Clearing Allāh of Place, Direction, and Resemblance to Creation

All praise is due to Allāh. May Allāh raise the rank of Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ and protect his nation from that which he feared for them.

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Allāh Existed Before Place

Allāh the Exalted existed eternally without time, without place, and before darkness and light. He is not of the tangible type within the world such as earth, stone, the stars, plants, or the human. He is not of the intangible type within the world such as light, souls, air, jinn, or angels. This is because He is dissimilar to all created things.

The Prophet ﷺ said:

كَانَ اللهُ وَلَمْ يَكُنْ شَيْءٌ غَيْرُهُ

Allāh existed and nothing else existed. [Al-Bukhārī]

This means Allāh never ceased to exist eternally. There was none other than Him with Him — no water, no air, no earth, no sky, no Kursiyy, no ʿArsh, no human, no jinn, no angel, no time, no place, and no direction. He existed before place without a place. He is the One who created place, so He is not in need of it.

ʿAliyy Ibn Abī Ṭālib said:

كَانَ اللهُ وَلَا مَكَانَ وَهُوَ الآنَ عَلَى مَا عَلَيهِ كَانَ

Allāh existed and there was no place, and He is now as He existed.

Just as Allāh’s existence without a place is valid before He created places and directions, His existence after creating places is valid without a place or a direction. This is not a negation of Allāh’s existence, as claimed by those who liken Allāh to creation.

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The Proof from the Qurʾān

Allāh the Exalted said:

لَيسَ كَمِثلِهِ شَىءٌ

Nothing is like Him in any way. [Sūrat al-Shūrā, 11]

This verse alone is sufficient to clear Allāh from place, containment, and direction. Had He had a place, He would have had dimensions: length, width, and depth. Whoever has dimensions is a created event in need of the one who specified those dimensions.

Al-Bayhaqiyy said in his book Al-Asmāʾ wa al-Ṣifāt:

Some among our colleagues have used as evidence for negating a place for Him the saying of the Prophet ﷺ:

اللَّهُمَّ أَنْتَ الظَّاهِرُ فَلَيْسَ فَوْقَكَ شَيْءٌ وَأَنْتَ الْبَاطِنُ فَلَيْسَ دُونَكَ شَيْءٌ

O Allāh, You are Al-Ẓāhir and there is nothing above You, and You are Al-Bāṭin and there is nothing below You.

If there is nothing above Him and nothing below Him, He is not in a place.

This ḥadīth also refutes those who ascribe a direction to Allāh.

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The Judgment on Believing Allāh is in a Direction

Whoever believes that Allāh is contained in the direction of above blasphemes. The proof against this is what is confirmed from the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ: that he sought rain and put his palms toward the ground with the back of his hands up to the sky when he made duʿāʾ. Had Allāh been contained in the direction of above as the Likeners claim, the Prophet ﷺ would not have done this.

Further proof is that the Prophet ﷺ used to lift his pointer finger while in the Tashahhud and bend it slightly. Had the issue been as the Likeners said, he would not have bent his finger but raised it fully to the sky.

We raise our hands in duʿāʾ to the sky because it is the place from which mercy and blessings descend. It is not because the self of Allāh exists in the sky. Similarly, we direct ourselves to the Kaʿbah in prayer because Allāh ordered us to do so, not because the Kaʿbah has some specification of Allāh living in it.

The judgment of whoever says that Allāh the Exalted is everywhere, meaning that by His self He is spread or dwelling in all places, is a charge of blasphemy. If one understood from this expression merely that Allāh has control over everything and is knowledgeable about everything, he does not blaspheme. However, it is obligatory to forbid the use of such statements regardless, because they did not originate from the Salaf.

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The ʿArsh

It is said about the ʿArsh that it is an entity Allāh prepared for the Angels, around which they make ṭawāf just as the believers on earth make ṭawāf around the Kaʿbah. Those who surround the ʿArsh are all honorable slaves who do not disobey Allāh for a blink of an eye.

