and their Sovereign—if He is above all His creation, how could it follow that He needs His creation or His Throne? How could His being above His creation entail such dependence when it does not entail this even among created things? It is known that whatever independence from others is established for a created being, the Creator, glorified and exalted, has a greater and more rightful claim to it. The same applies to His words:

“Do you feel secure that He who is in heaven will not cause the earth to swallow you, whereupon it would quake?”

Anyone who imagines that this verse implies that Allah is inside the heavens is, by agreement, ignorant and astray—even though saying that the sun and moon are in the sky does imply that they are within it. For the preposition “in” is connected to what precedes and follows it, and its meaning varies according to what it is related to. Thus, a distinction is made between a thing being in a place, a body being in a region of space, an accident being in a body, a face being in a mirror, and speech being on paper. Each of these kinds has a distinctive feature that sets it apart from the others, although the preposition “in” is used in all of them.

If someone were to ask, “Is the Throne in heaven or on earth?” the answer would be, “In heaven.” Likewise, if someone asked, “Is Paradise in heaven or on earth?” the answer would be, “Paradise is in heaven.” Yet this does not entail that the Throne is inside the heavens, nor even that Paradise is. It is established in the Sahīh that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“When you ask Allah for Paradise, ask Him for al-Firdaws, for it is the highest and central part of Paradise, and its roof is the Throne of the Most Merciful.”

Thus, the roof of this Paradise—the Throne—is above the celestial spheres, even though Paradise is in