Among what proves that that book is above the ^Arsh in reality, with a real aboveness that cannot be explained in a way which is different than its apparent meaning, is the hadith narrated by an-Nasa’iyy in his book “As-Sunanul-Kubra”:
إنّ الله كتَب كتابًا قبل أن يخلُقَ السّماواتِ والأرضَ بألفَي سنةٍ فهوَ عندَهُ على العرشِ وإنه أنزلَ من ذلك الكتاب ءايتين ختم بهما سورةَ البقرةِ
[which means] “Certainly Allah had a book written before He Created the heavens and the earth by 2,000 years. Allah certainly sent down from that book two verses by which He has ended the chapter of Al-Baqarah.” According to an expression narrated by Muslim,
فهو موضوعٌ عندهُ
[which translates literally as] “It is put with Him [^indahu].” This is explicit in saying that the book is above the ^Arsh with a real aboveness that cannot be explained in a way that is different from the apparent meaning.
The term “^inda [with]” is for honor and is not to confirm that Allah is contained above the ^Arsh, because the word “^inda” is used for other than a place. Allah, the Exalted said:
﴿وَأَمْطَرْنَا عَلَيْهَا حِجَارَةً مِن سِجِّيلٍ مَّنْضُودٍ * مُّسَوَّمَةً عِنْدَ رَبِّكَ﴾
[which means] “Allah made stones of sijjil mamdud rain upon them. Those stones are known to [^inda] your Lord.” The term “^inda” here refers to that [issue] being by the Knowledge of Allah, and it does not mean that Allah has a vicinity in which those stones are. So whoever used the mere word “^inda” to confirm a place for Allah and to confirm closeness between Allah and His creation is of the most ignorant of the ignorant. Would a sane person say that those stones that Allah descended upon those blasphemers came down from the ^Arsh to them, and that those stones were dwelling in a place next to Allah above the ^Arsh, according to their claim?