Topics Concerning the Affirmation of the Attribute of the Hand for Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and the Guidelines for Understanding It

The Shaykh : For this reason, we did not discuss the issue of the Hand, and it appears that the author will address it later. However, if you wish, we can discuss it now; there is no harm in doing so. This grasping is a real grasping, for He (Mighty and Majestic) grasps it with His Hand , meaning with His Right Hand. This indicates that Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) has two hands. The Book and the Sunnah, along with the consensus of the Salaf, indicate the establishment of the hands for Allah (Mighty and Majestic).
In the Book of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), Allah the Exalted said to Iblis: Thus, He attributed creation to Himself and made it by the Hand. This indicates that the intended meaning of "Hand" is the Self, and that the intended meaning is the real Hand, not the Self. And He the Exalted said: And Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) said: And He (Blessed and Exalted is He) said: These verses indicate the establishment of the Hand for Allah (Mighty and Majestic), but it is a Hand that does not resemble the hands of the created beings, for it is a great Hand, as mentioned in this hadith that Allah grasps the earth with it and folds the sky with it. It was also narrated from Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him and his father): This indicates the greatness of this Hand and that a human cannot imagine its greatness or magnitude. The discussion of the Hand has several aspects. The first aspect is whether it is real or a metaphor for power or strength. The position of the Salaf, which is the authentic principle, is that it is real, because the default is that what Allah attributes to Himself is real. However, it is a reality that is free from likening Allah to creation and from asking how an attribute is. It does not resemble the hands of the created beings, nor is it defined in a way that a human can imagine a manner for it, even if it does not match the attribute of the hands of the created beings. The important point is that there is no asking how an attribute is and no likening Allah to creation. As for those who say that the intended meaning is power or strength, their statement is false from several angles. The first angle is the consensus of the Salaf against this view. If someone asks, "Where is the consensus of the Salaf?" we say: The Companions recite the Book of Allah and believe in the implications of the Arabic language. If no report is transmitted from them contradicting the implications of the Arabic language, we know with certainty that they understood the text according to its apparent meaning. It is not possible to come with a report from every Companion stating that he said, "The intended meaning of the Hand is the real Hand." That is not possible. But since they recite the Book, and the Hand in the Book, according to the Arabic language in which the Qur'an was revealed, is the real Hand, and not a single word is transmitted from them indicating a shift to the other meaning, we know that they agreed on this. This applies to the Hand and other attributes. The second angle in refuting the claim that it is power or grace is that power, grace, or strength cannot be dualized with respect to Allah (Mighty and Majestic). With respect to Allah, it is not correct to dualize them. What are the two powers? What are the two strengths? What are the two graces? The strength of Allah is a single attribute that is not divided and not multiplied. The same applies to His power. As for His grace, He the Exalted said: It is not limited to two graces. The third angle is that if the intended meaning of the Hand were strength, it would not have been valid for Iblis to argue with what he argued with when Allah ordered him to prostrate to Adam. When Allah said to him: Because it would have been valid for the intended meaning of the Hand to be power or strength, he would have said, "O my Lord, what favor does he have over me? You created me with Your power and strength, is that not so?" That is indeed the argument of Iblis: to say, "O my Lord, what distinction does Adam have? He was created by Your power, and I was also created by Your power." He did not bring another cause that might be accepted or not accepted, and it is not accepted. Fourth: This Hand came in multiple forms. It came with the word "palm," it came with the mention of the fingers, and it came with the word "right," and both His hands are right. With this diversity in how it is described, it is impossible that the intended meaning is strength or power. Fifth: You can ask them, "Why did you flee from interpreting it as the real Hand?" If they say, "Because the Hand is a limb, and Allah is free from limbs," you say, "Define this limb for us." The limb has not been denied or affirmed with respect to Allah (Mighty and Majestic). So what do you mean by the limb by which you reached the denial of what Allah affirmed for Himself? Do you mean by the limb that He (Glorified and Exalted is He) earns with it and works with it to earn? Or do you mean by the limb that He takes with it and works with it? If they intended the first, it is false. If they intended the second, it is true. And their reaching the denial of this truth by denying the limb is undoubtedly speaking about Allah without knowledge. If they say they deny the Hand for Him because if we affirm the real Hand for Him, we would liken Him to the created being who has a real Hand, we say: You shifted the meaning to strength, and the created being has strength, so you fell into the same thing you fled from, and you added that you distorted the text from its apparent meaning, thus committing two sins. And you did not escape likening Allah to creation according to your principle. If you said "power," we say the created being also has power, is that not so? So the created being has power, and you fell into the same thing you fled from. If you said "grace," we say the created being has grace . So wherever they flee, they are caught, because their statement is false.
