Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah. To proceed:
There is no contradiction in the methodology of the Salaf in this matter. They did not interpret divine accompaniment in a way that contradicts the apparent meaning of the text. Rather, they understood “accompaniment” according to its Arabic meaning and the context of the verse, while affirming Allah’s exaltedness and His rising over His Throne. Divine accompaniment does not require indwelling, physical mixing, or that Allah be present in every place in His Essence.
The methodology of the Salaf is to affirm what Allah تعالى affirmed for Himself and what His Messenger ﷺ affirmed for Him, without likening Him to His creation, without declaring resemblance, without negating the attributes, and without asking how they are.
Affirming an attribute does not require that it resemble the attributes of created beings.
If one says: “the hand of a human,” “the hand of an ant,” and “the Hand of Allah,” this does not mean that these hands are alike in their reality or manner. Each described being has what is appropriate to it.
Allah تعالى therefore says:
﴿There is nothing whatsoever like Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing﴾ [al-Shūrā: 11].
The texts do not indicate likening Allah to His creation. Rather, they affirm perfection for Him while negating any likeness.
Not every explanation of a word is an objectionable form of “interpretation.”
The blameworthy figurative interpretation in this context is to divert a word from its immediately understood meaning to another meaning without evidence—for example, saying that “hand” means “power,” or that “rising over” means “dominion,” merely on the claim that the original meaning would necessarily imply resemblance to creation.
As for accompaniment (maʿiyyah), it is a broad Arabic expression, and its meaning does not inherently require physical mixing, contact, or sharing the same location.
We say, for example, “So-and-so is with so-and-so,” while the two may be in the same place, or one may be far from the other, depending on the context.
The moon, for example, accompanies a traveler on his journey while being high and far away from him. Thus, “accompaniment” does not necessarily imply mixture or physical contact.
Allah تعالى says:
﴿He is the One who created the heavens and the earth in six days, then rose over the Throne... and He is with you wherever you are. And Allah sees what you do﴾ [al-Ḥadīd: 4].
The verse itself combines rising over the Throne with accompaniment.
Therefore, it is not correct to understand the accompaniment here as meaning that Allah تعالى is physically present in every place in His Essence, because that would make the beginning of the verse contradict its end.
The meaning is that Allah تعالى is with His creation in a manner befitting Him. He encompasses them through His knowledge, hearing, sight, power, authority, and management, while He سبحانه is above His creation and has risen over His Throne.
For this reason, the Salaf explained this accompaniment in terms of knowledge; this does not mean that they denied the reality of the attribute of accompaniment itself.
Allah تعالى says:
﴿Have you not seen that Allah knows whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth? There is no private conversation among three except that He is their fourth, nor among five except that He is their sixth... Indeed, Allah has knowledge of all things﴾ [al-Mujādilah: 7].
The context clearly indicates that what is intended is Allah’s encompassing of them through His knowledge, because the verse begins with knowledge and ends with knowledge.
It has therefore been transmitted from Imam Aḥmad that he explained this accompaniment as knowledge.
This does not mean that the Salaf said that the word “accompaniment” is merely metaphorical. Rather, they clarified the type of accompaniment indicated by the context.
Allah تعالى says concerning the Prophet ﷺ and Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه:
﴿Do not grieve; indeed, Allah is with us﴾ [al-Tawbah: 40].
This is an accompaniment of support, victory, protection, and care, because the context of the verse concerns fear and pursuit.
Likewise, Allah تعالى said to Moses and Aaron عليهما السلام:
﴿Indeed, I am with you both; I hear and I see﴾ [Ṭāhā: 46].
He سبحانه therefore clarified the nature of this accompaniment by saying: ﴿I hear and I see﴾.
Thus, accompaniment in the revealed texts does not have exactly one implication in every occurrence. The context determines what it includes, such as knowledge, victory, support, protection, hearing, sight, and so forth.
The difference is that the Salaf did not find another meaning for Allah’s accompaniment that could only be applied by diverting the word from its proper meaning. Rather, “accompaniment” in Arabic does not inherently require physical location or mixing.
But to say that “istawā” means “took possession” or “dominated” is to transfer the word from its known meaning to another meaning that requires evidence.
Likewise, it is not correct to say that “the Hand of Allah” means “power” and then make this the only meaning of the word without evidence.
The principle, therefore, is to understand Allah’s words according to their sound meanings that befit Him, while declaring Him free from resemblance to created beings.
No.
Allah تعالى is above His creation and over His Throne, while He is with His creation in a manner befitting His majesty. There is no contradiction in this.
Accompaniment does not necessarily mean that something occupies the same location as what accompanies it or is physically mixed with it in every usage.
It is a mistake to take an implication that is not necessarily entailed by a word and call that the “apparent meaning of the text,” then claim that figurative interpretation is therefore necessary.
The correct apparent meaning of the texts concerning Allah’s attributes is what befits Allah تعالى, not what a person imagines based on the attributes of created beings.
The Salaf did not subject the verses concerning divine accompaniment to the blameworthy type of figurative interpretation, nor did they fall into contradiction. Rather, they explained accompaniment according to its context and Arabic meaning: accompaniment through knowledge in Allah’s saying ﴿There is no private conversation...﴾, accompaniment through victory and support in His saying ﴿Indeed, Allah is with us﴾, and accompaniment through hearing and seeing in His saying ﴿Indeed, I am with you both; I hear and I see﴾.
In all of these cases, it does not follow that Allah تعالى indwells His creation or mixes with them. Rather, He سبحانه is above His creation, has risen over His Throne, and is with them in a manner befitting His majesty and perfection.
Thus, explaining accompaniment according to its context is not a departure from the truth of the texts; rather, it clarifies the meaning indicated by the context and the Arabic language.
And Allah knows best.