Is it correct to say that Allah is everywhere with His knowledge, but not with His Essence?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good. He says,The questioner : Is it correct for us to say that Allah is everywhere with His knowledge, but not with His Essence?
The Shaykh : Never do we say: “Allah is with the servants, but He is above His Throne.” We say it this way, as it came in the Qur'an. As for saying that Allah is everywhere with His knowledge—how is He everywhere with His knowledge? Does knowledge separate from the Knower? Knowledge is an attribute of the Knower. So if you say that Allah is everywhere with His knowledge, this means that Allah is everywhere with His knowledge, just as the one who says that Allah is everywhere with His Essence. But the Salaf (may Allah have mercy on them), when the saying of the Jahmiyyah spread that “Allah is everywhere with His Essence,” wanted to clarify to the common people that Allah is everywhere with His knowledge, meaning that the knowledge of Allah encompasses every place, so that the common people would not imagine that Allah Himself is in the places, everywhere. Yes.
The questioner : So we do not mean with “with His knowledge,” O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : We say, “And He is with you wherever you are,” as Allah the Mighty and Majestic said.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : Never do we say: “Allah is with the servants, but He is above His Throne.” We say it this way, as it came in the Qur'an. As for saying that Allah is everywhere with His knowledge—how is He everywhere with His knowledge? Does knowledge separate from the Knower? Knowledge is an attribute of the Knower. So if you say that Allah is everywhere with His knowledge, this means that Allah is everywhere with His knowledge, just as the one who says that Allah is everywhere with His Essence. But the Salaf (may Allah have mercy on them), when the saying of the Jahmiyyah spread that “Allah is everywhere with His Essence,” wanted to clarify to the common people that Allah is everywhere with His knowledge, meaning that the knowledge of Allah encompasses every place, so that the common people would not imagine that Allah Himself is in the places, everywhere. Yes.
The questioner : So we do not mean with “with His knowledge,” O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : We say, “And He is with you wherever you are,” as Allah the Mighty and Majestic said.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.