And He is the Most High, the Magnificent

The Shaykh : He said: Al-‘Ali: it is on the pattern of fa‘il, and it is a descriptive attribute (sifat mushabbihah), because His (Mighty and Majestic) exaltation is essential to His essence. The difference between a descriptive attribute and an active participle, according to them, is that an active participle is an accidental, transient state that can cease, whereas a descriptive attribute is a permanent state from which the described entity does not separate. Therefore, Al-‘Ali is a descriptive attribute because Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) does not separate from exaltation.
The exaltation of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is of two types: exaltation of essence and exaltation of attributes.
As for the exaltation of essence, its meaning is that He is above everything by His essence; there is nothing above Him and nothing beside Him, but rather He (Glorified and Exalted is He) is above everything.
As for the exaltation of attributes, these are what is indicated by the saying of the Exalted: meaning: that all His attributes are exalted, with no deficiency in any way. So, O servant of Allah, how many types is exaltation?
The student: Exaltation of essence and exaltation of attributes.

The Shaykh : How many types?
The student: Two types.

The Shaykh : What is the meaning of the exaltation of essence?
The student: That Allah is exalted by His essence, above all His creations. The exaltation of attributes is that Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He)

The Shaykh : has the perfect, exalted attributes that nothing can equal. As for Al-‘Azim (The Mighty), it is also a descriptive attribute, and its meaning is the Possessor of greatness, which is strength, majesty, and the like, which is known from the meaning of this word. This noble verse, as you heard from its brief explanation, has been previously explained by us in detail in the tafsir. It contains several of the names of Allah, so let us count them: Allah, Al-Hayy (The Ever-Living), Al-Qayyum (The Self-Sustaining), Al-Ilah (The God), La ilaha (There is no god), Al-‘Ali (The Most High), Al-‘Azim (The Mighty). How many? Six names; it contains six names.
It contains more of the attributes of Allah, yes, more naturally, but six attributes are contained in these names. Good. It also contains, in order, the negation of slumber and sleep in His right, due to the perfection of His life and sustenance, in His saying: .
It contains the comprehensiveness of His dominion over the heavens and the earth, due to His saying: . Where do we take the comprehensiveness from? From the relative pronoun, for it indicates comprehensiveness. And the verse indicates the exclusivity of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in dominion. Where is this taken from? From the fronting of the predicate: . So we have dominion, comprehensiveness of dominion, and exclusivity in dominion, taken from His saying: .
And among the benefits of the verse, from the attributes it contains, is the strength and perfection of the authority, from His saying: .
And among the benefits of the verse is the affirmation of His nearness (‘indah). This indicates that He is not in every place. In it is the refutation of the Jahmiyyah. If He were in every place, everything would be near Him, and there would be no benefit to the specificity of His nearness. So the nearness of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is affirmed.
And among its benefits in the attributes is also the affirmation of permission, due to His saying: . It also indicates
The student: ... .

The Shaykh : intercession is not among the attributes of Allah. So we take benefits only in the attributes of Allah, whatever benefit it indicates. Good. And this verse indicates, from the attributes of Allah, knowledge, due to His saying: , and His encompassing everything, from His saying: . A relative pronoun indicating comprehensiveness, meaning , and that He (Glorified and Exalted is He) does not forget what He knows. Where do we take this from? , and He does not ignore what is to come, from His saying: . Good. And it is derived from the verse, from the attributes of Allah, the deficiency of creation in relation to Allah (Mighty and Majestic), due to His saying: . The deficiency of creation is perfection for Allah (Mighty and Majestic), because whoever knows the created and its deficiency infers the perfection of the Creator from it, due to the obvious contrast between them.
And among its benefits in relation to the attributes of Allah is the affirmation of will, due to His saying: .
And among its benefits also in relation to the attributes of Allah is the affirmation of the Kursi (the Footstool), because it is the place of the feet.
The student: The affirmation of speech for Allah.

The Shaykh : From where?
The student: .

