Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to say:

“You are the First, and nothing is before You. You are the Last, and nothing is after You. You are the Outward, and nothing is above You. You are the Inward, and nothing is beneath You. Settle our debts for us and spare us poverty.”

He thus stated that Allah is the Outward, above whom there is nothing, and the Inward, beneath whom there is nothing. This affirms that nothing is above Him in His outwardness and His elevation above all things, and that nothing is beneath Him. Nothing, therefore, can be more inward than He, since His inwardness is from the other side in relation to His servants.

In saying, “You are the Inward, and nothing is beneath You,” he combined the term denoting inwardness with the term “beneath,” rather than using “beneath” alone. It is thus understood that His inwardness entails that nothing is beneath Him: nothing is beneath Him with respect to His inwardness. Inwardness relates to the side that is not outward. This is why he did not say, “You are the Lowermost.” This is also why there is no occurrence of this