where is god

despite having faith in the existence of Allah, many people hold extremely erroneous convictions about where He is. the materialistic outlook on life accounts mainly for these convictions. because the materialist maintains that nothing really exists except matter, he inevitably assumes that Allah has to be within the material universe yet fails to imagine the kind of space He might inhabit.

the Qur'an relates that people of the same mentality existed in the past. in order to see Allah, the Pharaoh ordered a tower to be built which would extend to the heavens. his erroneous belief was the result of a failure to understand Allah's attributes and his presumption about absoluteness of matter:

And Pharaoh said, 'O eminent ones, I have not known you to have a god other than me. Then ignite for me, O Haman, [a fire] upon the clay and make for me a tower that I may look at the God of Moses. And indeed, I do think he is among the liars.'
[QS al-Qashash 38]

but Allah is the Creator of space, and He is unbounded by it. it is only created beings that are bound by space, and Allah is exalted above all creation, while He encompasses all of it in knowledge.

people under influence of the materialist view of life fail to grasp this obvious truth, assuming that Allah resides in the heavens. some people look up into the sky while praying, but a person who knows that Allah is all-aware feels His presence wherever he turns. Allah informs us of this reality:

And to Allah belongs the east and the west. So wherever you [might] turn, there is the Face of Allah...
[QS al-Baqarah 115]

"If My servants ask you about Me, I am near (to them)..."
[QS al-Baqarah 186]

...We know what dark suggestions his soul makes to him: for We are nearer to him than (his) jugular vein.
[QS Qaf 16]