Allah is the proper name applied to the true God who exists necessarily by Himself comprising all the excellent Divine names and attributes of perfection. Allah is One and Unique. He has no son, no partner, nor equal. He is the sole Creator and Sustainer of the universe. Every creature bears witness to His Oneness, Divinity, and Ruboobiyyah[1], and to the uniqueness of His attributes and names.

His essence does not resemble the essences. He does not inhere in anything, nor does anything inhere in Him. "There is none like unto Him." He is the One, the Sole, the Indivisible. He is the Rubb[2] who accomplishes all affairs, Allah is the Omnipotent and the Omniscient.

His knowledge comprehends in perfect manner all things, hidden or manifest. He is greater than can be encompassed by the knowledge of His creatures. He knows everything, and He is aware of all that takes place in the earth and the heavens. Allah, the Supreme, is the Rubb of everything and has a free hand in disposal of all affairs.

His mercy encompasses everything. He is far removed from injustice or tyranny. He is wise in all His actions, just in all His decrees. His justice ensures order in the universe in which nothing is out of order.

There is no one to share His dominion, nor does He take an aide or supporter from His creatures. He is nearer to man than man's own jugular vein[3]. Whenever a believer is in need or distress calls on Him, He responds.

Allah has revealed His final Scripture, the Qur'an, to that last of His Messengers, Muhammed (sallallaahu `alaihi wasallam) who was responsible for conveying the Message of Islam to mankind. He is the Exalted Allah. Glory is due to Him.

Where is Allah?

Allah, the Exalted, has described Himself in His Book, and by the tongue of His Messenger (sallallaahu `alaihi wasallam) as Sublime, Supreme, and Lofty. The Qur'an is full of proofs relevant to the Loftiness of Allah.

Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jama'ah believe in and confirm all of the attributes of Allah without distorting their meaning, and that Allah is above His seven heavens, above His 'Arsh, and separated from His creatures, and His creatures are separated from Him.

This discourse will provide the Scriptural proofs of the Loftiness of Allah is an indivisible part of the inherent faculty of knowing Allah with which Allah has created mankind. Although the aqeedah of Loftiness of Allah is part of man's innate knowledge and cannot be subjected to hypothetical of philosophical argumentation, there are some deviated sects who follow their whims and deny this intuitive and self-evident fact. For this reason, they have twisted Scriptural proofs and distorted them, and manipulated the texts to conform with their deviant argument.

All of the divine attributes are intrinsically related to the attribute of divine Loftiness. Therefore, accepting or rejecting them must be based on accepting or rejecting the Loftiness of Allah. Whoever believes that Allah is above His 'Arsh[4] and separated from His creatures, also believes in the rest of the attributes of Allah, and believes as well that the heaves and the earth submit to His will, and that He is the Great Rubb of the worlds. Allah does whatever He wills and rules according to His Own wishes. Glory be to Him.

Denial of the divine Loftiness is one of the basic doctrinal heresy promoted by the Jahmites[5] and their off-shoots of today in order to confuse the Muslims' minds. Denying this divine attribute also leads by necessity to the denial of the attribute of the istiwaa of Allah above His Arsh. There is no doubt that the denial of the attributes of Allah clashes with the clear Qur'anic verses in which the unique essential attributes and beautiful names of Allah confirmed. These attributes must be affirmed as identical with Allah.

The essential divine attributes of Allah constitute an integral part of His essence and are not superadded to it. They are accepted literally by Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jama'h without questioning the 'how' of these attributes. To deny them is clear unbelief and heresy.

It is for this reason this discourse has been prepared to deal with the creed of Loftiness of Allah, or the question, 'Where is Allah?' with the Scriptural evidences from the Qur'an and the authentic prophetic traditions, as well as the traditions of those early Muslims, the pious predecessors.

The Qur'anic Proofs

Allah, the Exalted, commands the believers to refer their disputes and differences to His Book and the Sunnah of His Messenger (sallallaahu `alaihi wasallam) saying: "And when you differ in anything among yourselves, refer it to Allah and His Messenger, if you believe in Allah and the Last Day."[6]