First of all, we would like to stress the fact that, every committed Muslim should have a firm belief that Allah Almighty is UNIQUE in everything. There is no resemblance between Allah, the Creator and His creation. Referring to this, Allah Almighty says:(Naught is as His likeness; and He is the Hearer, the Seer)(Ash-Shura 42:11).
Therefore, we should believe in Allah’s attributes and names as they are revealed in the Qur’an or stated in the Sunnah without any ta’wil (allegory), or tashbih (anthropomorphism) or ta`til (nihilism).
Dr. Muzammil H. Siddiqi, president of the Fiqh Council of North America, states: Allah Almighty is infinite and we are finite. We, the finite human beings, cannot totally comprehend the nature of the infinite. The Qur’an says:(He is with you wherever you are)(Al-Hadid 57:4).
Some scholars have interpreted the “withness” (ma`iyyah ) of Allah in terms of knowledge, meaning that Allah knows wherever we are. There are others who do not define the “withness” in this way. They say that the Qur’an says that He is with us wherever we are, and we accept this without any explanation. Allah is with us according to His own Glory and Majesty.
There are other verses in the Qur’an in which Allah Almighty speaks about Himself that He is near (qarib, see Al-Baqarah 2:186; Hud 11:61; Saba’ 34:50). He says that He is closer to us than our jugular veins (Qaf 50:16) or that He is closer to us than our own selves (Al-Waqi`ah 56:85).
What is this “nearness” or proximity? How near is He to us and in what way is He near? We cannot define these concepts. We should not explain these words with some our own definitions and explanations. We should rather take them as they are without any ta’wil (allegory), or tashbih (anthropomorphism) or ta`til (nihilism). This is the moderate way as given to us by our pious and knowledgeable predecessors (salaf).