আল্লাহ তায়ালা কি 'শুধুমাত্র আরশের উপর' নাকি 'সর্বত্র আছেন'? এই প্রশ্নের জবাবে এই উত্তরটা
Anyway, there were 2 opinions regarding this and they are both valid. The early Ulema would say that whatever Allah means that is what he means. The latter ulema, it became encumbent upon them to actually interpret it because they feared the people would otherwise ascribe properties to Allah that would take them outside of the deen (e.g saying that Allah has literally a physical hand) that would be kufr.
So the latter Ulema for example have said that when Allah says he ''descends'' (as per the Hadith that Allah descends in the last 1/3rd of the night to see what his servants asks of him) we don't say that Allah physically manifests himself to be in a lower location that before, they have interpreted it as his mercy descending, his rahmat.
The reason we cannot say Allah has physically descended is because Allah says in Surah 42 (Ash Shuraah) ayah 11 ''Laytha kamithlihi shay'' meaning that there is nothing unto like him, and whenever we read Ahadith or Qur'an, and it speaks about Allah we must understand it through this ayah which is extremely important. If nothing is like unto him, it means his descending is not like we understand it to be, and therefore it must be his rahmah, since this doesn't invalidate that Ayah but rather goes along with it.
Allah is not a Djism musawwar e.g he has not a physical body. He is not a particle, nor does he consist out of particles. He has not space, size, shape or colour etc. When we say Allah is grand, we mean his Existence, his Mercy, his Power, his Magnificence. When we say Allah is above us, we do not mean physically above us.
As for the Arsh of Allah, e.g the throne, the Ulema have interpreted the Throne being a physical manifestation, and because there is nothing like unto Allah, it means that he doesn't ''settle'' in the throne or ''sit'' in it, or in anyway ''physically'' assumes the position, rather it would mean that Allah assumes the throne in that he assumes his power.
So again: the early Ulema would say that the Throne is assumed in a manner befitting to Allah. The later scholars interpreted it (the throne) as it physically encompassing all of creation. It shows Allah's authority over all that exists. So when Allah assumes the throne, he has manifested his grandeur and greatness and his power and awesome overpowering authority over everything that he has.
Likewise, when we in English say someone has assumed the position of Director, it doesn't mean they have physically sat in the Director's spot, it means they have power and ability.
We do not assign a ''location'' to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.