A word on the hadith of the girl regarding (Allah being in the sky).

The Shaykh : I hope to conclude this speech with this hadith, narrated by Imam Muslim in his Sahih, from the hadith of the master of the slave girl, whose name was Mu'awiyah ibn al-Hakam al-Sulami. He said, "I prayed behind the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) one day, and a man next to me sneezed, so I said to him, 'May Allah have mercy on you.' They looked at me like this, trying to silence me, but I did not remain silent; rather, I said, 'He is praying. Be alert, and he is saying to the one who sneezed, "May Allah have mercy on you."' This indicates that he was a recent convert to Islam. When he said to the man who sneezed next to him, 'May Allah have mercy on you,' they looked at him like this, with the corners of their eyes, trying to silence him, but he did not remain silent; rather, he increased his complaint and shouted at the top of his voice while he was praying. He said, 'Woe to my mother, why are you looking at me?' He did not think that he had done a wrong in the prayer. 'Why are you looking at me?' So they took him, striking their thighs to silence him. He said, 'When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) finished the prayer, he turned to me.' Imagine now if such a story happened to one of the worshippers, and then the imam turned to him; what would you imagine he would do to him? He would have to rebuke him at least, if he did not rush to strike him like this. Imagine Mu'awiyah ibn al-Hakam al-Sulami, but, praise be to Allah, his imagination was frustrated, because he expressed that in clear Arabic by saying, 'By Allah, he did not humiliate me, nor did he overpower me, nor did he strike me, nor did he insult me.' 'Beast,' 'you don't understand,' 'ignorant'—the words we often hear from some shaykhs or imams of mosques when one of the worshippers makes a mistake with them. Rather, he said to me, (peace and blessings be upon him), and he said to me Addressing someone during prayer When Mu'awiyah ibn al-Hakam al-Sulami found this—let me remind you, this is not Mu'awiyah ibn Abi Sufyan al-Umawi—when he found this kindness and everything from his natural character from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), his heart opened to ask his Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) about what he felt he needed to ask him. So he said, 'O Messenger of Allah, among us are people who take omens,' meaning they consider some things to be bad luck, and this is from the ignorance of the twentieth century, not among the disbelievers and polytheists, but also among the Muslims. They take omens from many things, and very many things, and I think you know some examples. 'Among us are people who take omens.' He said, 'Do not let them turn you away.' Look, he did not say to them, 'Do not take omens,' but rather he said, meaning, if you take omens, then proceed in what you were proceeding in, and do not turn back on your heels because of an omen that occurred to you. The word 'taking omens' is derived from 'birds.' The pre-Islamic person, when he intended to travel and went out, the first bird he saw flying—like any animal that fears man, it flies to the right or to the left. If this animal flew to the right, this person would take a good omen from it; if it flew to the left, he would take a bad omen and return to his house and not travel. He said, 'Among us are people who take omens.' He said, 'I went out for a journey. Proceed.' Is this what he knows? Good in the future or bad? Proceed to what you went out for. He said, 'Among us are people who come to the fortune-tellers.' He said, He said, 'Among us are people who draw lines,' meaning sand divination, as is known. He said, This is what the scholars call 'hanging on the impossible.' He said, (peace and blessings be upon him), in answer to that question, 'There was a prophet among the prophets before me, and his miracle was that he would draw in the sand and see some of the unseen through the sand. So whoever among these fortune-tellers and astrologers matches the drawing of that noble prophet, that is the one who is correct. And how could the drawing of the Dajjal match the drawing of the truthful, trustworthy Prophet?' Now the proof comes. He said, 'O Messenger of Allah, I have a slave girl who grazes my sheep at Mount Uhud in Madinah. One day, a wolf raided my sheep, and I am a human being who gets angry as humans get angry, so I struck her a blow, and upon me is the freeing of a slave.' He said, (peace and blessings be upon him), When she came to him, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said to her, here is the proof, She said, 'In the sky.' He said to her, She said, 'You are the Messenger of Allah.' So he turned to her master and said to her, The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) testified for this slave girl who was grazing the sheep for her master, and because of her negligence and weakness, the wolf raided her sheep, which angered her master, so he struck her and slapped her on her cheek. So the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) tested her with these two questions, She said, 'In the sky.' He said, She said, 'You are the Messenger of Allah.' He said to her master, meaning, if you free her, you have fulfilled your vow, for she is a believer now. Ask the people, not the common people, for you hear the common people in their gatherings saying, 'Allah is present in all existence,' 'Allah is present in every place.' So the slave girl who was grazing the sheep is more knowledgeable than them. If only the matter stopped there, she is more knowledgeable than these common people who speak with this ignorance in their gatherings. No, you asked the doctors, except for whom Allah wills, and they are few. Where is Allah? He says to you, 'It is not permissible, my brother, to ask this question. Allah is in every place,' or he says to you, 'Allah is present in all existence,' or he says, 'Allah has no place.' All of this is contrary to the Qur'an and the Sunnah. And the slave girl who spoke the truth, she only spoke with a verse from the many verses of Allah, meaning So the slave girl knew the correct creed, so what about us today, that we do not know this correct creed? The matter comes down to two things. The first is ignorance of the correct Sunnah, and the second is that the masses have neglected the third principle, which is what the pious predecessors were upon. So, what were the pious predecessors upon in answering the question, 'Where is Allah?' The slave girl answered, and the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) approved her, and what our pious predecessors were upon, as Imam Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak, one of the great shaykhs of Imam al-Sunnah Ahmad ibn Hanbal (may Allah be pleased with him and with those who strive in the path of Allah in creed and Sunnah), said. Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak (may Allah have mercy on him) said, 'Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, is above His Throne, above His Throne with His essence.' Not in every place as the ignorant say. Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, is above His Throne with His essence, distinct from His creation. Not as the Sufis say, 'Allah is different from the universe,' and 'What is Allah in... is like ice in water.' This is the creed of the Sufis who claim the unity of existence. Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, is above His Throne with His essence, distinct from His creation, and He is with them with His knowledge. So His knowledge is in every place, but Allah, Mighty and Majestic, is as He said, and the many verses. And this is sufficient. I have digressed a lot, but I hope I have clarified our call and the difference between our call and the call of those who share it with us. As for those who do not share it with us, we do not speak about them. Those who share with us in the call to the Book and the Sunnah, we differ from them and they differ from us in that we do not accept understanding the Book and the Sunnah except as the pious predecessors were upon, and by that we are saved from deviating to the right and to the left, as many have deviated who also claim to belong to the Book and the Sunnah.