Physical Elevation, or Elevation in Status and Rank

It is also used to mean physical elevation, or highness above something. But this meaning is inconceivable for Allah Most High, because then one has to give Him direction. One has to say that He is in the above direction to us, and we are below Him. It puts Him in a place. To put Him in a place means that He is taking up a certain spatial location. A location is something out of which the air becomes cleared, for example. So He would be taking up a position somewhere. And all of these things are actually very, very unsuited to Allah (swt). That is why this one meaning definitely should not be attributed to Allah.

But some people insist on this meaning. Those who do insist on a particular meaning insist on this meaning over and above all other meanings. Rather than leave it completely to Allah, they say: no, you have to believe it in this way; the exact how of it we leave to Allah; but you have to say that it is a direction, that it is like this physical direction.

So this meaning obviously is inconceivable for Allah Most High, along with the fact that physical elevation does not necessarily imply exaltedness either, since it is possible, for instance, that a leader be physically situated below his guards, with his guards standing above him. It does not mean that they are better than him.

Rather, what is meant by istiwāʾ, if anything (that is, what is meant by istiwāʾ in terms of a meaning that befits Allah (swt)), a possible meaning is that of elevation in status and rank. So why not leave it at that? That is more agreeable than to insist that He is in a physical location above. That is where this whole question now comes up: where is Allah? And when someone answers everywhere, which is also wrong, in a sense, they confuse the person to such a level. And then they say: look, Allah says istawā ʿalā al-ʿArsh, which basically means that He is resting on His ʿArsh; and the ʿArsh is above the seven heavens, and that is above, so He is above.