Clarifying the Exaltation of Allah Above His Creation

The Shaykh : ... [In] the Concise Treatise on the Exaltation of the Exalted, the Forgiving, he mentioned the verses that establish for Allah, Mighty and Majestic, the attribute that He is above all created things and that He is not in a place. He also mentioned the many, many good hadiths that correspond with the Qur'anic texts by stating that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, is above all created things. Then he mentioned the reports from the Salaf, from the Companions and the Successors and those who followed them, up to the time of Imam al-Dhahabi and beyond the seventh century of the Hijrah, dozens, if not hundreds, of scholars who invalidate this misguidance, which is their claim that Allah is in every place, and who establish that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, is above all created things. One of the clearest pieces of evidence, on which the scholars of hadith agreed to authenticate it, is the summary of this hadith: A man from the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), whose name was Mu'awiyyah ibn al-Hakam al-Sulami, had a slave girl who was grazing his sheep. One day, a wolf attacked the sheep, so the master, the master of the slave girl, became angry and slapped her on the cheek. He then regretted what he had done and came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: "O Messenger of Allah, I have an obligation to free a slave, and I have a slave girl." He was asking him whether freeing her would suffice for him and be the expiation for the obligation of freeing a slave that was upon him. He said: When she came with her, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: She said: "In the sky." He said to her: She said: "You are the Messenger of Allah." He said to her master: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) considered the slave girl's testimony that Allah is in the sky; she was not merely testifying with her tongue that there is no god but Allah, but she believed that He is One in His essence, One in His worship, and One in His attributes, because she believed in the statement of her Lord in the Noble Qur'an: This is the answer in clarifying the invalidity of the claim of many people, both in recent times and in the past, that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, is in every place. So beware of falling into this misguidance, for we hear it; we are in a gathering and it is as if someone is mentioning Allah and saying: "Allah exists in all existence." Do you not hear this phrase? This is its meaning: "Allah exists in all existence." There are two existences: one is the Necessary Existence, which is Allah, who was and there was nothing with Him, as you have heard. The second existence is the possible existence, which is the created. We have an existence, and Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has the eternal existence, with no beginning and no end. So, Allah exists in all existence means, from this existence that we are in now, this is the meaning of that misguidance: "Allah exists in every place." So beware of saying it explicitly, "Allah exists in every place" or "Allah exists in every existence." No, this is misguidance beyond misguidance, because it contradicts what we have mentioned from what came in the Qur'an, the Sunnah, and the reports of the Salaf, that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, is above all created things.