Where is God? Question in islamonline.net

Name of Questioner Abdul Muiz   – Singapore   Title Where is God?   Date 19/Aug/2002   Question Assalamu’ alaikum wr wb to the consultants,May I know where is Allah? Could you please answer with the Qur’an or the sunnah of the rasul (messenger) or his companions.Thank You     Topic Islamic Creed   Name of Counselor Daud Matthews

Answer

May Allah reward you for your question.Let us first realize that Allah is absolutely other than His creation. The Creator cannot by any means be the same type of being as that which He creates. It also follows that to ‘locate’ Allah would be to place Him in our space and time dimension when we know this is definitely not the case. Allah is not in our space/time dimension. He is not subject to the same constraints that we are. This is self-evident to sense and reason.The Qur’an tells us: Your Guardian-Lord is God, Who created the heavens and the earth in six days, and is firmly established on the throne (of authority)… Surah 7 Verse 54 In this passage from the Qur’an we are being informed, Allah is above the throne. [The concept of throne here is beyond the understanding of humans.] Glory to (God) Who did take His servant for a Journey by night from the Sacred Mosque to the farthest Mosque, whose precincts We did bless,- in order that We might show him some of Our Signs: for He is the One Who heareth and seeth (all things). Surah 17 Verse 1 This passage is relating how Muhammad (pbuh) started the Night Journey, the Mirage, where he was taken through the heavens to Allah. After his ascent to the heavens, the companions asked him if he had seen Allah. On the authority of Abu Darr, on one occasion, he answered: ‘He is the Light. How do I see Him?’ (Narrated by Muslim, Ibn Majah and Ibn Hanbal) On another occasion he answered: ‘I have seen a Light.’ (Narrated by Muslim) We are told Allah is above the throne. Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said: ‘Compared with the kursi (seat of honor), the whole universe is as little as a ring thrown upon a desert. Similarly, compared with the ‘arsh (throne), the kursi is as little as a ring thrown upon the desert.’ (Tafsir a-Tabari) How can we even begin to think the reality of the kursi and ‘arsh from which the All-Mighty in His Infinite Majesty sends out His Will and Command and sustains His creation, let alone begin to conceive of Allah Himself? Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) could only say, ‘He is the Light, how do I see Him? … and, I have seen a Light.’ Whatever begins to form in our minds, Allah is greater than that. And verily, We shall recount their whole story with knowledge, for We were never absent (at any time or place). Surah 7 Verse 7 …We are nearer to him (man) than (his) jugular vein. Surah 50 Verse 16 …He knows what enters within the earth and what comes forth out of it, what comes down from heaven and what mounts up to it. And He is with you wheresoever ye may be. And God sees well all that ye do. Surah 57 Verse 4 There are many passages in the Qur’an, which refer to Allah being with us and seeing us. What ‘being with us’ means is that His knowledge is over everything and through His knowledge He is observing and witnessing, there is nothing outside of His knowledge. For our part, we feel the existence and presence of Allah, in the depths of our heart, through the universe, which He has created and opened to us like a book, and through the wonderful harmony between all His creations. In fact, this vision is completely different from that of other religions, among which are those who either believe in incarnation or give God human attributes. It is also differs from the the modernist vision of nature, human nature, deity and transcendence. Accordingly, in Islam, the ‘location’ question, in many writings, is distinguished from the ‘knowledge’ question. So, yes, Allah is nearer to us than our own veins, yet that is not in time, place or location. Allah’s all-encompassing knowledge is the key to the answer here.