The Shaykh : Let us complete it. Yes. Good. The affirmation of greatness, strength, and power, due to His saying: , because the greatness of the created indicates the greatness of the Creator.
Good. And among its benefits in relation to the attributes of Allah is the perfection of His power, strength, knowledge, and mercy, from His saying: , and the affirmation of preservation as an affirmative attribute, because His saying: indicates that He preserves, and that preservation is not difficult for Him, due to His saying: .
And among its benefits is the affirmation of the exaltation of Allah, due to His saying: . Yes. And the position of the people of the Sunnah and the community is that Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) is exalted by His essence, and that His exaltation is among the essential, eternal, everlasting attributes from which He does not separate forever. Two groups opposed the people of the Sunnah in this: a group said that Allah is in every place by His essence.
And a group said that Allah is not above the universe, nor below the universe, nor in the universe, nor to the right, nor to the left, nor separate from the universe, nor connected to it; there is nothing in it. Yes.
These are the ones who said that He is in every place. They argued with the saying of Allah the Exalted: , and they argued with His saying the Exalted: . They said that Allah says: . And on this basis, He is not exalted by His essence, but rather exaltation, according to them, is exaltation of attribute. Did you understand?
As for those who said that He is not described with a direction, not above, not below, not right, not left, not connected, not separate, they said: because if we described Him with that, He would be a body, and bodies are similar. This necessitates likening Allah to creation. And on this basis, we deny that He is in any direction, not high, not low.
But we refute these people from two angles:
The first angle: refuting what they argued with. No, refuting the evidence, the argument, the evidence, refuting the argument, refuting their argumentation. This is the correct expression: refuting their argumentation.
And the second: affirming the opposite of their saying with decisive evidence.
As for the first: we say to those who claimed that Allah is in every place by His essence: your claim is a false claim that is refuted by hearing and reason. As for hearing: Allah the Exalted affirmed for Himself that He is Al-‘Ali (The Most High), and the same verse you mentioned does not indicate that, because nearness (mu‘ayyah) does not necessitate indwelling in a place. A thing can be exalted while being in another place; it can be exalted over you while being in another place. Do you not see the saying of the Arabs: "The moon is with us, and the star is with us." Where is its location? In the sky. And this is evidence that nearness in the Arabic language in which the Qur'an was revealed does not necessitate that the companion is in the place of the one accompanied. Because nearness, as we all know, means companionship and does not necessitate that this one is in the place of that one. And people say, a man says: "My wife is with me," while he is in the East and she is in the West. And the officer says to the soldiers: "Go to the battle, and I am with you," while he is in the command room and they are on the battlefield. So it is not necessary from nearness that the companion is in the place of the one accompanied, ever, in the Arabic language it is not necessary. For this reason, we say: nearness is actually a word whose meaning is determined according to what it is added to. We sometimes say: "This is milk with water." When a person brings us milk, we find in it the blueness of water, and he says: "I gave you pure, pleasant milk for the drinkers," and we see in it the blueness of water. Yes, so we say to him: You are not giving milk in the daytime for fear that people will see it, but when night falls and it is mixed, they bring this adulterated milk. Have you ever seen a wolf? And what does the saying mean? It means he does not give his guests milk in the daytime, because if he gave them milk in the daytime, they would know half of it is water. When night falls and it is mixed, they bring this adulterated milk whose color is the color of the wolf, and the wolf's color is blue. Yes, it is not pure white. So when we say "this is milk with water," this nearness necessitated what? Mixing. There is no doubt, intermingling of some with some.
And a man riding in an airplane says: "My luggage is with me," while it is below in the airplane. Is it connected to him or not? And when he carries his luggage with him after getting off the airplane, he says: "My luggage is with me," and it is connected to him. Look, one word, but its meaning differs according to the addition. So by this, we say: the nearness of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) to His creation is befitting His Majesty (Glorified and Exalted is He), like all His attributes, befitting His Majesty. So it is a complete nearness, but He is in the sky . This is how we refute him from the angle of the meaning of nearness in the Arabic language.
As for the rational evidence for the falsity of their saying, we say: