Fifth: This presence does not contradict what is established for Allah the Exalted of His exaltation above His creation and His rising above the Throne.

The reader: "Fifth: This presence does not contradict what is established for Allah the Exalted of His exaltation above His creation and His rising above the Throne, for it is established for Allah the Exalted that He possesses absolute exaltation, both in His essence and in His attributes. Allah the Exalted said:

And He is the Most High, the Most Great.

وهو العلي العظيم

[Al-Baqarah 2:255]

And He said:

Exalt the name of your Lord, the Most High,

سبح اسم ربك الأعلى

[Al-A'la 87:1]

And He said:

and for Allah is the highest attribute. And He is Exalted in Might, the Wise.

ولله المثل الأعلى وهو العزيز الحكيم

[An-Nahl 16:60]

And the evidence from the Book and the Sunnah, and from consensus, reason, and the innate disposition, all converge on the exaltation of Allah the Exalted.
As for the evidence from the Book and the Sunnah, it is too numerous to count. For example, His saying:

So the judgement is with Allah, the Most High, the Grand."

فالحكم لله العلي الكبير

[Ghafir 40:12]

And His saying:

And He is the subjugator over His servants

وهو القاهر فوق عباده

[Al-An'am 6:18]

And His saying:

Or do you feel secure that He who [holds authority] in the heaven would not send against you a storm of stones

أم أمنتم من في السماء أن يرسل عليكم حاصبا

[Al-Mulk 67:17]

And His saying:

The angels and the Spirit will ascend to Him

تعرج الملائكة والروح إليه

[Al-Ma'arij 70:4]

And His saying:

Say, [O Muhammad], "The Pure Spirit has brought it down from your Lord

قل نزله روح القدس من ربك

[An-Nahl 16:102]

And so on, from the many verses.
And such as the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):

Don't you trust me though I am the truth worthy man of the One in the Heavens

ألا تأمنوني وأنا أمين من في السماء

Sahih al-Bukhari 4351

And his saying:

The Throne is above the water, and Allah is above the Throne.

والعرش فوق الماء والله فوق العرش

And his saying:

And nothing ascends to Allah except what is pure.

ولا يصعد إلى الله إلا الطيب

Sahih Ibn Hibban 13:111

And such as his pointing to the sky on the Day of 'Arafah, saying:

O Allah, be witness

اللهم اشهد

meaning upon the Companions when they acknowledged that he had conveyed the message, and such as his approving the maidservant when he asked her, "Where is Allah?"

The Shaykh : And such as?
The reader: "And such as his approving the maidservant".

The Shaykh : Move the taa.
The reader: "the maidservant".

The Shaykh : Not "the maidservant" as the object of the verbal noun.
The reader: "And such as his approving the maidservant when he asked her, 'Where is Allah?' She said, 'In the heaven.' He said:

Set her free, for she is a believer

أعتقها فإنها مؤمنة

And so on, from the many hadiths.
As for consensus, more than one scholar has transmitted the consensus of the Salaf on the exaltation of Allah the Exalted.
As for the indication of reason regarding the exaltation of Allah the Exalted, it is because exaltation is an attribute of perfection and lowness is an attribute of deficiency, and Allah the Exalted is described with perfection and free from deficiency.
As for the indication of the innate disposition regarding the exaltation of Allah the Exalted, it is that no one who calls upon their Lord finds in their heart a necessity to direct themselves toward the exaltation, without studying a book or being taught by a teacher. And this exaltation established for Allah the Exalted by these definitive proofs does not contradict the reality of presence, and that is from several aspects:
The first is that Allah the Exalted has combined them for Himself in His clear Book, which is free from contradiction, and if they were contradictory, the Noble Qur'an would not have combined them. And whatever in the Book of Allah the Exalted you think contains a contradiction as it appears to you, review it again and again until it becomes clear to you. Allah the Exalted said:

Then do they not reflect upon the Qur'an? If it had been from [any] other than Allah, they would have found within it much contradiction.

أفلا يتدبرون القرآن ولو كان من عند غير الله لوجدوا فيه اختلافاً كثيراً

[An-Nisa 4:82]

".

The Shaykh : This rule or principle is important. Whatever you think contains a contradiction, do not rush. Do not say, "This contradicts that," and then do not strive to follow the ambiguous verses, for some students are obsessed with following the ambiguous verses, and you find that things which are very clear become difficult for them, but because their hearts are imbued with a love for the ambiguous, everything becomes ambiguous to them. So beware of doing this. Know that there is no contradiction in the speech of Allah the Exalted, nor in the speech of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) that is authentic from him, nor between the Qur'an and what is authentic in the Sunnah. And if you build your creed upon this, nothing will be difficult for you except what is truly difficult. As for a person who, as soon as he reads a hadith and hears a verse, it appears to him that a hadith or a verse has been abrogated, and he immediately says, "This is a contradiction," without reflecting and thinking, this is wrong. He will always remain in difficulty and always in confusion. And success is from Allah.
The reader: In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.

The Shaykh : Do you hear the recitation of the brother Muhammad? No microphone, okay, it's going well.
The reader: And blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions.
Our Shaykh (may Allah preserve him) said, in the context of the speech that was published in the Dawah magazine.