The Slave Girl and Where Is Allah

The question "Where is Allah?" has already been answered.

Another question arises from the account of the slave girl whom the Prophet (peace be upon him) asked: where is Allah? She pointed to the heavens. He said: who am I? She said: you are the Prophet of Allah. On that basis he said that she was a believer, and he gave instructions about her. So some people try to affirm from this that Allah is in the heavens, meaning that He is located above, in the heavens.

First, Imam al-Nawawī explains this hadith in his Sharḥ of Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, and makes it very clear. He says that this hadith has been explained in one of two ways. One is as the Salaf said: leave it to Allah (swt). This is one of those ambiguous mutashābihāt; it is left to Allah, end of story. By also, obviously, turning it away from any kind of likeness to the human being, that meaning is freed and purified; Allah is considered transcendent above that, and it is left to Allah.

The second possible meaning is that the Prophet (peace be upon him) was simply testing her, to see whether she really was a believer. We make duʿāʾ, and we look up to the heavens; we face towards the qiblah. These have simply been considered the qiblah, and a unifying factor, because we cannot really know where Allah is. The heaven is just one place that serves as a unifying factor, where we can direct our thought, because rain comes from there, and provisions are sent down; and the throne is there, the ʿArsh is there. That is why we look up, and do these things. So it was not to actually prove that Allah is there. It was simply a test, to see whether she really was a believer or not.

A number of things support this. First, this hadith is muḍṭarib. It is very problematic. There are other versions of this hadith which are ṣaḥīḥ as well, which do not have this: where is Allah? In the heavens. He asked other questions, phrased differently, that did not say that. There are more than three versions. So, first, this is problematic, and to take one of those and establish an ʿaqīdah on it which is then shoved down everybody's throat is really problematic.

Second, it has to be compared with all the other verses: put side by side with other verses and other hadith. For example, another hadith of the Prophet (peace be upon him) says: aqrabu mā yakūnu al-ʿabdu ilā Allāhi fī al-sujūd^******: that the closest a person is to Allah is when he is in prostration. So how does that work, with Allah being in the heavens, and a person being in sajdah, and that being the closest? The point is that all of these hadith have to be taken together, any meaning that is not befitting of Allah taken away, and then either left to Allah (swt), or, according to the Khalaf, given a suitable interpretation. And here, the majority of the ʿulamāʾ agree that this was simply a test, and not an attempt to establish the location of Allah. It was a test of a poor slave girl.

Thumma istawā ilā al-samāʾ: that is another verse in the Qur'an. People have translated it in different ways: then He focused on the heavens; He turned His attention to the heavens. And again, it is left to Allah (swt), and said in a way that carries no likeness to the human being.