Is it true that the Salaf interpreted "hands" as power in His saying: "And We built the sky with hands"? And is this considered a figurative interpretation?
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Question:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. He says: Regarding His saying, Glorified and Exalted is He,[Adh-Dhariyat 51:47], is it true that the Salaf interpreted "hands" here as "power"? And is this considered a figurative interpretation (ta'wil) of the attribute?
Answer:
They did not interpret it as power, my brother. They interpreted it as strength. "Hands" means the strength of the hand. "We strengthened it with the Holy Spirit" means We strengthened it with the Holy Spirit. So it is not "hands" in the sense of physical hands. "Hand" means strength. This is what they interpreted it as. And the attribute of the hand is not taken from this verse; the hand has other proofs besides this verse. Yes.
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. He says: Regarding His saying, Glorified and Exalted is He,
And the heaven We constructed with strength, and indeed, We are [its] expander.
وَالسَّمَاءَ بَنَيْنَاهَا بِأَيْدٍ وَإِنَّا لَمُوسِعُونَAnswer:
They did not interpret it as power, my brother. They interpreted it as strength. "Hands" means the strength of the hand. "We strengthened it with the Holy Spirit" means We strengthened it with the Holy Spirit. So it is not "hands" in the sense of physical hands. "Hand" means strength. This is what they interpreted it as. And the attribute of the hand is not taken from this verse; the hand has other proofs besides this verse. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، [4435- 4717] هل صحيح أن السلف فسروا الأيد بالقدرة في قوله:(والسماء بنيناها بأيد)وهل يعد هذا تأويلا ؟ — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.