Is it true that when Hz. Ali was asked “Where is Allah?”, he said, “He is where he was before He created the earth and the sky.”?

Dear Brother / Sister,

We have not been able to find an expression belonging to Hz. Ali like the one in the question.

“Allah existed and there was nothing else with Him.”(Bukhari, Bad’ul-Khalq, 1; Kanzul-Ummal, h. No: 29850)

As it is understood from the hadith above, Allah existed when there was no trace of the earth, the skies and the beings in them.

According to what was reported from Hz. Ali, he was asked, “Aynallah = Where is Allah?” He gave the following answer, which is parallel with the hadith above: 

“Can the question word “Ayna = Where?” be asked for Allah, who created what the word Ayna (“Where?”) includes?” (see Kitabu Qawafilil-Jariye, p. 2)

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