Mentioning five types of evidence for the exaltation of Allah the Exalted.

The exaltation of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is established by the Qur'an, the Sunnah, scholarly consensus, reason, and the innate natural disposition. These are five types of evidence: the Book, the Sunnah, scholarly consensus, reason, and the innate natural disposition. As for the Book, its evidence is too numerous to count, and it is varied: sometimes by mentioning exaltation, sometimes by being above, sometimes by the descent of things from Him, sometimes by the ascent of things to Him, and sometimes by mentioning being in the heavens. The Sunnah is likewise mass-transmitted in mentioning the exaltation of Allah and is varied: sometimes by the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), sometimes by his action, and sometimes by his approval. As for his saying, he would say in every prayer: "Glory be to my Lord, the Most High." As for his action, he pointed to the heavens more than once, pointing to the heavens in supplication, raising his hands to the heavens. He pointed to the heavens when he made his Lord a witness over his nation that they had acknowledged his delivery of the message. When? During the Farewell Pilgrimage, on the Day of 'Arafah, at the largest gathering of Muslims in the era of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). As for his approval: As for scholarly consensus, the Salaf, including the Companions, the generation after the Companions, and the imams of guidance after them, agreed that Allah the Exalted is above everything. It is not reported from any one of them that he said, "Allah is in every place," nor that he said, "Allah is not described as being above the world, nor below it, nor outside the world, nor inside it, nor connected, nor disconnected." No one ever said this. As for reason, if we were to ask any person, "What do you say about exaltation? Is it an attribute of perfection or deficiency?" he would say, "It is an attribute of perfection." And reason says: every attribute of perfection is established for Allah (Mighty and Majestic). Thus, the exaltation of Allah is established by the indication of reason from this perspective, or not? Good. As for the innate natural disposition, there is no difficulty in speaking of it. A person who has not learned and does not know about the scholars' words on this matter, if asked, "Where do you raise your hands when you call upon Allah?" would say, "To the heavens." We have never seen anyone, when he wanted to supplicate, place his hands on the ground, never to the right or to the left; he raises them to the heavens. For this reason, Abu Ali al-Hamdani used this evidence to argue with Abu al-Ma'ali al-Juwayni, to the extent that al-Juwayni could not restrain himself but shouted and struck his head, saying, "You have confused me." This is because Abu al-Ma'ali al-Juwayni (may Allah have mercy on him) used to tell people, "Allah was, and there was nothing with Him." Is that correct? Is this correct? "Allah was, and there was nothing with Him." He is the First, before whom there was nothing, and He is now as He was. Look at this phrase; it is misleading. What does he mean by "He is now as He was"? It means He is not settled above the Throne, because the Throne did not exist, and Allah was when there was nothing, and He is now as He was. So He did not settle above the Throne. So Abu Ali al-Hamdani said to him, "O teacher, let us leave the mention of the Throne, because settling above the Throne is not rational, neither rational nor innate. My evidence is comprehensive, because if Allah had not informed us that He settled above the Throne, we would not have known that, nor would we have known the Throne. All we know is that He informed us of this necessity we find in our souls. No one has ever said, "O Allah," without finding in his heart a necessity to seek exaltation. Everyone who asks Allah says, "O Allah, where does his heart go?" So he shouted, struck his head, and said, "You have confused me, because I do not find an answer to this innate natural disposition." So the exaltation of Allah—praise be to Allah—has been indicated by the Book, the Sunnah, scholarly consensus, reason, and the innate natural disposition. If not for the saying of the Satan, a person would not dream or think that Allah the Exalted is in everything, in every place, ever. It would not cross his mind, nor would he think that we strip Allah of every attribute, saying, "Not above the world, nor below it, nor to the right of the world, nor to the left of the world, nor inside the world, nor outside the world, nor connected to the world, nor disconnected from the world." Where does that lead? That is non-existence—I seek refuge in Allah. And the strange thing is that these people think they have purified Allah, whereas if they were told, "Describe non-existence for us," they would not find a better description than this—we ask Allah not to let our hearts deviate. So the exaltation of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is established by five types of evidence. They are not individuals; their individuals are innumerable, but their types are five: the Book, the Sunnah, scholarly consensus, reason, and the innate natural disposition.