It is He who created the heavens and earth in six days and then established Himself above the Throne. He knows what penetrates into the earth and what emerges from it and what descends from the heaven and what ascends therein; and He is with you wherever you are. And Allah, of what you do, is Seeing. (al Hashr 57:4)
It’s puzzling that these jahmiyyah use the very verse in which Allah clearly says that He established Himself above the Throne to try to claim that He is everywhere… “Those are like cattle; rather, they are more astray.” (al A’raf 7:179)
The meaning of “He is with you wherever you are” is not everywhere with his Essence as the Jahmiyyah claim, but that His knowledge encompasses everything and everyone. This is what is found in all the books of Tafsir, and it means Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala is well acquainted with everyone’s deed and no one can escape Him, wherever he is and be it in the deepest darkness of the night.
Allah says similarly:
We verily created man and We know what his soul whispereth to him, and We are nearer to him than his jugular vein. (Qaf 50:16)
Behold! they [Quraysh] fold up their breasts to hide themselves from Him. Unquestionably, [even] when they cover themselves in their clothing, Allah knows what they conceal and what they declare. Indeed, He is Knowing of that within the breasts. (Hud11:5)
Harb Ibn Isma’il Al-Kirmani reports: “I said to Ishaq Ibn Rahawayh (رحمه الله) – m.237H -: “About the word of the Most High:
No secret conversation between three without He (Allah) being their fourth. (al-Mujadila 58/7)
How should we understand it? He says, “Wherever you are, Allah is nearer to you than your jugular vein, but He is separated from His creation (bain min khalqihi). “
Then he (Ishâq Ibn Rahawayh) related the word of Ibn al-Mubārak (رحمه الله) – m.181H -: “He (Allah) is above His Throne, separate and distinct from His creation (min khalqihi).”
Then he (Ishaq Ibn Rahawayh) said, “The most obvious and manifest thing about this is the word of the Most High:
Ar-Rahman (The Merciful One) who has established himself (istawâ) above the Throne. (Ta-Ha 20/5)” (Adh-Dhahabi in “Mukhtasar al-‘uluw” p.191)
The Jahmiyyah also twist this verse to claim Allah is everywhere :
And to Allah belongs the east and the west. So wherever you [might] turn, there is the Face of Allah. Indeed, Allah is all-Encompassing and Knowing. (al Baqara 2:115)
In the tafsir of the verse it says:
`Ikrimah said that Ibn `Abbas said,
(So wherever you turn (yourselves or your faces) there is the Face of Allah (and He is High above, over His Throne)) means, “Allah’s direction is wherever you face, east or west.” Mujahid the student of Ibn Abbas said about it that “Wherever you may be, you have a Qiblah to face, that is, Al-Ka`bah.” [see Tafsir ibn Kathir]
And what the Jahmiyyah failed to understand is that in Arabic, the word Wajh (face) can also take the meaning of “sake” or “pleasure”, or it can take the literal meaning of seeking to see His Face in the hereafter, and what best demonstrates that is the usage of the word in other places of the Qur’an:
“And turn not away those who invoke their Lord, morning and afternoon seeking His Face.” [al-An’aam 6:52]
“And who has (in mind) no favour from anyone to be paid back, Except to seek the Countenance (Wajh) of his Lord, the Most High. He surely, will be pleased (when he will enter Paradise).” [al-Layl 92:19-21]
In conclusion, the doubts and lies of the Jahmiyyah are weaker than the spider’s house and are rejected by Qur’an, ‘aql (reason) and fitrah, and all praise is due to Allah.