Imām ʿAliyy said:

إِنَّ اللهَ تَعَالَى خَلَقَ العَرشَ إِظهَارًا لِقُدرَتِهِ وَلَمْ يَتَّخِذهُ مَكَانًا لِذَاتِهِ

Certainly Allāh the Exalted created the ʿArsh as a demonstration of His power, and He did not take it as a place for Himself.

Whoever believed that Allāh created the ʿArsh to sit upon it has likened Allāh to kings who make large seats to sit upon. Whoever believes that Allāh is attributed with contact has blasphemed, because this is impossible to be an attribute of Allāh the Exalted.

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The Verse of Istiwaʾ

Allāh the Exalted said:

الرَّحمَنُ عَلَى العَرشِ استَوَى

[Sūrat Ṭā-Hā, 5]

It is obligatory that the interpretation of this verse be other than dwelling, sitting, and the likes of that. Whoever believes that blasphemes. It is obligatory to leave aside carrying this verse by its apparent meaning. Instead it is carried by a meaning acceptable to the intellect.

The expression istiwaʾ is therefore taken to mean subjugation and dominion. In the Arabic language it is said:

اسْتَوَى فُلانٌ عَلَى الْمَمَالِكِ

Meaning so-and-so had istawā over the kingdoms, if he possessed the keys of rulership and had dominion over the people. As the poet said:

قَد اسْتَوَى بِشْرٌ عَلَى العِرَاقِ مِنْ غَيْرِ سَيْفٍ وَدَمٍ مُهْرَاقِ

Bishr conquered Iraq without a sword or bloodshed.

The benefit of specifically mentioning the ʿArsh is that it is the greatest creation of Allāh in size, so the inclusion of what is less than that is more obviously known.

Al-Qushayriyy said:

What invalidates their fallacy is that it would be said to them, ‘Before creating the world, was He existing or not?’ By the necessity of the mind, they would say, ‘Indeed.’ Hence, one of two matters is imposed on them: either to say that the place, the ʿArsh, and the world are eternal, or to say that the Lord is an event, and this is the result of the saying of the ignorant. The Eternal is not an event and the event is not eternal.

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The Decisive and Ambiguous Verses

Allāh the Exalted said:

هُوَ الَّذِي أَنزَلَ عَلَيْكَ الْكِتَابَ مِنْهُ آيَاتٌ مُّحْكَمَاتٌ هُنَّ أُمُّ الْكِتَابِ وَأُخَرُ مُتَشَابِهَاتٌ فَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ زَيْغٌ فَيَتَّبِعُونَ مَا تَشَابَهَ مِنْهُ ابْتِغَاءَ الْفِتْنَةِ وَابْتِغَاءَ تَأْوِيلِهِ وَمَا يَعْلَمُ تَأْوِيلَهُ إِلَّا اللهُ وَالرَّاسِخُونَ فِي الْعِلْمِ يَقُولُونَ آمَنَّا بِهِ كُلٌّ مِّنْ عِندِ رَبِّنَا وَمَا يَذَّكَّرُ إِلَّا أُولُو الْأَلْبَابِ

He is the one who revealed the Book to you, O Muḥammad. Within it are decisive verses — they are the reference of the book — and others are ambiguous. As for those who have deviance in their hearts, they follow what is ambiguous from it seeking tribulation and seeking its taʾwīl. No one knows its taʾwīl except Allāh and those who are deeply rooted in knowledge. They say: We believe in it, all of it is from our Lord. No one is admonished by it except those of sound mind. [Sūrat Āl ʿImrān, 7]

The decisive verses are those which do not accept more than one meaning as an explanation as far as the rules of the language are concerned. Such as the saying of Allāh:

لَيسَ كَمِثلِهِ شَىءٌ

Nothing is like Him in any way. [Sūrat al-Shūrā, 11]

And His saying:

وَلَم يَكُنْ لَّهُ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌ

And there was never a similar for Him. [Sūrat al-Ikhlāṣ, 4]

The ambiguous verse is that whose meaning is not immediately clear, or that could have several facets in meaning and requires contemplation to interpret it in accordance with the proper meaning, such as the verse of istiwaʾ mentioned above.

