How to reconcile the hadith: “Both hands of my Lord are right hands,” with the hadith: “Allah folds the heavens with His right hand and the earths with His left hand”

The questioner : First of all, O Shaykh: May Allah bless your knowledge and your life.

The Shaykh : May Allah bless you.

The questioner : And may Allah reward you with good. Second: My question is a creedal one; it is what came in *Sahih Muslim* that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , and in the same *Sahih Muslim* there is another hadith from a different chain in which it came that he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . Here it says: , and there it says: ; so how do you reconcile the two hadiths—may Allah bless you?

The Shaykh : The truth is that I am amazed at some of our brothers who pose such a question. They imagine a contradiction between what came in some hadiths that Allah has a right hand and Allah has a left hand, and the hadith in which he (peace be upon him) said: . They imagine a contradiction between this hadith and the hadiths that detail the matter, stating that Allah has a right hand and Allah has a left hand, like this hadith—the hadith of 'Umar—and the hadiths of the two handfuls that I extracted in the beginning of the first volume of *Al-Silsilah al-Sahihah*. In them it says: . There is no contradiction or conflict between this hadith and what is similar to it in affirming the left and right hand, and his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): . Because the meaning of that is like His saying (Blessed and Exalted is He), regarding the attributes of hearing and seeing: , is equivalent to , and is equivalent to having a right and a left. So, in order to purify Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and to clarify that the attributes of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) do not resemble the attributes of creation, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said in the aforementioned hadith: . We humans describe ourselves as having a right and a left, but is it permissible for us to describe ourselves by saying—as some Egyptian preachers did when addressing the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), in their exaltation and praise of him: “O Messenger of Allah, both your hands are right hands”?!
This is clear misguidance. It is not permissible for a Muslim to describe himself except with what is known of his humanity; he has a right and a left, but it is not permissible to describe any human being, however high and exalted he may be—even if he is the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)—by saying: “Both hands of the Messenger of Allah are right hands.” Because this attribute is unique to the Lord of the Worlds (Blessed and Exalted is He). And the matter of attributes—as you know—involves a verbal overlap between the attributes of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and the attributes of the servants. Allah is All-Hearing, All-Seeing, as you heard in the previous verse, but He said: —regarding Adam—. But this hearing and this seeing differ completely in their reality from the reality of the attribute of hearing and seeing as attributes of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He), confirming this purification that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) mentioned in His saying: . From this category comes his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): . So the right and left hand involve a verbal overlap, but as for , no one shares with Him in the wording, let alone in the meaning.
This is the answer to this question, and the clock is saying: tick, tick. Enough, go back to your homes with wisdom.
The questions have ended—may Allah bless you.