Where is Allah?

WayFinder

Peace to All

Here is one of the many questions sunnist and hadithist will usually ask... I have already faced this question many times from different people... However, we have multiple answers from Allah in the Quran...

Allah is on his Throne

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God! There is no god but He, - the Living, the Self-subsisting, Eternal. No slumber can seize Him nor sleep. His are all things in the heavens and on earth. Who is there can intercede in His presence except as He permitteth? He knoweth what (appeareth to His creatures as) before or after or behind them. Nor shall they compass aught of His knowledge except as He willeth. His Throne doth extend over the heavens and the earth, and He feeleth no fatigue in guarding and preserving them for He is the Most High, the Supreme (in glory).

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Surely, your Lord is ALLAH, who created the heavens and the earth in six periods, then HE settled Himself firmly on the Throne. HE makes the night cover the day, which it pursues swiftly, And HE created the sun and the moon and the stars - all made subservient by HIS command. Verily, HIS is the creation and the command. Blessed is ALLAH, Lord of the worlds.

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Now, if they turn away (O Muhammad) say Allah sufficeth me. There is no God save Him. In Him have I put my trust, and He is Lord of the Tremendous Throne.

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Lo! your Lord is Allah Who created the heavens and the earth in six Days, then He established Himself upon the Throne, directing all things. There is no intercessor (with Him) save after His permission. That is Allah, your Lord, so worship Him. Oh, will ye not remind?

I have not quoted all the verses but those above give us the idea clearly that Allah has establish Himself on his Throne and He rules from their... However, the Sunni belief is that Allah is physically on His Throne... This can be a tough question since Allah let us know that He use metaphores throughout this Glorious Quran... In my view, when Allah speaks about Him and His Great throne, He might be making us to ponder and think of his tremendous power and Almightyness... Like the KING of all Kings.... The one who is the real true King... And maybe it has nothing to do with the physical being of Allah since we will never be able to imagine his immensity and greatness... Thus He is making the use of things that represent great powers on earth... such as the throne of the kings...

I give the metaphoric nature of these verses more weight after I read the Mi'raj article from free-minds and how it defeat logic and Quran. One of the point that that author made was how can Allah be behind a curtain... How can the Curtain block the light of Allah... If the Curtain is able to block the light of Allah, then it should mean that the Curtain is stronger that the Light of Allah BUT since nothing can resist Allah, the All-Powerful... therefore this make this hadith totally false... Well, we can apply same logic to the Throne... How is the throne able to support Allah? And we have angels supporting the Throne.... However, this discussion is open... i have not jumped to conclusions... so your views are welcomed and needed...

Allah is nearer to you than your jugular vein

Allah says

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We verily created man and We know what his soul whispereth to him, and We are nearer to him than his jugular vein.

Allah says that when we ask Him, He will respond and He hear us because He is near to use than our jugular vein... Sunni belief is that Allah is near to us through his power and not physically... They accept this verse as a metaphore to outline the might and power of the Almighty... However the question is... How they accept this one as a metaphore and discard the above verses regarding the Throne and do not take them as metaphoric verses also... I mean, on which criteria do they judge both of these verses... For the jugular verse, they will ask such questions like... if Allah is near to use physically, then we have so many people on Earth, so how many Allah do we have.... This is the reason why this verse is seen as metaphoric... Well, this one is true... At least the logic is being used here...

Allah can come between a man and his heart

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O ye who believe! Obey Allah, and the messenger when He calleth you to that which quickeneth you, and know that Allah cometh in between the man and his own heart, and that He it is unto Whom ye will be gathered.

Here Allah is saying that he can come between a man and his heart.... Definitely, this cannot be physical.... Another metaphore used to make use ponder on His might and greatness...

So, to sum up...

The question remains... how people take all other verses regarding Allah as metaphoric verses except the one regarding Him and His Throne... So brothers and sisters... People of knowledge.. Your input are needed here... As for me, I think that all these verses are metaphoric and are present as is just to outline the ULTIMATE might and power of the One and Only God....

I also want to add this... Questions like this are not important for me because I do not see how I can take advantage of this if I know where Allah is physically located... However, questions like these seems to be primordial and of utmost importance to sunnism and hadithist.... where is Allah? Is the Quran created or uncreated? What are the steps we will go through before Judgement Day? ... etc etc I think the list is long

NOTE This is only my personal view, not final though since study is still ongoing... No one should take these notes as a guide for themselves... you are responsible to do your own research.