that, once Allah brought the creation into existence, He then entered into it—so the creation became His abode, His refuge, and He ended up surrounded by it; the place itself became a tether for Him. Exalted is Allah far above what they allege. This is the first implication of their claim that “Allah is in every place.”

The second implication is that places are not all alike in terms of purity and cleanliness, loftiness and honor, or filth and baseness; one location differs from another. In an authentic hadith the Prophet ﷺ said, “The best spots on earth are the mosques, and the worst spots are the market-places” (1). Now then, if—as they say—our Lord is present everywhere, He would be in the mosques and in the markets alike. Does it befit Allah, the Most High, the All-Powerful, to be found in the worst of places?

Nor does the matter stop there. Those markets contain houses, and inside the houses are lavatories—privies whose drains empty into the sea, the valley, and the like. All of these are places. Indeed, let us not go far: the human stomach, filled with impurity, is itself a place, for it takes in air, food, and drink—all of that occurs in a “place.” Is our Lord truly in such locations, as they claim when they say, “Allah is present in every place”? How can that stand when Allah says, “Are you secure against Him who is in the heaven…?” (al-Mulk 67:16), as we cited earlier.

He also says, “The angels and the Spirit ascend to Him” (al-Maʿārij 70:4); they do not descend upon Him in every place. And He says, “To Him ascends good speech, and righteous action He exalts” (Fāṭir 35:10).

All these texts are, in Shaykh al-Shaʿrāwī’s mind, completely set aside; he simply does not believe in them. For that reason he objected when one of our brothers posed to him the prophetic question, “Where is Allah?” He replied, “God forbid—such a question should not be asked!” Very well, but if the question is indeed asked, what answer does he give? “Allah is present everywhere.”