How do we respond to those who say that Allah the Exalted is with us by His essence?

The questioner : ... ؟

The Shaykh : Yes

The questioner : The one who says that Allah is with you by His essence?

The Shaykh : Yes

The questioner : How do we respond to them?

The Shaykh : We respond to them with the many texts indicating that Allah is above His Throne, and we also respond to them with the evidence of reason. By the evidence of reason, we say that no person has ever said, "O Allah, O Allah," without feeling a necessity in his heart to seek the height; he cannot go right or left. We also respond to them with the consensus of the Salaf, for the Salaf are unanimous that Allah the Exalted is established above His Throne, above all His creation. In truth, this statement cannot be consistent for any rational person, because how can we say that Allah is with us by His essence in our places? What does this mean? It means that these places surround Allah, or it means that these places are inside Allah. We ask Allah for safety. Or what does this mean? Their speech is not reasonable. But as Allah the Exalted said, And Allah, Mighty and Majestic, is Wise. He placed in the texts of the Book and the Sunnah things that contain a type of ambiguity as a test and trial for creation, so that it may be known who seeks the truth and who seeks doubt and skepticism. This is part of the trial, because if there were no ambiguous verses and the matter were entirely clear, the sincere in his seeking and the believer would not be distinguished from the insincere and the disbeliever. He says, yes...