Is the presence mentioned in the saying of the Exalted: "And He is with you wherever you are" and His saying: "Indeed, I am with you; I hear and I see" a presence of His essence or a presence of His knowledge?

The questioner : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. This is a continuation of the question that was before the prayer. There is a question related to the one we finished answering before the prayer. The owner of this paper asks about the saying of the Exalted: Following the first question, what is its interpretation? And the saying of the Exalted: ?

The Shaykh : Before answering this question, and the answer will be brief, if Allah wills, I want to remind you of the principle I mentioned to you in the previous speech: the Qur'an must be interpreted by the Qur'an, then by the Sunnah, then by the sayings of the Salaf. So, whoever wants to know the meaning of this verse , he must study the Salafi interpretations, of which I have given you an example, such as the interpretation of Ibn Jarir al-Tabari, the interpretation of Ibn Kathir al-Dimashqi, and those who follow their path.

Another questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : Keep your question in mind. It is sufficient for us to say "and those who follow their path." Of course, not every Muslim must be a scholar, but if he is not a scholar, he must be a questioner, as is the case now with the previous and subsequent questions, and the one present now is a question. But I want to mention that my answer now will be based on this principle of interpreting the Qur'an. All scholars of tafsir have said: meaning with His knowledge, meaning nothing is hidden from Him on earth or in the sky. Therefore, Imam Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak (may Allah have mercy on him) said, and this is from the rare sayings of the Imams of the Salaf, the hadith scholars and jurists who combined knowledge, asceticism, and jihad. I do not mean only the jihad of the self, but the jihad of the disbelievers, meaning carrying weapons. This man was a mujahid in the path of Allah, along with his knowledge, asceticism, and piety, and he was one of the great shaykhs of Imam Ahmad, the Imam of the Sunnah (may Allah have mercy on him). He said: "Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, is above His Throne with His essence." This is a topic that has been explained previously with some detail. Then he said: These are three matters, at least, that every Muslim must have their meanings firmly established in his mind, in his intellect, and then in his heart by which he believes. First, Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, is above His Throne with His essence. Second, He is distinct from His creation. He is distinct from His creation. He refuted the previous superstition that Allah is present in every existence, not distinct from His creation. That is, He is the One who is free of need from the worlds, by the explicit text of the Noble Qur'an. So this is the second characteristic. I repeat: I am not saying I am speaking about what Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak said; I am saying he said: "Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, is above His Throne with His essence." This is the first. "He is distinct from His creation," meaning He is not inside the world, but He is free of need from the world, outside the world. And the third, which is the point of the evidence, is "And He is with them with His knowledge." That is, the previous question is with His knowledge, not with His essence. And I am surprised by such a question, and after the clarification that the claim that Allah is in every place with His essence is this claim is invalid religiously and rationally. So it should not come to the mind...The questioner : ...that means with His essence. This is a meaning that is too high for a Muslim to see in his dream, let alone in his waking state. Why? We are now in a house and in a place that is among the best of places, as came in the authentic hadith from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) that he was asked about the best and worst of places. He said: It is a large area, but in the market there are places that are worse than the market, such as the restrooms. The market is a place among the worst of places, as you heard, and worse than this evil are the restrooms. In some markets, there may be bars, taverns, houses of prostitution and lewdness, and so on. Is Allah, Mighty and Majestic, in these places with His essence? Far from it! But He is above His Throne, as Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak said. But He is with you with His knowledge, so nothing is hidden from Him on earth or in the sky. So let this verse not be a source of confusion for anyone that the intended meaning is the essence of Allah. The essence of Allah is free of need from all of Allah's creations. Allah was, and there was nothing with Him. So He is with you with His knowledge wherever you are. A person does not say: "By Allah, I am between four walls, with barriers between me and my Lord, so He does not see me." No, this is not what is said except by an atheist who denies the existence of Allah, Mighty and Majestic. Likewise, it is said about a verse like . The end of this verse interprets its beginning, and its beginning interprets its end. This phrase is an interpretation of the saying of the Exalted: With what? So He is with them when He sent them to Pharaoh and commanded them to remind him and to warn him. He said to them: So this phrase "I hear and I see" is an interpretation of the saying of the Exalted: He is not with them like a military commander or the head of the army is with his soldiers. No, it is not so. Allah, Mighty and Majestic, is free of need from the worlds, and He manages the universe from the sky to the earth, and He is above the Throne, as He said, unlike others.