Mukhtalif al-hadīth (Conflicting Hadiths): “We say concerning His words, Most High:

‘There is no private conversation among three but that He is the fourth of them’ [al-Mujādila 7],

that He is with them in that He knows their circumstances. This is like saying to a man whom you have sent to a distant land, ‘Beware of falling short, for I am with you,’ meaning that none of his shortcomings will be hidden from you.

“How can anyone maintain that He, glorified and exalted, is everywhere in the sense of dwelling in every place, when He says:

‘The Most Merciful rose over the Throne’ {5},

and:

‘To Him good words ascend’?

“How can anything ascend to Him while He is with it? How can the angels and the Spirit ascend to Him while they are with Him?

“If these people returned to their innate nature and the knowledge of the Creator built into their very constitution, they would know that Allah is the Exalted, the Most High, and that hands are raised toward Him in supplication. All nations, Arabs and non-Arabs alike, say that Allah is in heaven, so long as their innate nature is left intact.

“In the Gospel, the Messiah said to the disciples, ‘If you forgive people, then your Father who is in heaven will forgive you your wrongdoing. Look