A discussion of the sects that denied the attribute of elevation for Allah - Blessed and Exalted is He - and their figurative interpretation of the texts that came regarding it.

The Shaykh : What concerns us now is the specific research into one of these attributes in which Muslims have differed since the existence of the Mu'tazilah, and those who were influenced by them among those who belong to the school of the people of the Sunnah, particularly the Asha'irah. The Mu'tazilah denied many of the attributes established in the Book and the Sunnah.
What concerns us now is the research into the attribute of elevation for Allah, the Most High, the Forgiver. The Mu'tazilah held this view, and the Asha'irah followed them, and then all Muslims who are today on the face of the earth joined them in this, except a few of them, who are the people of hadith.
The Mu'tazilah, the Asha'irah, and most Muslims today deny that Allah - Blessed and Exalted is He - is above all His creations. Rather, they explicitly state that Allah - Mighty and Majestic - is in every place, and that Allah - Blessed and Exalted is He - exists in all existence. As for the many verses and the even more numerous hadiths that establish for Allah the attribute of His elevation above His creation, they interpret them with interpretations that negate their meanings; that is, these interpretations lead them to deny the realities of these meanings contained in the aforementioned texts from the Book and the Sunnah.
For example, from these explicit texts establishing elevation for Allah - Mighty and Majestic - is the previous verse: . They interpret this verse, negating the meaning of elevation in it by saying: , meaning: He took control. This is how they interpret the verse: , meaning He took control from the taking of control. And they argue for their mentioned interpretation with a well-known poem:
"Bishr took control of Iraq *** without a sword and without spilled blood"
"Bishr took control of Iraq" means he took control. This is how they interpret the noble verse: , meaning for them he took control. And when they interpret it this way, unfortunately, they do not realize that the common proverb applies to them: "He was under the rain, then he became under the gutter." Because, in their claim, they purified Allah from being above the creations, in their claim that this is not befitting for Allah - Mighty and Majestic -; because if we say that He is above the creations, we have confined Him to a place. This is their doubt, and we will come to its refutation soon, if Allah wills. So, fleeing from this claim that they claimed necessitates confining Allah in a place by describing Him as being above the creations, they fled from this, in their claim, and fell into what is worse than it. And that is when they interpreted "istawa" (He settled) to mean "istawla" (He took control); for its meaning is that Allah - Mighty and Majestic - before that was not in control; because in some verses related to the settling of the Lord upon His Throne, He - the Exalted - said: , He created seven heavens . And all of us know that "thumma" (then) implies delay. So, after He created the heavens and the earth, He took control of the Throne, and its meaning is that before that He was not in control. And the necessary consequence of this is that He was incapable of taking control, like the greatest Creator - Glorified and Exalted is He - is like "Bishr" whom they used as an example, and they said in the poem: "Bishr took control of Iraq." This undoubtedly means he was not in control before that. And why? Because he was not capable of taking control; and therefore he said:
"Bishr took control of Iraq *** without a sword and without spilled blood"
So the word "istawa" meaning "istawla" (took control) contains a claim of incapacity for the Lord of the Worlds, which they did not notice; because , meaning: then He took control. And before that, what was He? He was not in control. Whereas the Muslim, merely by recalling the greatness of Allah - Blessed and Exalted is He - and that He is capable of everything; merely by recalling this meaning, knows that He does not create anything except that He is in control of it, and His control does not cease from it for a moment, however fine and small it is.
So, in their claim, in the path of purifying Allah from the wrong meaning that arose in their hearts, they fell into diminishing Allah - Mighty and Majestic - and attributing to Him incapacity and deficiency; because He was not in control of the Throne, even for a moment of time, and then He took control of the Throne. And this is misguidance that does not need much explanation.