The verse "Wherever you turn, there is the face of Allah" (2:115) has been pivotal in Islamic theological and philosophical discussions concerning the unity of existence (wahdat al-wujud), divine encompassing, and the nature of God's presence in the world. The verse seemingly suggests a ubiquitous presence of the "face of Allah" in all directions, which, if interpreted carelessly, could lead to anthropomorphic or even pantheistic understandings of God.
Razi, recognizing this potential for misinterpretation, prioritizes preventing any inclination towards a spatial understanding of God. He argues that the verse's apparent meaning might create the illusion of God's presence in multiple spatial directions, necessitating a metaphorical interpretation of "face." Razi emphasizes that the verse does not imply God's physical presence in any direction, as God is transcendent and devoid of location, corporeality, or inherence. For Razi, "the face of Allah" cannot denote God's actual presence in a specific direction. Based on Ash'ari theological principles such as the negation of location for God, the complete otherness of creator and creature, and the necessity of interpreting ambiguous verses, Razi attempts to interpret "the face of Allah" in a non-corporeal, non-spatial, and non-existential framework. Aligned with his theological foundations, Fakhr al-Din al-Razi interprets the verse to avoid any existential understanding of God, explaining God's omnipresence as encompassing knowledge. According to Razi's interpretation, nothing escapes God's power, knowledge, and will. He emphasizes the correlation between knowledge and precise action in his works, considering this as the primary evidence for God's knowledge. Razi elucidates the verse by referencing corresponding verses such as 57:4, 58:7, and 43:84. He considers verse 2:115 as crucial in negating corporeality and affirming God's transcendence from material attributes. Consequently, Razi avoids asserting God's "actual presence everywhere," interpreting "the face of Allah" within the realm of divine knowledge and power rather than ontology.
In contrast, Mulla Sadra analyzes the verse through his existential philosophy and the doctrine of the "transcendent unity of existence" (wahdat al-wujud). According to Sadra, the personal unity of existence, and the infinitude of God, leaves no room for any "other" to mediate the affirmation of God's knowledge. In this view, God's knowledge is established first, and apart from God's knowledge, nothing can be known, just as apart from God's existence, nothing can exist. The verse expresses the profound reality of God's sustaining and existential encompassing. God is not limited to any location, but His existential effusion is present in all beings. "The face of Allah" is the manifestation of the divine in the levels of existence. In Sadra's mystical view, God is observed in everything and in every direction. Because every being is a ray of God's existence, one can observe the divine face in everything according to one's existential capacity. However, the coexistence of the Creator with creation is not like the coexistence of bodies, or substance and accident, or spatial or temporal coexistence; it is even more intense than the coexistence of existence and quiddity. Mulla Sadra's interpretive and philosophical readings suggest that the verse indicates God's encompassing dominion and coexistence with all things. God's dominion implies that everything other than Him is sustained by Him, and their very existence and all their existential aspects exist through His effulgent bestowal. In Sadra's philosophy, the soul inherently possesses its own world and a dominion similar to its Creator's, which Sadra utilizes in explaining God's knowledge of all things. Thus, Mulla Sadra likens God's knowledge of the entire world to the knowledge of the soul and body.