There is nothing alive above the ^Arsh. There is only a book above the ^Arsh. Written in it is:

إنّ رحمتي سَبَقَت غَضبي

[which means] “Surely My Mercy overcomes My Punishment.” It means that the signs of Mercy are more than the signs of torture. The Angels are among the signs of Mercy, and they are more numerous than the drops of rain and the leaves of the trees. Paradise is also among the signs of Mercy, and it is thousands of times bigger than Hell.

That book being above the ^Arsh is confirmed. Al-Bukhariyy and an-Nasa’iyy narrated that hadith. An-Nasa’iyy narrated that in his book As-Sunanul-Kubra, and others have narrated this hadith. The expression of Ibn Hibban’s narration is:

لما خلقَ الله الخلقَ كتبَ في كتابٍ يكتبُهُ على نفسِهِ وهو مرفوعٌ فوقَ العرشِ إن رحمتي تَغْلِبُ غَضَبي

[which means] “When Allah Created the creation He had a book written and Promised[1] that He would Adhere to that book, and that book is elevated above the ^Arsh. Written in it is, ‘Certainly my Mercy overcomes my Punishment’.”

If someone tries to interpret “fawq” to mean “below,” it is said to him, “Explaining the texts by other than their apparent meanings is not permissible except with confirmed textual evidence or definitive mental evidence.” They do not have either one. There is no evidence that one must adhere to giving this hadith a ta’wil. How would it be necessary when some of the scholars said that the Guarded Tablet is above the ^Arsh? There is no explicit text that documents that it is above the ^Arsh or below the ^Arsh. So it is an issue of possibility i.e.,it is possible that the Guarded Tablet is above the ^Arsh and it is possible that it is below the ^Arsh. According to the saying that it is above the ^Arsh, that Likener would have made Allah similar to the Guarded Tablet, i.e., according to them Allah would be parallel to part of the ^Arsh, and the Guarded Tablet would also be parallel to part of the ^Arsh. This is resembling Allah to His creation, because being parallel is of the attributes of the creation.

[1] The Promise of Allah is not like the promise of the creation because It is fulfilled and It never changes.