And if He were everywhere, He would be in a person’s belly and mouth, in latrines, and in places we prefer not to mention. He would necessarily increase as places increased, whenever He created places that had not existed, and decrease as they decreased, whenever existing places ceased to exist. It would also be valid to direct supplications to Him toward the earth, behind us, and to our right and left. Yet the Muslims unanimously hold the opposite and declare anyone who says this to be mistaken.”

Thus, Judge Abū Bakr agreed with Abū al-Hasan al-Asharī: he denied that Allah is everywhere and presented His being above the Throne as the alternative. He did not present the alternative as His being neither within the world nor outside it.

For there are four possibilities, with no fifth: either He Himself is separate from the world, or He is intermingled with it, or He is both separate from it and intermingled with it, or He is neither separate from it nor intermingled with it.

These scholars therefore contrasted intermingling with separation. They did not say, “Neither within the world nor outside it.” These are the leading authorities of their respective groups.

[Judge Abū Yalā’s words in Ibtāl al-Ta’wīl affirming Allah’s being above creation and His establishment over the Throne]

Judge Abū Yalā said in his book Ibtāl al-Ta’wīl (Refuting Figurative Interpretation):

“If it is established that He is above the Throne, then the Throne is in a direction, and He is above His Throne.”