The Sunnah Shows the Permissibility of Asking About Allah Most High With “Where”

From the proofs of Ahl al Sunnah wa al Jamaʿah for affirming Allah Most High being above, in His Self, over His creation, is the clear wording of asking about Allah using the word “where”.

Imam Muslim (d. 261AH) reported in his Sahih, from Muʿawiyah ibn al Hakam al Sulami, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: “I had a slave girl who used to graze some sheep of mine near Uhud and al Jawwaniyyah. One day I went out and saw that a wolf had taken a sheep from her flock.

I am a man from the children of Adam, and I become upset as they become upset, but I struck her with a slap. Then I came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and that weighed heavily on me. I said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, should I not free her?’ He said, ‘Bring her to me.’ So I brought her to him, and he said to her, ‘Where is Allah?’ She said, ‘In the heaven.’ He said, ‘Who am I?’ She said, ‘You are the Messenger of Allah.’ He said, ‘Free her, for she is a believer.’” (Sahih Muslim 537.)

This is clear in the permissibility of asking about Allah Most High with “where”, and answering it by saying that He is “in the heaven”, and that it is a sign of sound iman, because it contains knowing Allah Most High by affirming His highness over His creation, and that He is “in the heaven”.

The Salaf agreed on the soundness of asking about Allah Most High in this way, and on the obligation of answering by saying that He, Blessed and Most High, is “in the heaven”. They rejected the one who forbids that. Rather, they considered forbidding it a rejection of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and a denial of Allah Blessed and Most High being above.

In the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ there is sufficiency and richness, by the praise of Allah. In it there is a crushing proof against the one who invalidates this and forbids it, but most of them do not understand.

Texts From the Salaf Showing the Permissibility of Asking About Allah With “Where”

Along with that, I will mention here some texts from the Salaf that show this, and that confirm what came in the hadith.

Sulayman ibn Tarkhan al Taymi, Abu al Muʿtamir al Basri (d. 143AH)

Sadaqah said: “I heard al Taymi say: ‘If I were asked: Where is Allah, Blessed and Most High? I would say: In the heaven. If he says: Then where was His Throne before He created the heaven? I would say: On the water. If he says to me: Where was His Throne before He created the water? I would say: I do not know.’” (Reported by al Lalikaʾi, 3/401. Also mentioned by al Dhahabi in al ʿUluww, page 130.)

Imam, the great scholar, the hafidh, the critic, ʿUthman ibn Saʿid al Darimi (d. 280AH)

He said, replying to the objector who forbids asking about Allah with “where”: “You also openly stated a huge, ugly madhhab from the speech of the Jahmiyyah. You said: If they say to us, ‘Where is Allah?’ then we do not speak with ‘whereness’ by the indwelling of place. If it is said: Where is He? It is said: He is upon the Throne and in the heaven.

So it is said to you, O objector: You left no end point in denying Allah being above the Throne, and His rising to the heaven, when you said: We do not say ‘He is upon the Throne and in the heaven’ with ‘whereness’. Whoever does not know that his God is above His Throne, above His heavens, is only worshipping other than Allah, and his worship is aimed at a god in the earth. Whoever aims his worship at a god in the earth is like a worshipper of an idol, because the Most Merciful is upon the Throne, and idols are in the earth. As He said about Jibril عليه السلام:

عِندَ ذِي العَرشِ مَكِينٌ ۝ مُطَاعٍ ثَمَّ أَمِينٍ

With the Owner of the Throne, firm in place obeyed there, and trustworthy. (al Takwir 20–21)

In this, there is proof for separation and a limit, by His saying “then”. It is not here in corners and toilets as you claimed.

If you still refuse, O objector, to affirm “where” for Allah Most High, and to accept that He is above His Throne, apart from all else, then there is no harm on the one who affirms “where” for Him, because His Messenger and Prophet ﷺ affirmed “where” for Him when he said to the Black slave woman: “Where is Allah?”

She said: “In the heaven.”

He said: “Free her, for she is a believer.”

