In the book ‘Aqaaid of the Muslim’ it is stated:
“Clearly Allah is everywhere in the Heavens and the Earth.”
I have learnt that we should believe that:
“Allāh Exists without a place.”
Can you please clarify?
الحمد لله و الصلاة و السلام على رسول الله
Correct Islamic Belief is a first and foremost priority of a believer. Study of ‘Aqā’id should take place with a learned person known to adhere to the Creed of the Ahl al-Sunnah. Such a study should cover beliefs regarding Allāh (Most Transcendent is He) and His Divine Attributes. Books should be read as a supplementary with the guidance of the teacher.
Allāh states in the Qur’ān:
{لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْءٌ ۖ وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْبَصِير}ُ
“Nothing is like Him, and He is the All-Hearing, All-Seeing.”
[Surāh Shūrā Verse 11]
The correct Islamic Belief is that Allāh created time and place and He Exists without a place as the great Imāms of the Ahl al-Sunnah have elaborated in their works. That which is stated from the book mentioned by the questioner is an incorrect, erroneous belief which the Mutakallimīn (Scholars of Theology) have refuted in their works.
The Mutakallim Imām ibn Fūrak al Ash’arī (may Allah shower him with mercy) has said:
“اعلم أن الثلجي كان يذهب مذهب النجار في القول بأن الله في كل مكان وهو مذهب المعتزلة، وهذا التأويل عندنا منكر من أجل أنه لا يجوز أن يقال إن الله تعالى في مكان أو في كل مكان” [مشكل الحديث, الامام ابن فورك ص63
“Know that al-Thaljī used to have the opinion of al-Najjār in the statement “Allāh is everywhere” and that is the view of the Mu’tazilah. This interpretation is rejected according to us due to the fact that it is not allowed to say that Allāh is in a place or in all places”.
[Mushkil al-Hadīth pg 63]
Al-Imām al-Hāfizh al- Bayhaqī mentions in ‘al-I’tiqād’:
وفي كثير من الآيات دلالة على إبطال قول من زعم من الجهمية أن الله بذاته في كل مكان . وقوله سبحانه و تعالى:{ وهو معكم أينما كنتم } إنما أراد به بعلمه لا بذاته
“In many verses there is indication upon the nullification of the statement of those from the Jahmiyyah that claimed that Allāh is everywhere in His Being (bidhātihi). And the statement of Allāh Most Transcendent {And He is with you wherever you may be} He intended by it through His Divine Knowledge not with His Divine Being.”
[Al-I’tiqād, pg 112]
In an answer to a question in al-Fatāwā al-Ridwiyyah the Mujaddid Imām Ahmad Ridā Khān (may Allāh shower him with mercy) says:
عمرو کاوہ کہنا کہ کوئی مکان کوئی گوشہ ایسانہیں جہاں ذات خدا موجود نہ ہو کلمہ کفر ہے کہ اس کی ذات کے لئے جگہ ثابت کرناہے، فتاوٰی تاتارخانیہ وطریقہ محمدیہ وحدیقہ ندیہ وفتاوٰی عالمگیری وجامع الفصولین وغیرہ میں اس پرحکم کفر فرمایا
“Amr’s saying that there is no such place no corner where the Being (Dhāt) of Allāh is not present is a statement of Kufr because it is the establishing of a place for the Dhāt of Allāh. The verdict of kufr upon this has been passed in Fatāwā Tātarkhāniyyah, Tarīqah Muhammadiyyah, Hadīqah Nadiyyah, Fatāwā Alamghīriy, Jām’i al-Fusūlayn and other works.”
[Al-Fatāwā al-Ridwiyyah Vol 14 pg 620]
The Mujaddid Imām Hujjat al-Islām al-Ghazāli (may Allāh have mercy on him) states:
ولا ترتبك في مواقع غلطه، فمنه غلط من قال: إنه في كل مكان. وكل من نسبه إلى مكان أو جهة فقد زلّ فضلّ، ورجع غاية نظره إلى التصرف في محسوسات البهائم، ولم يجاوز الأجسام وعلائقها. وأول درجات الإيمان مجاوزتها، فبه يصير الإنسان إنسانًا فضلاً عن أن يصير مؤمنًا“
“So do not become confused and entangled in the places of erring in this matter. From that is the error of the one who says: ‘He (Allāh) is everywhere’. Every person who attributed place or direction to Him erred and deviated and the extent of his contemplation returned back to the manner of dealing with the tangible realities of animals and did not go beyond physical bodies and that which is associated with them. The first of the levels of Īmān is to surpass these and in that a person becomes a human let alone becoming a Believer.”
[Al-Arba’īn fi Usūl al-Dīn pg 296]
Answered by Mawlana Ibrar Shafi
