—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—and Abū Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him. Thus, He is with Moses and Aaron, but not Pharaoh; with Muhammad and his companion, but not Abū Jahl and His other enemies; and with those who fear Him and those who do good, but not the unjust aggressors. If “being with” meant that He Himself is everywhere, the specific and general statements would contradict one another. Rather, it means that He is with these people through His help and support, but not with those others.

As for the words of the Most High:

“It is He who is God in heaven and God on earth,”

they mean that He is the God of those in the heavens and those on earth, as Allah Most High says:

“To Him belongs the highest description in the heavens and the earth, and He is the Almighty, the All-Wise.”

Likewise, His words:

“And He is Allah in the heavens and on the earth,”

mean that He is the One worshipped in the heavens and on earth, as explained by the leading scholars, including Imam Ahmad and others.

The early generations of the Muslim community and its leading scholars unanimously agreed that the Lord Most High is distinct from His creation. He is described as He described Himself and as His Messenger—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—described Him, without distorting or denying His attributes, specifying how they are, or likening them to those of creation. He is described with attributes of perfection, not attributes of deficiency, and it is known that nothing is like Him in His attributes of perfection. As Allah Most High says:

“Say, ‘He is Allah, the One;
Allah, the Eternal Refuge.
He neither begets nor is born,
and there is none comparable to Him.’”

Ibn ‘Abbās said: “Al-Samad is the All-Knowing, whose knowledge is perfect; the Magnificent, whose magnificence is perfect; the All-Powerful, whose power is perfect; the All-Wise, whose wisdom is perfect; the Master, whose mastery is perfect.