And he said also in 'Dar' at-Ta'aarud' (1/253), "So when the Creator, the Exalted is separate and distinct from the creation, high and raised above it, and there is nothing in existence except the Creator and the created, then there is nothing that exists along with Him, which is besides Him, let alone that He - free is He from all imperfection - should be in some existing thing which surrounds and encompasses Him." End of his words.

The quotations with this meaning from the books of Shaikh ul-Islaam are very many, making clear that what the the people of theological rhetoric presume and imagine that Allaah's ascendancy over His creation and His being above His Throne has the meaning that He is encompassed and that he is limited to a place and other such claims and delusions - no one has ever spoken with this and no one who affirms the highness of Allaah over His creation has ever spoken it!

The Second

A group from the philosophers, those who denied Allaah's ascendancy (al-'Uluww) - the Mighty and Majestic - depended, in their denial, upon what they called, 'the rational proof'and that Allaah's being upon the Throne, necessitates, from a rational point of view, that He is in a certain place and confine.

And you will be amazed when you come to learn that they themselves are not agreed upon this matter of rational proof. This Ibn Rushd, who is one of their intelligentsia, establishes that this necessity which the philosophers presume [1] is not actually a necessity and can never be so, rather it is falsehood from its very foundation. He (Ibn Rushd) said in 'Manaahij al-Adillah', as occurs in 'Dar' ut-Ta'aarud' (6/212), "The speech regarding 'al-jihah' (direction): As for this attribute, then the people of the Sharee'ah of the very first affair (i.e. of the earliest generations), affirm it for Allaah, free is He from all imperfections. Then the Mu'tazilah denied it and they were followed in this by the later Ash'arees, such as Abu al-Mu'aali and whoever followed his saying. The apparent senses of the Sharee'ah necessitate and require the affirmation of direction (al-jihah), such as His saying:

Ar-Rahmaan ascended the Throne [Taa Haa 20:5]

and His saying:

He arranges (every) affair from the heavens to the earth, then it (affair) will go up to Him, in one Day, the space whereof is a thousand years of your reckoning (i.e. reckoning of our present world's time). [Sajdah 32:5]

and His saying:

And the angels will be on its sides, and eight angels will, that Day, bear the Throne of your Lord above them. [Haaqqah 69:17]

and His saying:

The angels and the Ruh [Jibrael (Gabriel)] ascend to Him [Ma'aarij 70:4]

and His saying:

Do you feel secure that He, Who is over the heaven (Allaah), will not cause the earth to sink with you... [Mulk 67:16]