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﴿ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

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Does the nearness of Allah divide into two categories, general and specific?

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The Shaykh : As for the general nearness, some scholars affirmed it and said that the nearness of Allah is of two types: general for everyone, and specific for the worshipper and the one who calls upon Him. They cited as evidence for their position the saying of the Exalted:
And We have already created man and know what his soul whispers to him, and We are closer to him than [his] jugular vein ولقد خلقنا الإنسان ونعلمُ ما توسس به نفسُه ونحن أقرب إليه من حبلِ الوريد
[Qaf 50:16]
The word "human" is general, and the pronoun "We" refers to whom? It refers to Allah. "Closer to him than the vein of the jugular." The vein of the jugular is the thick vessel in your neck. And the Exalted said:
(83) Then why, when the soul at death reaches the throat (84) And you are at that time looking on - (85) And Our angels are nearer to him than you, but you do not see - فلولا إذا بلغت الحلقوم وأنتم حينئذٍ تنظرون ونحن أقرب إليه منكم
[Al-Waqi'ah 56:83-85]
meaning from the throat,
But you do not see. ولكن لا تبصرون
and this is general, as evidenced by the fact that the division came after it, the division came after it:
And if the deceased was of those brought near to Allah, فأما إن كان من المقربين
[Al-Waqi'ah 56:88]
And if he was of the companions of the right, وأما إن كان من أصحاب اليمين
[Al-Waqi'ah 56:90]
But if he was of the deniers [who were] astray, وأما إن كان من المكذبين الضالين
[Al-Waqi'ah 56:92]
But the Shaykh al-Islam (may Allah have mercy on him) refuted this view.
And he says:
when My servants ask you, [O Muhammad], concerning Me - indeed I am near. I respond to the invocation of the supplicant إذا سألك عبادي عني فإني ريب أجيب دعوة الداع
[Al-Baqarah 2:186]
Indeed, I am Near. إني قريب
"Near" is a word that can accept the pronoun. To whom does the pronoun refer? It refers to Allah. It refers to Allah, Mighty and Majestic.
The nearest a servant come to his Lord is when he is prostrating himself أقرب ما يكون العبد من ربه وهو ساجد
Sunan Abi Dawud 875Sahih (Al-Albani)
from his Lord, and he did not say from the knowledge of his Lord. But as I told you, we must know that Allah is not measured by His creation. He is above everything, and He is near to the one who worships Him and calls upon Him. There is no contradiction, for Allah, what is He? Nothing is like Him. And because Allah encompasses everything, and what is in His hand are the heavens and the earth, like a mustard seed in the hand of one of us. This means He encompasses everything, (Glorified and Exalted is He).
Source alathar.net

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

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