What is the interpretation of the saying of Allah the Exalted: "That a soul will say, 'Oh, my regret for what I neglected regarding Allah'"? And does Allah have the attribute of *jانب* (side), and what is its meaning?

The questioner : Your Eminence, I ask you to clarify the meaning of this verse. The saying of Allah the Exalted, I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Shaytan: What is the interpretation of *jانب* here? And has it been mentioned in an authentic hadith that Allah the Exalted has the attribute of *jانب*? Please inform us, may Allah preserve you?

The Shaykh : Yes, this noble verse is where Allah the Exalted reminds His servants, when He commands them to turn to Him, of this state that will occur on the Day of Resurrection, in which a person will say: meaning what I neglected of His right and His side, Mighty and Majestic. Because a person does not neglect the *jانب* of Allah, which is His side, Exalted and Majestic is He, but rather he neglects His right and His side, Glorified and Exalted is He. This is the meaning that nothing else comes to mind from the verse. As for the *jانب* which is His attribute, I do not know in the texts of the Book and the Sunnah that Allah affirmed for Himself a *jانب* in the sense of the *jانب* which is His attribute. But as for the *jانب* in the sense of the side or the right or something similar, that is what is intended by this noble verse. And know that some people misunderstand the saying of the scholars "Take the verses of attributes at their apparent meaning" and they misunderstand from it in some verses, for example, some people say to me that we have a teacher who teaches us and distorts, how? He says in the saying of Allah the Exalted: meaning with strength, and this is distortion. I said why? He said because *ayd* means the hands of Allah, and this is wrong and it is never permissible for us to say that the saying of Allah the Exalted: means the hands of Allah. This is never permissible. Why? Because Allah did not attribute them to Himself. So if you say the intended meaning of *ayd* here is the plural of hand, meaning the hands of Allah, and Allah did not attribute them to Himself, then you have said about Allah what He did not say. So what is the meaning of *ayd*? It means with strength, because *ayyad* is its source, so the meaning of *ayyad* is with strength. Its parallel is the saying of Allah the Exalted: meaning strong. Therefore, it is not permissible to attribute to Allah what He did not attribute to Himself. If someone said: What do you say about the saying of Allah the Exalted: Is this the leg of Allah or what?
The answer is: We say that the scholars have two statements regarding that:
One statement: That the intended meaning is the leg of Allah.
And another statement: That the intended meaning is the severity, meaning the day when the leg is revealed and it becomes clear and appears, and that is the Day of Resurrection. So he said: If this person said, "Do you not say that it is not permissible to attribute to Allah what He did not attribute to Himself, and you say that regarding the leg here, there is a statement from the Salaf that the intended meaning is the leg of Allah, so how do you establish a rule and then contradict it?" Is it clear or not? Yes, good.
The rule we mentioned is that it is not permissible to attribute to Allah what He did not attribute to Himself. Good. "The leg on the day when the leg is revealed," some scholars from the people of the Sunnah said: The intended meaning is the leg of Allah. And Allah the Exalted did not attribute it to Himself, so the rule would be contradicted. How do you attribute to Allah what He did not attribute to Himself? We said: Yes, this is true, and our rule must be contradicted by it, but we have evidence for that in the famous hadith of Abu Sa'id: The context of the hadith is in agreement with the context of the verse, and for this reason we adopted this statement. And were it not for the hadith, it would not have been permissible for us to say it is the leg of Allah. But you must, my brothers, note that affirming this for Allah does not necessitate that it be similar to the leg of the created beings, because Allah says, Exalted and Majestic is He: And pay attention to this verse, and let it always be on your minds, just as it must be on your minds that it is not permissible for us to ask how regarding the attributes of Allah, because Allah says: And He says: So do not imagine an attribute by which you ask how regarding the attributes of Allah, Mighty and Majestic. And for this reason, when Imam Malik (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked about the saying of Allah the Exalted: He said: "The rising is not unknown, the how is not conceivable, belief in it is obligatory, and asking about it is an innovation" Yes.