As for the Sunnah: consider the reply of the slave-girl when the Prophet ﷺ asked her, “Where is Allah?” She answered, “In the heaven” (Muslim 537).
As for scholarly consensus: it is the creed of the Companions, the Successors, and all of the righteous predecessors throughout the ages.
As for sound reason: Allah, exalted is He, is free from every imperfection and possesses absolute perfection. Lowliness is a deficiency, while loftiness is perfection; therefore He alone is entitled to exaltedness.
As for innate disposition: every living being feels, when supplicating or mentioning Allah, an inner pull that lifts the heart upward. Even this tiny creature, while imploring its Lord, raised its legs toward the sky, prompted by an instinctive awareness that the Provider it seeks is above.
Those who deny Allah’s exaltedness are two deviant sects:
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One claims that Allah is present in every place—land, sea, and air—without exempting even filthy locations. Exalted is Allah far above what they allege; these are the ḥulūlīyah (pantheists).
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The other empties Allah of any place whatsoever: He is, according to them, neither above nor below, neither to the right nor to the left, neither inside the universe nor outside it. Were one to describe non-existence, nothing further could be added; in effect, their view negates His very existence.
Allah, exalted be He, has guided and aided Ahl al-Sunnah wa-l-Jamāʿah, so that affirming His absolute exaltedness in His essence and attributes is among their fundamental articles of faith. Both textual and rational proofs establish this truth, and whoever is deprived of believing it is deprived of sound faith.
9 – Although some scholars have critiqued the chain of transmission of this hadith, its meaning is unquestionably sound: the ant spoke, Solomon heard her and understood her speech. The Qur’an confirms the same event: “When they came upon the valley of the ants, an ant said, ‘O ants, enter your dwellings…’” (al-Naml 27:18).