Affirmation of Divine Exaltation

Abu Ḥanīfah—may Allah have mercy on him—said: “Whoever says, ‘I do not know whether my Lord is in the heaven or on the earth,’ has committed disbelief, and likewise the one who says, ‘He is upon the Throne, yet I do not know whether the Throne is in the heaven or on the earth.’ Allah, exalted is He, is supplicated from above and not from below; to deny this is to negate the very attributes of rubūbiyyah (lordship) and ulūhiyyah (divinity).

This is corroborated by the hadith in which a man brought a black slave-girl to the Prophet ﷺ and said, ‘I am obliged to free a slave; will this one fulfill the requirement?’ The Prophet ﷺ asked her, ‘Do you believe?’ She answered, ‘Yes.’ He then said, ‘Where is Allah?’ She pointed toward the sky. He concluded, ‘Free her, for she is a believer.’