The Meaning of What Came in the Verses Regarding the Face and Presence

Question:
A brother asks about the word "face" in the statement of He, Blessed and Exalted is He: [Surat al-Qasas: 88]?

Answer:
There are two benefits in it: affirming the Face and the Essence; because affirming the Face is affirming the Essence, a fortiori. However, due to the nobility of the Face, and because His purpose, Exalted is He, is to affirm the Face, He expressed it with the word "Face" so that people know that He has a Face and believe in that.
And He said in the other verse: [Surat al-Rahman: 27]. What is its meaning? The Face, not the Essence. That is to say: His Face, with His Essence, Exalted is He, is perfect. For the Face without the Essence is not valid; its meaning is non-existence.
The conclusion is that the purpose of this is to affirm the Face, and to affirm a second matter, which is the perfect, sacred Essence that nothing resembles. Indeed, He (Glorified and Exalted is He) possesses absolute perfection in every respect; He is perfect in His Essence, His Names, and His Attributes. Just as He made it clear that He has a Hand, and that He has Hearing and Sight, He made it clear that He has a Face, and that He is the Possessor of Majesty and Honor, and that everything will perish except His Face, meaning: except His Essence, with His Noble Face , and with all His Attributes: Face, Hearing, Sight, Speech, Hand, and Foot, and other than these of His Attributes (Glorified and Exalted is He).
Q: And a question related to what preceded, and he says: [Surat al-Baqarah: 115]?
The Shaykh: There is a difference of opinion on this: some said that the meaning of "His Face" is the known Face, while others said that the meaning is the direction, i.e., there is a direction of Allah; because the servants, in reality, only faced the Face of the Lord, and the intention is not the Ka'bah, but rather facing Him (Glorified and Exalted is He). The Ka'bah was made for them as a sign for facing Him (Glorified and Exalted is He), so wherever the servant turns, he is toward the direction of Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He); because He encompasses His creation, above the Throne .
And some of them said: means: the direction of Allah. So you are facing His Face. If the qiblah is hidden from you, pray where you are. Strive and pray, and you are toward the direction of Allah.
And others said: The meaning of is that He is before you wherever you pray, as in the authentic hadith: , so he does not turn away, but he remains upright in his prayer, for Allah has accepted his face; because wherever you are, Allah is before your face, and He is above the Throne , and He is before your face wherever you are ; because nothing resembles Him, and there is nothing like Him, so there is no impediment to His being before your face while you are in Syria, and you are in Turkey, and you are in America, and you are in Morocco, in al-Aqsa, and so on. He is above the Throne, above all creation, and the one praying is toward His Face (Exalted and Majestic is He, Glorified and Exalted is He).
Q: He also asks regarding His statement: [Surat al-Hadid: 4]. Is there figurative interpretation (ta'wil) here regarding presence?
The Shaykh: Its meaning, according to the scholars of knowledge, is knowledge; because He is above the Throne (Exalted and Majestic is He) according to all the scholars of knowledge, as reported by Ibn 'Abd al-Barr, al-Talimanki, and others among the scholars of knowledge. This is not ta'wil (figurative interpretation), but this is its meaning. It does not mean that He is mixed with creation, so whoever says that has committed disbelief. Rather, its meaning is that He is above the Throne, above all creation, and He knows us and sees our place, and He knows us better than ourselves, and better than our companions; because nothing is hidden from Him .
For this reason, He began the verse of presence with knowledge and ended it with knowledge. He, Exalted is He, said: [Surat al-Tawbah: 40]. It does not mean that He was with them in the cave, but with them by His knowledge, His guardianship, His support, and His victory: [Surat Ta-Ha: 46]. It does not mean that He was with them with Pharaoh, in his house, and in his council, but He was with them by His guardianship over them, His protection of them, His support of them, and His victory for them, and He placed fear, cowardice, anxiety, and panic in the heart of Pharaoh.
Q: He says: Is this figurative interpretation (ta'wil)?
The Shaykh: It is not from figurative interpretation (ta'wil). This is the meaning of presence.