for example: the narration "Who is your Lord?" is an abridged version of the narration "Do you testify that there is no deity but Allāh?" and this does not contradict asking her "Where is Allāh?" For today, we know many who, when asked this question, respond by saying, "Allāh is everywhere!" while knowing that Allāh existed without a place! Some of those who argue falsely have realized the error of this statement and resorted to evasion, saying: It is not said that He is everywhere, nor that He is not in a place (1). This is their way of expressing themselves, pretending to be exalting Allāh, which resembles the saying of their predecessors from the Jahmiyyah and Muʿtazilah and their followers among the deniers: "He is neither inside the world nor outside it." May Allāh have mercy on the one who said about them: "These are people who have lost their Lord!" It is not far-fetched that the question was posed with both phrases: "Where" and "Do you testify," supported by the second ḥadīth. And among what decisively confirms and affirms our aforementioned preference is the ḥadīth of Muʿāwiyah ibn al-Ḥakam, which I promised to mention, as he narrated the story of the slave girl in a complete and wonderful manner, unmatched by others in its narration. This is not surprising, for he was her master. He said, in an incident that occurred to him while he was praying behind the Prophet (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam), he asked him some questions, and he answered them: He said: "I had a slave girl who was tending my sheep near Uḥud and al-Jawāniyyah. One day, I discovered that a wolf had taken a sheep from her flock. I am a man of the sons of Adam; I become upset as they do, so I slapped her. I came to the Messenger of Allāh (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam), and he magnified this against me. I said: O Messenger of Allāh! Should I not free her? He said: 'Bring her to me.' So I brought her to him, and he said to her: 'Where is Allāh?'"