The Ruling on Explaining the Names and Attributes of Allah to the General Public

The questioner : Yes. Is it appropriate for a student of knowledge to explain the beautiful names of Allah and His attributes to the general public?

The Shaykh : In some matters, yes, that is required. For example, if I say that Allah is All-Hearing, meaning that He (Glorified and Exalted is He) hears everything, and I elaborate on that for him, that is good. In some matters, it may be better not to speak about them. Yes, for instance, if you elaborate on the hand of Allah, the fingers of Allah, or something similar, the common person may not understand that.

The questioner : It is not a shortcoming, but one should mention that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has two hands, that He has fingers, and that He has two eyes.

The Shaykh : But if you fear, if you fear that he will understand it as likening Allah to creation, for example, then that may not happen. As was mentioned regarding a man concerning one of the attributes. When that was mentioned to him, he seemed to object to it. So Ibn al-Abbas, or someone else, said: Tell the people what they know, because the man was startled when he heard some of the attributes.