The second specious objection concerns “direction.”

Its reply is what Ibn Taymiyyah states in his al-Tadmuriyyah, p. 45: The word “direction” (jihah) may be intended as something that exists apart from Allah, in which case it is a created thing—such as when by “direction” one means the very Throne or the heavens themselves. It may also be intended as something that is not an entity independent of Allah—namely, what lies above the universe.

It is well-known that the revealed texts neither affirm nor deny the term “direction” itself; what they do affirm is Allah’s exaltedness (ʿulūw), His rising over the Throne (istiwāʾ), His being above (fawqiyyah), the ascension to Him, and the like. Moreover, it is established that nothing exists except the Creator and the created, and the Creator—exalted is He—is wholly distinct from His creation: none of His essence is inside His creatures, and none of what He has created is inside His essence.