For example, the report, “Who is your Lord?” may be an abridgement of the report, “Do you testify that there is no god worthy of worship but Allah?” And this does not conflict with her having been asked, “Where is Allah?” For today we know many who utter this testimony and, when asked this question, promptly reply, “Allah is everywhere!” even though they know that Allah existed when there was no place.
Some who engage in false disputation have realized the error of this statement and have resorted to evasion, saying, “It should not be said that He is everywhere, nor that He is not in a place.” (1) This is merely verbal subterfuge on their part, through which they feign transcendence. It resembles the statement of their predecessors among the Jahmites, the Mu'tazilites, and their hangers-on among the deniers of the divine attributes: “He is neither within the universe nor outside it.” May Allah have mercy on whoever said of such people, “These are people who have lost their Lord!” Thus, it is not unlikely that the question was posed in both wordings: “Where?” and “Do you testify?” This is supported by the second hadith.
What decisively establishes and confirms the preference we have stated is the hadith of Mu'awiyah ibn al-Hakam, which I promised to mention. He related the story of the slave girl in a complete and remarkable manner, as no one else related it; and this is not surprising, for he was her master. He—may Allah be pleased with him—said concerning an incident that occurred to him while he was praying behind the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. The Prophet asked him several questions, which he answered:
- He said:
“I had a slave girl who tended some sheep of mine near Uhud and al-Jawwaniyyah. One day, I checked on them and found that a wolf had carried off one sheep from her flock. I am a human being, and I become upset as people do, but I gave her a slap. Then I came to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and he regarded what I had done as a serious matter. I said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, should I not set her free?’ He said, ‘Bring her to me.’ So I brought her to him, and he asked her: ‘Where is Allah?’”