Question: I heard of deviant people saying, “In spite of the fact that Allah is everywhere, why do we perform salat facing the qibla?” The other day a Sunni friend of mine was making du’a having his side toward the qibla. When I asked him why he did not face the qibla, he turned his back on the qibla and made du’a in this position. Does it constitute kufr? Is it not sunnat to make du’a facing the qibla?
ANSWER
To start with, it should be noted that it is very dangerous to say “Allah is everywhere” without knowing the hidden meaning of this sentence that is different from the apparent meaning. Saying “Allah is everywhere” means attributing a place to Allahu ta’ala, which constitutes kufr (disbelief). Allahu ta’ala is pure from space. The Earth, planets, heavens, and the ‘Arsh are not eternal without a beginning. All of them came into existence afterwards, and all of them are something created. Allahu ta’ala was existent even before the creation of the Earth and heavens. For this reason, one must avoid saying, “Allah is everywhere.” Saying so means attributing a place to Allahu ta’ala. As Allahu ta’ala is pure from space and time, it must not be said, “Allah is present and overlooking [sees] everywhere.” However, it is permissible to use it in this meaning, “Allah is pure from time and space. He is present [exists] and overlooking [sees] without time and without place, that is, without Him being at any place.” It is written in the book Miftah-ul-Janna, “If one says ‘There is no space not filled by Allah,’ one will become a disbeliever because Allahu ta’ala is free from place.”

Our scholars state:
Allahu ta’ala is neither within the universe nor outside of the universe. Being within or outside of something is the case between two existent beings. But the universe was created at the level of imagination. It is by the power of Allah that creation, which has been created at the level of imagination, continuously appears to be in existence.

If a person engages in some activities in his imagination, it cannot be said that he is within or outside of his imagination because imaginary things are not something real. Similarly, a dreamer is neither on the left-hand side nor on the right-hand side of his dream. He eats and drinks in his dream. He even dreams something in his dream. If his dream continued to exist permanently by the power of Allahu ta’ala, then he would consider his dream real and think that there is no life other than his dream. The hadith-i sharif “People are asleep. They will wake up when they die” informs us that the worldly life we lead is a pure dream.

Not only the Earth but also planets, Paradise, Hell, and every being were created at the level of imagination. Their imaginary existence continues by the power of Allahu ta’ala. (Maktubat of Imam-i Rabbani)

Then why do we perform salat facing the holy Ka’ba? There is only one answer to this question: because Allahu ta’ala ordered us to do so. Before that, He ordered people to face Jerusalem when they performed salat.

It is the order of our religion to face the qibla while we are making du’a. Your friend’s turning his back on the qibla during du’a is not a normal act. Anyway, we should not have a bad opinion about a person making du’a, nor should we consider him not to be attaching importance to a sunnat act because a person who does not attach importance to a sunnat act becomes a disbeliever.

Maybe he thought, “I do not face the qibla by order of you,” which results from arrogance, which is the lesser evil in this case. He must make repentance and should not do such an act again in the future.