It is therefore necessary to refer the interpretation of the ambiguous verses back to the decisive verses. This is how the people of truth have always proceeded.

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The Two Methods of the Scholars

The scholars have proceeded by two methods in relation to the ambiguous verses, and both are correct.

The first is the method of most of the Salaf, the people of the first three centuries. They would interpret the ambiguous verses by other than their apparent meanings in a general way, by believing in them and having the conviction that those are not the attributes of a body, that they have a meaning befitting the Majesty of Allāh and His greatness, without specification, and by referring those verses back to the decisive verse:

لَيسَ كَمِثلِهِ شَىءٌ

Nothing is like Him in any way. [Sūrat al-Shūrā, 11]

Imām al-Shāfiʿiyy said:

I believe in what came from Allāh according to the meaning that Allāh willed, and what came from the Messenger of Allāh according to the meaning that the Messenger of Allāh meant.

He means that the meanings of those verses are not according to what the delusions and thoughts of people might go to in reference to physical or bodily meanings, which are not permissible to be attributed to Allāh.

It is also confirmed from Imām Aḥmad that he said about the verse:

وَجَاءَ رَبُّكَ

[Sūrat al-Fajr, 22]

That it means “the traces of His power become apparent.” This was authenticated by Al-Bayhaqiyy.

The second is the method of the Khalaf. They interpreted with detailed meanings dictated by the Arabic language, and like the Salaf, they did not carry those verses by their apparent meanings. There is no problem taking this method, especially as protection from likening Allāh to the creation when fearing that a person might take a corrupted creed.

The Prophet ﷺ said about Ibn ʿAbbās:

اللهُمَّ عَلّمْهُ الحِكْمَة وَتَأْوِيلَ الكِتَابِ

O Allāh, teach him the wisdom and the taʾwīl of the Book. [Al-Bukhārī]

Ibn ʿAbbās said: “I am among those who are deeply rooted in knowledge.” This proves that there are scholars who know the taʾwīl of the ambiguous verses and such knowledge is given to them by Allāh.

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What the Likeners Say and Why It Fails

Those who liken Allāh to creation take the ambiguous verses by their apparent meanings while making taʾwīl for other verses that contradict their position. Al-Qushayriyy addressed them directly:

If they say the verse of istiwaʾ must be taken by its apparent meaning, then they must also take by the apparent meaning the saying of Allāh:

وَهُوَ مَعَكُمْ أَيْنَ مَا كُنْتُمْ

And the saying of Allāh:

أَلآ إِنَّهُ بِكُلِّ شَىءٍ مُّحِيطٌ

If they take these verses by their apparent meaning, then according to their own logic Allāh would be on the ʿArsh, and with us, and encompassing the world by His self all at once. It is impossible that the One who is indivisible would be at one time in every place by Himself.

Their arbitrariness in interpreting some verses and not others is a method without evidence.

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The Judgment of the Likeners

The judgment of whoever says that Allāh lives or resides in the hearts of His Awliyāʾ, if he understands from it that Allāh dwells in His slaves, is blasphemy.

The judgment of whoever believes that Allāh is a light meaning an illumination is a definite charge of blasphemy. Allāh the Exalted said:

وَجَعَلَ الظُّلُمَاتِ وَالنُّورَ

And He made the darkness and the light. [Sūrat al-Anʿām, 1]

He created the darkness and the light, so how could He be a light like His creation?

The judgment of whoever believes that Allāh is contained in a direction, or that He is something like the air or the light that fills a place or a room, is blasphemy.

Al-Murtaḍā al-Zabīdiyy said:

مَنْ حَدَّ اللهَ بِحَدٍّ فَقَد كَفَرَ

Whoever deems Allāh limited by a measure has blasphemed.

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This article is part of IKF’s Ilm al-Aqīdah series, drawn from the works of the scholars of Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jamāʿah.