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ also affirmed “where” for Him, and His close friend Ibrahim عليه السلام, that He is in the heaven …” until he said: “As for your saying: He is not described with ‘where’. This is the root of Jahm’s speech.” (al Darimi, al Radd ʿala al Marisi, 1/489.)

So reflect on his words, that forbidding the question “where” is the root of the Jahmiyyah.

The judge Abu Yaʿla Muhammad ibn al Husayn al Farra (d. 458AH)

After he reported the hadith of the slave girl, he said: “Know that speech about this report has two parts. The first is the permissibility of asking about Him, Glorified is He, with ‘Where is He?’ and the permissibility of informing about Him that He is in the heaven. The second is his statement: ‘Free her, for she is a believer.’

As for the first part, the clear wording of the report shows the permissibility of asking about Him, and the permissibility of informing about Him that He is in the heaven. The Prophet ﷺ said to her: ‘Where is Allah?’ If asking about Him was not permissible, he would not have asked.

She answered that He is in the heaven, and he approved her upon that. If it was not permissible to inform about Him, Glorified is He, with that, he would not have approved her upon it …” until he said: “Ahmad also spoke with that openly in what he brought out in al Radd ʿala al Jahmiyyah …” (Abu Yaʿla, Ibtal al Taʾwilat, 1/232.)

Shaykh al Islam, the hafidh, Abu Ismaʿil ʿAbd Allah ibn Muhammad al Ansari al Harawi (d. 481AH)

He said, showing the agreement of the Ashʿaris with the Jahmiyyah: “So listen, O people of understanding, and look at what these people, meaning the Ashʿaris, have over those people, meaning the Jahmiyyah. Those people said, may Allah make their statement ugly: Allah exists in every place. These people say: He is not in a place, and He is not described with ‘where’.

Yet the one who conveyed from Allah Most High, to the slave girl of Muʿawiyah ibn al Hakam, may Allah be pleased with him, said: ‘Where is Allah?’” (Abu Ismaʿil al Harawi, Dhamm al Kalam wa Ahlih, 5/135.)

Taqi al Din Abu Muhammad ʿAbd al Ghani ibn ʿAbd al Wahid al Maqdisi al Hanbali (d. 600AH)

After he reported the hadith of the slave girl, he said: “Who is more ignorant in ignorance, more foolish in mind, and more misguided in path, than the one who says: It is not permissible to say ‘Where is Allah?’ after the clear wording of the one who brought the Sharia when he said: ‘Where is Allah?’” (ʿAbd al Ghani al Maqdisi, ʿAqaʾid Aʾimmat al Salaf, page 75.)

Imam, the hafidh, Shams al Din Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn ʿUthman al Dhahabi (d. 748AH)

After he mentioned the hadith of the slave girl, he said: “This is how we saw every one who is asked: ‘Where is Allah?’ he answers straight away, by his fitrah, and says: ‘In the heaven.’ In the report there are two matters. The first is from the Sharia: a Muslim saying ‘Where is Allah?’ The second is the answer of the one asked: ‘In the heaven.’ Whoever denies these two matters is only denying the Chosen One ﷺ.” (al Dhahabi, al ʿUluww, page 28.)

Affirming this foundation from the words of Abu al Hasan al Ashʿari (d. 324AH)

He said in al Ibanah, in the chapter on mentioning al istiwaʾ upon the Throne: “Another proof.

The ulama, may Allah have mercy on them, reported from the Prophet ﷺ that he said: ‘The servant’s feet will not move from before Allah Most High until He asks him about his deeds.’” (Jamiʿ at Tirmidhi 2417)

“And the ulama reported that a man came to the Prophet ﷺ with a Black slave girl and said: O Messenger of Allah, I want to free her as expiation, so is it permissible to free her?

The Prophet ﷺ said to her: ‘Where is Allah?’ She said: ‘In the heaven.’ He said: ‘Who am I?’ She said: ‘You are the Messenger of Allah.’ The Prophet ﷺ said: ‘Free her, for she is a believer.’” (Sahih Muslim 537)

“This shows that Allah Most High is upon His Throne, above the heaven …” (Abu al Hasan al Ashʿari, al Ibanah, page 103.)