The second point of discussion: The hand is mentioned in the Qur'an in three forms: the singular, the dual, and the plural. It may appear to a person that this is a contradiction, but there is no contradiction in that, and it is impossible for a contradiction to exist between the Book of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), nor between the Book of Allah and what is authentic from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), nor between the Book and what is authentic from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and what is required by clear reason. These are three things: there is no contradiction between the Book, nor between it and the authentic Sunnah, nor between the Book, the Sunnah, and clear reason. By clear reason, we mean reason that is free from doubts and desires; that is, it is reason built upon knowledge, so it has no doubt, and built upon good intention and the desire for truth, so it has no desire for other than the truth. If that is the case, there is no contradiction between the singular, the dual, and the plural forms of the hand that are mentioned. How is this reconciled? As for the singular, it is an attributive noun, and the singular attributive noun is suitable for both the one and the many. Have you not seen the saying of Allah: A blessing is an attributive noun; how many blessings does it encompass? What we cannot count. So the singular attributive noun in "the hand" does not contradict plurality. Thus, the suspicion of contradiction regarding the singular, the dual, and the plural is removed. What remains for us is the dual and the plural. We say: As for the dual and the plural, if we say that the minimum of the plural is two, as some grammarians held, and as is found in the verses of inheritance, then the minimum of the plural in the verses of inheritance is two, and likewise in the plural of the congregational prayer, which is achieved with two people. If we say the minimum of the plural is two, there is no problem, because the plural is understood in its minimum, which is two, and this matches the dual, and there is no problem in this. And if we say what is well-known, which is that the minimum of the plural is three, then in that case, we have two numbers: two and three. We need to reconcile them. The scholars said: The reconciliation is that the plural form does not intend the meaning of plurality, but rather it intends magnification, in accordance with the pronoun. The pronoun of the plural is "our hands," for we are a plural pronoun with respect to its attribution to Allah. It is not possible that the intended meaning is plurality of number. So if which indicates plurality for the sake of magnification, it is more appropriate in wording and meaning that the noun to which it is attributed be in the plural form, in order to have a correspondence between the attributive noun and the noun it is attributed to. This is clarified by the fact that if the expression of the verse had been "what our two hands have created as livestock," you would find a conflict between the dual "two hands" and the pronoun. Therefore, it is more appropriate in wording and meaning that "hand" be formed in the plural. And by this, it becomes clear that there is no contradiction between the hand coming in the dual form, the plural form, and the singular form. Now, the third point of discussion: This hand is not required, and indeed it is not permissible, to be like the hand of the created being. But what has come from the Book or the Sunnah in describing it with what the hand of the created being is described with, it is obligatory to affirm it. So this hand is described with the right, as in the verse Is it described with the left, as the created being has a right hand and a left hand? There is disagreement among the scholars on this. Some said: It is correct to describe it with the left, as came in the authentic hadith. And some said: It is not described with the left, and what came in the authentic hadith is anomalous or a mistake by the narrator. The evidence for that is the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): And the truth is that this wording or this sentence does not prevent affirming the left. Because when the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned the left and said: to refute the suspicion of a defect in the left. Why? Because it is known in created things that the left hand has a defect compared to the right hand. So if you affirm the left, a suspicious person might suspect that you have diminished the right. So he said: meaning that they do not differ in perfection; both are complete. Now, based on this issue or this principle: Is the palm, which has fingers, and does it have fingertips? The answer is: It is not required from affirming the hand that it has a palm, or fingertips, or fingers. But if it has come that Allah the Exalted has a palm, and that Allah has fingertips, and that He has fingers, it is obligatory to affirm them by the indication of necessity, that affirming the palm necessitates affirming the fingertips and fingers, or by the indication of inclusion or correspondence, meaning by an independent indication other than the indication of necessity by the hand. And the second established point is that you should say: If the texts had not come with the affirmation of the palm, the affirmation of the fingers, and the affirmation of the fingertips, we would not have affirmed them for the sake of the affirmation of the hand, because these are attributes of the hand of the created being, and it is not required in their affirmation in the hand of the created being that they be affirmed for Allah. But if the Sunnah has brought them, it is obligatory for us to accept them. And if we affirm the fingers, is it required that there be five in each hand, or fewer, or more? Yes, it is not required that there be five, nor that there be fewer or more. But what has reached us is five fingers when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) spoke in the hadith of Ibn Mas'ud: and he mentioned five. But it is not required from the non-mention of five that there not be more. So for this, we say: We affirm what is established of the fingers of Allah, and the rest, do we deny it or remain silent about it? We remain silent about it. This is the position of the people of the Sunnah and the community: what has not come, remain silent about it; and what has come, affirm it. This is what pertains to the attribute of the hand. And the important thing is that we believe that Allah the Exalted has a real hand with which He takes and with which He grasps, and that it does not resemble the hands of the created beings, or more correctly, it does not equal the hands of the created beings. And it is not permissible for us to ask how it is. As for the denial of likening Allah to creation, it is due to His saying the Exalted: and this is general in all His attributes. And as for the denial of asking how an attribute is, it is due to His saying the Exalted: and His saying: This is our belief regarding the hand of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). Now, and I think the discussion is, if Allah wills, complete in this.