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How does one respond to someone who denies God's existence in heaven by saying, "Heaven is destined for annihilation, and God is too exalted to be confined therein," and by citing the Prophet's—peace and blessings be upon him—saying: "The heaven creaked, and it had every right to creak, for there is no space in it but occupied by an angel standing, bowing, or prostrating," implying that God is too exalted to be confined among angels?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

This statement is a truth intended for falsehood. The truth is that Allah is not confined to the heavens or among the angels. The falsehood is the intention to deny Allah’s exaltation above His creation. Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jama’ah did not say that the heavens contain Allah; rather, they said so based on the words of Allah Almighty and the words of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him. The word "heaven" (السماء) means exaltedness or highness. If it is said, "Allah is in heaven," what is meant is exaltedness, or "in" (في) could mean "above" (على), as in His, the Almighty’s, saying: "Do you feel secure that He who is in the heaven would not cause the earth to swallow you?" (أَأَمِنْتُمْ مَنْ فِي السَّمَاءِ), meaning "above the heaven." The heaven, as a generic noun, refers to exaltedness in general, and Allah is the Most High, the Exalted above everything, and there is nothing that can contain or encompass Him.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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