, because of their shared knowledge that the One they invoke is in heaven—glorified and exalted is He.

He said: Those who disagree have objected by citing His words:

“He is Allah in the heavens and on earth. He knows what you conceal and what you reveal.” [al-Anʿām 3]

And His words:

“It is He who is God in heaven and God on earth. And He is the All-Wise, the All-Knowing.” {84} [al-Zukhruf 84]

And His words:

“There is no private conversation among three but He is their fourth, nor among five but He is their sixth.” [al-Mujādilah 7]

They also cite similar verses of the Quran. Yet this neither undermines nor contradicts the verses we recited earlier. Speaking about something’s condition or an attribute of it in a particular respect is different from speaking about the thing itself and its essence. This is like someone saying, “So-and-so is well known in the marketplace and throughout the lands.” At the time these words are spoken, that person may be at home, absent from both the marketplace and those lands.

The meaning of these verses is simply to affirm His knowledge and power in heaven and on earth. The preceding verses, however, speak only of His Essence and His being established over the Throne, without attaching a qualifying phrase to that statement or relating it to anything else. One of the two statements thus stands independently, whereas the other is intended to convey something beyond itself and extends to something else. It combines two propositions, whereas the first statement contains only one.

He said that some have claimed that being established here means taking possession, and cited in support of this