righteous Salaf. And therefore the people of knowledge said:
"And all good is in following those who came before, and all evil is in innovating what those who came after have introduced."
And my apologies for the length.

Those present : May Allah reward you with good.