Affirming this foundation from the words of ʿAbd Allah ibn Saʿid ibn Kullab al Qattan (d. 240AH)

He said in the book al Sifat, in the chapter on al istiwaʾ, as reported by Ibn Furak (d. 406AH): “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ, who is the best of Allah’s creation, His chosen one from His creation, and the most knowing of them about Him, permitted asking with ‘where’, and he said it, and he approved the statement of the one who said that He is in the heaven, and he testified iman for him because of that. Yet Jahm ibn Safwan and his companions do not permit ‘where’.

They claim that, and they call it impossible. If it was an error, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ would have been most deserving to reject it, and he should have said to her: Do not say that, lest you assume that Allah Most High is limited and that He is in a place rather than a place. Rather, say: He is in every place, without a place, because that is correct and what you said is not. No, rather, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ permitted it, with his knowledge of what it contains, and that it is the most correct of statements, and the matter that must be believed for the one who says it, and because of it he testified iman for her when she said it. So how can the truth be in the opposite of that, while the Book speaks with it and testifies for it.

He said: Even if the soundness of the madhhab of the Jamaʿah in this topic had no proof except what we mentioned from these matters, it would have been enough. How then, when it is planted into the structure of fitrah and into the understandings of people in a way that nothing is clearer and nothing is firmer. For you do not ask anyone, Arab or non Arab, believer or disbeliever, and say: Where is your Lord? except that he says: In the heaven, if he can speak clearly, or he points with his hand, or he gestures with his glance if he cannot speak. He does not point to any other than that, not to earth, nor plain land, nor mountain.

We never saw anyone making duʿa to Him except that he raises his hands to the heaven. We never found anyone other than the Jahmiyyah being asked about his Lord and saying: In every place, as they say. Yet they claim that they are the best of all people. So minds became lost, reports fell, and Jahm alone, and fifty men with him, were guided. We seek refuge with Allah from the misleading fitan.” End quote.

Then Ibn Furak said: “He, may Allah have mercy on him, has verified in this part some of his madhhahib. The first: the permissibility of saying in the question: Where is Allah? The second: the soundness of answering by saying: In the heaven. The third: that this returns, in it, to consensus from the special people and the general people.” (Quoted by Shaykh al Islam Ibn Taymiyyah in Darʾ Taʿarud al ʿAql wa al Naql, 6/193, and in Naqd al Taʾsis, page 51–53, and in Majmuʿ al Fatawa, 5/319. Also quoted by Ibn al Qayyim in al Sawaʿiq al Mursalah, 4/1238, and in Ijtimaʿ al Juyush al Islamiyyah, page 282.)

Explaining the Opposition of the Ashʿaris to the Salaf in This Topic

Summary of the Chapter

First: The permissibility of asking about Allah Most High by saying: “Where is Allah?”, and answering it by saying: “He is in the heaven”. This does not require setting limits, nor takyif (asking how), nor anything from what follows from the attributes of created things. It is the madhhab of the Salaf, with no disagreement between them, following the Prophet ﷺ.

Second: Abu al Hasan al Ashʿari and ʿAbd Allah ibn Saʿid ibn Kullab agree with the Salaf in this issue, and they reject the one who forbids asking with “where”. So whoever claims to follow them while opposing them, his claim is false.

Third: The ones who deny asking about Allah Most High with “where” are only the Muʿattilah (deniers), like the Jahmiyyah and the Muʿtazilah, and everyone who agrees with them in this.

Fourth: The agreement of the Ashʿaris with the Jahmiyyah and the Muʿtazilah in denying asking about Allah Most High with “where”. By that, the falsehood of what the two Ashʿaris claimed becomes clear, that the Ashʿaris agree with the Salaf.

Kitāb al Ashāʿirah fī Mīzān Ahl al Sunnah by Fayṣal al Jāsim pg 457–466