The Shaykh's response to the Sufis regarding their belief in divine indwelling.
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The Shaykh : It is not as the extremists among the Sufis say: "Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, is mixed with His creation, mixed as water is mixed with ice, and as butter is mixed with milk". This unity is Allah. The Sufis claim "And Allah is nothing but a monk in a church". That is what they say. "And Allah in the image is nothing but an ice cube". Allah in the image is like ice... I do not remember the rest of the poem, but this is what Ibn Arabi says in "Al-Futuhat al-Makkiyyah" and in "Al-Fusus al-Hikam", "And Allah in the image is nothing but an ice cube in which is water". Can anyone separate water from ice? Water and ice form a unity. This unity is the ice. The example of this universe is Allah, so there is no Creator and no created, and there are not two existences: an obligatory existence, which is Allah, and a possible, created existence, which is the creation. No, he said in explicit terms "Everything you see with your eye is Allah". Those who deny the attributes of Allah and the exaltation of Allah above His creation meet the Sufis in this great misguidance, because the scholars of theology and the scholars of jurisprudence, although they do not believe in the unity of existence that the Sufis claim, they meet them in this. They say that Allah is present in every place, that Allah is present in every existence, and this is exactly the unity of existence.
Therefore, it is obligatory to believe that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, is above all creation, that He has risen above the Throne, and that He is self-sufficient regarding the worlds, not mixed or mingled with creation as the Sufis believe, and as the common phrase today among all people suggests. Who among you has not heard that Allah is present in every place? Who among you has not heard that Allah is present in every existent? And this is disbelief itself, and no one notices, as if people are drugged or bewitched, saying what contradicts the consensus of the scholars of the Salaf, among whom are the four Imams. For example, Abu Hanifah in the book *Al-Fiqh al-Akbar* attributed to him—and I say attributed to him because, in truth, this book is not established, nor is it established that Abu Hanifah left a book after him, but his followers attribute this book to him, and their researchers say it is attributed to Abu Hanifah. Nevertheless, it contains tawhid (the oneness of Allah). He says "Whoever denies that Allah is not in the sky has disbelieved". And this is not strange, because he denies the saying of Allah[Al-Mulk 67:16] and denies the many verses, some of which we have mentioned, which are explicit, because Allah, Mighty and Majestic, is above all the heavens and has risen above the Throne.
This is what is appropriate to say on the occasion of this serious issue. And before we move on to other matters, if any of the attendees has a question or inquiry regarding this topic, we will listen to it and answer it, if Allah wills.
Therefore, it is obligatory to believe that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, is above all creation, that He has risen above the Throne, and that He is self-sufficient regarding the worlds, not mixed or mingled with creation as the Sufis believe, and as the common phrase today among all people suggests. Who among you has not heard that Allah is present in every place? Who among you has not heard that Allah is present in every existent? And this is disbelief itself, and no one notices, as if people are drugged or bewitched, saying what contradicts the consensus of the scholars of the Salaf, among whom are the four Imams. For example, Abu Hanifah in the book *Al-Fiqh al-Akbar* attributed to him—and I say attributed to him because, in truth, this book is not established, nor is it established that Abu Hanifah left a book after him, but his followers attribute this book to him, and their researchers say it is attributed to Abu Hanifah. Nevertheless, it contains tawhid (the oneness of Allah). He says "Whoever denies that Allah is not in the sky has disbelieved". And this is not strange, because he denies the saying of Allah
Do you feel secure that He who [holds authority] in the heaven
أأمنتم من في السماءThis is what is appropriate to say on the occasion of this serious issue. And before we move on to other matters, if any of the attendees has a question or inquiry regarding this topic, we will listen to it and answer it, if Allah wills.