Allaah is above His Throne and He is separate from creation
الحمد لله تعالى و الصلاة و السلام على نبي الله صلى الله عليه و على آله و صحبه و سلم
Allaah has said in His inerrant revelation
إِنَّ رَبَّكُمُ اللَّهُ الَّذِي خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ فِي سِتَّةِ أَيَّامٍ ثُمَّ اسْتَوَىٰ عَلَى الْعَرْشِ
Indeed, your Lord is Allaah, who created the heavens and earth in six days and then established Himself above the Throne.
7:54 translation of the meaning
وَمَا كَانَ لِبَشَرٍ أَن يُكَلِّمَهُ اللَّهُ إِلَّا وَحْيًا أَوْ مِن وَرَاءِ حِجَابٍ أَوْ يُرْسِلَ رَسُولًا فَيُوحِيَ بِإِذْنِهِ مَا يَشَاءُ ۚ إِنَّهُ عَلِيٌّ حَكِيمٌ
And it is not for any human being that Allaah should speak to him except by revelation or from behind a partition or that He sends a messenger to reveal, by His permission, what He wills. Indeed, He is Most High and Wise.
42:51 translation of the meaning
In these ayat are evidence that Allaah is separate from creation because Allaah is in one place and not everywhere, above the Throne, and if Allaah were not separate from creation, Allaah would be everywhere
Abdullaah ibn Al Mubarak (181AH) said "Our Lord is on His Throne separate from creation"
Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (241AH) heard this and affirmed it reciting the ayat:
﴿هَلْ يَنْظُرُونَ إِلَّا أَنْ يَأْتِيَهُمُ اللَّهُ فِي ظُلَلٍ مِنَ الْغَمَامِ﴾ [البقرة: ٢١٠]
﴿وَجَاءَ رَبُّكَ وَالْمَلَكُ صَفًّا صَفًّا﴾ [الفجر: ٢٢]
《Do they await but that Allaah should come to them in covers of clouds》(2:210 translation of the meaning)
《And your Lord has come and the angels, rank upon rank》(89:22)
And said
"Allaah has a Throne and the Throne have bearers who carry it, and Allaah has a separation, and Allaah knows best His separation"
ولله عرش، وللعرش حَمَلَةٌ يحملونه، وله حَدٌّ، والله أعلم بِحَدِّهِ
The reason these ayat indicate that is Allaah تعالى being in one place, moving to the other
Not that Allaah is everywhere all at once
Ahadeeth indicative of this are plenty
- The messenger of Allaah ﷺ asked a slave girl "Where is Allaah?" she said "In the heavens" he asked her "Who am I?" She said "You are the messenger of Allaah"
He said "Free her, she is a believer"
Narrated by all scholars of hadeeth
- The messenger of Allaah ﷺ said "Allaah was, and there was nothing with Him, and His Throne was upon the water, then He created the heavens and the earth.." Narrated in Bukhari
And such was said by the scholars:
Abu Sa'eed Uthman ibn Sa'eed said:
Allaah the most High has a separation no one knows but Him and no one may imagine the separation of Allaah within himself but must believe in it and concede its knowledge to Allaah for Allaah is above His Throne above His heavens, those are two separations
أنَّ الله تعالى له حَدٌّ لا يعلمه أَحَدٌ غَيْرُهُ، ولا يجوز لأحد أن يتوهَّم لحدِّه في نفسه، ولكن يؤمن بالحدِّ، وَيَكِلُ عِلْمَ ذلك إلى الله؛ فهو على عَرْشِهِ فَوْقَ سَمَاوَاتِهِ، فَهَذَانِ حَدَّانِ اثْنَانِ
Ibn Battah Al Okbori said: Jahmiyya deny that Allaah has a Throne, they said: We do not say that Allaah is on the Throne for Allaah is greater than the Throne and whenever we acknowledge that Allaah is above the Throne, we have limited Allaah and said that many places are empty of Him other than the Throne. Thereby rejecting the scripture and denying the narrations of the messenger peace and blessings upon him
الجهميَّة تجحد أنَّ لله عرشًا، وقالوا: لا نقول: إنَّ الله على العرش؛ لأنَّه أعظم من العرش، ومتى اعترفنا أنَّه على العرش، فقد حَدَدْنَاهُ، وقد خَلَتْ مِنْهُ أماكن كثيرة غير العرش، فَرَدُّوا نَصَّ التَّنزيل، وكذَّبوا أخبار الرَّسول ﷺ
Later he said
The Muslims from the sahaba and their students and all people of knowledge from among thr believers that Allaah is on His Throne above His heavens separate from creation, His knowledge surrounds all His creation, no one rejects this and denies it except the pantheistic people, who are misguided and were distraught by devils so they exited the religion and said: Allaah is never absent from a place and said: Allaah is in the earth as much as He is in the heavens and He is inside everything by Himself
وَأَجْمَعَ الْمُسْلِمُونَ مِنَ الصَّحَابَةِ وَالتَّابِعِينَ، وَجَمِيعِ أَهْلِ الْعِلْمِ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ أَنَّ اللَّهَ عَلَى عَرْشِهِ، فَوْقَ سَمَاوَاتِهِ بَائِنٌ مِنْ خَلْقِهِ، وَعِلْمُهُ مُحِيطٌ بِجَمِيعِ خَلْقِهِ، لَا يَأْبَى ذَلِكَ وَلَا يُنْكِرْهُ إِلَّا مَنِ انْتَحَلَ مَذَاهِبَ الْحُلُولِيَّةِ، وَهُمْ قَوْمٌ زَاغَتْ قُلُوبُهُمْ، وَاسْتَهْوَتْهُمُ الشَّيَاطِينُ فَمَرَقُوا مِنَ الدِّينِ، وَقَالُوا: إِنَّ اللَّهَ ذَاتَهُ لَا يَخْلُو مِنْهُ مَكَانٌ، فَقَالُوا: إِنَّهُ فِي الْأَرْضِ كَمَا هُوَ فِي السَّمَاءِ وَهُوَ بِذَاتِهِ حَالٌّ فِي جَمِيعِ الْأَشْيَاءِ
Harb Al Kerrmani (280AH) said:
They say.. Allaah cannot be seen, does not have a place, Allaah doesn't have a Throne or a Footstool (Kursi) and many other things I hate to say, they are disbelievers zanadiqa, enemies of Allaah, you must be wary of
ولا يُرى، ولا يُعرف لله مكان، وليس لله عرش، ولا كرسي وكلام كثير أكره حكايته، وهم كفار، زنادقة، أعداء الله فاحذروهم
Therefore, one of the attributes of Allaah by agreement of Muslims is that Allaah is separate from creation
Meaning Allaah does not mix with creation unlike the way the Christians would say that Allaah enters into them and unifies with them
And unlike the atheistic Jahmiyya, Ashariyya, Mutazila and all their likes who say that Allaah is not separate from creation, claiming that being separate requires being in a place
As if being in a place is a deficiency to Allaah which they try to prove as a deficiency through their lackluster logic