A number of Qur’aanic verses
indicate the nearness of
Allah to His creations, one
among them is
“He is with you, wherever
you are...”[1]
The nearness of Allah to His
slaves refers to His
Absolute Knowledge, as is
also explained by Imam Ibn
Katheer (rahimahullah) in
his Tafseer of the above
mentioned verse. He says,
“meaning, He is Watching
over you and Witnessing your
deeds wherever you may be,
on land or on sea, during
the night or the day, at
home or in open areas or
deserts. All of that is the
same before His Knowledge
and all of it is under His
Sight and Hearing. He hears
your speech and sees
wherever you are…”
Thus, the nearness in the
Qur’aanic verses is not by
the Essence of Allah, but in
Knowledge. Allah is As-Sameeh
(the All-Hearer), Al-Baseer
(the All-Seer) and al-Aleem
(the All-Knower). He does
not need to be among His
creation to know their
actions and conditions.
Imam Ibn Katheer
(rahimahullah) writes in the
Tafseer of the verse,
“and Indeed, We have created
man, and We know what his
self whispers to him. And We
are nearer to him than his
jugular vein.”
Means, His Angels are nearer
to man than his jugular
vein. Those who explained
‘We’ in the verse to mean,
‘Our Knowledge,’ have done
so to avoid falling into the
idea of incarnation or
indwelling;
but these two creeds are
false according to the
consensus of Muslims.
Allah is praised and
glorified, He is far
hallowed beyond what they
ascribe to Him. The words of
this verse do not need this
explanation (that ‘We’
refers to ‘Allah’s
Knowledge’), for Allah did
not say, ‘and I am closer to
him than his jugular vein.’
Rather, He said,
“And We are nearer to him
than his jugular vein.’ Just
as He said in the case of
dying person, “But We are
nearer to him than you, but
you see not.”[2]
