Benefits Related to Affirming the Attribute of the Eye for Allah (Mighty and Majestic)

The Shaykh : In this chapter, the author (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned the attribute of the eye. The eye is one of the attributes of the news (khabariyyah). He (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned two verses from the Book of Allah. The first verse is the saying of Allah the Exalted to Moses: up to the end of the verses. This is for the purpose of explanation. "Tasna'" (crafting) means to raise and nurture. Nurturing is a form of crafting, and raising is also a form of crafting. Nurturing is crafting for the body, and raising is crafting for the work. A person is raised upon morals, so it is said that he is crafted upon them. He is fed, and his growth and vitality increase, so he is crafted through food. Al-Bukhari (may Allah have mercy on him) said, "He is fed," mentioning one of the two types of crafting, which are nurturing and raising. Raising is crafting because you shape your child, for example, according to the character you desire in his upbringing, so this becomes crafting. And the saying of Allah the Exalted means "under My watchful eye," so I see you with My eye. The meaning is not that He crafts it upon the eye of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) such that it is upon the eye itself. No, and it is not possible for this to be the intended meaning, nor is it the apparent meaning of the wording. But the meaning is "under My watchful eye," meaning I see you with My eye. For this reason, the scholars of the Salaf interpreted the verse by saying "under My watchful eye," just as they interpreted the saying of Allah the Exalted: meaning "under My watchful eye." His intent by that is that it is crafted under the eye of Allah, meaning under the watchful eye of Allah with His eye. In it is the affirmation of the eye. And the eye, as you see in the verse, is singular: Is the intent one eye, or is the intent what is affirmed for Allah of eyes? The latter, because when the singular is made possessive, it encompasses all that the meaning allows of generality, or all that the possessive allows of generality. So it includes what is affirmed for Allah of eyes. And His saying, Glorious is His mention, His saying "it sails," the pronoun refers to the ship. Whose ship? Noah's. Meaning it sails under our watchful eye. We guard it, protect it, and monitor it with our eyes. There is no doubt that this monitoring by the eye is a special monitoring. Allah (Mighty and Majestic) looks at everything and sees everything, but this is a special look for this ship, and a special care and attention that is exclusive to it. It is known that it is not possible for the intent of His saying: to be that it is in the very eye of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). This is impossible. So the people of distortion (tahreef) do not argue with us, saying, "You deny to us walking contrary to the apparent meaning, and you walk contrary to the apparent meaning in this verse." We say to them, "We did not walk contrary to the apparent meaning, but we walked in accordance with the apparent meaning. Where was the ship? In the sky or on the earth? On the earth, and it was on the water that Allah sent down from the sky and caused to spring forth from the earth. How is it possible for us to say that the apparent meaning of His saying: is in the very eye, the eye of Allah (Mighty and Majestic)? Far be it, and no, by Allah. Allah the Exalted is in the sky, and this is on the earth. But this expression is known among the Arabs. If he says, "Walk with my eye," the meaning is that I guard you with my eye, protect you with my eye, and monitor you with my eye. This is the meaning. Also, you say to a person, "O so-and-so, bring me such and such," and he says, "On my eye." I said to him, "Bring me a pot full of hot meat," and he said, "On my eye." Does he place the pot? It is not reasonable that he places it on his eyelids. The meaning is that I preserve for you what I bring you with my eye. So His saying "it sails with our eyes" means under our watchful eye with the eye. And this is not from the category of distortion, but this is from the category of interpreting the speech in a way that is certain to be the intent of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). And here He said "with our eyes," and the verse before said in the singular. Is there a contradiction between them? No, there is no contradiction between them. And here it is necessary for us to know that what came in the Book or in the authentic Sunnah cannot contradict each other. Neither the Book contradicts itself, nor the authentic Sunnah contradicts itself, nor the Qur'an with the authentic Sunnah contradicts each other. It is not possible, because both are from Allah, and it is not possible for there to be a difference in them. But understanding may fall short of the intended meaning, so one thinks that there is a contradiction in that, and the matter becomes confusing for him. But the one to whom Allah the Exalted grants understanding knows how to get out of what appears to be a contradiction.
And I direct you to something that helps you with this: Do not look at the verses or texts that appear to be contradictory as if they are contradictory. Look at them as if they are harmonious, and then try to reach how this harmony is achieved. If you look at them as if they are contradictory, you may be deprived of reaching the harmony between them, because you will bring some of them against others in a contradictory manner, and at that time you will be deprived of reaching the intent. But look at them as if they are harmonious, but try to know how they are harmonious. This is what you must believe regarding the texts that appear to be contradictory, so that you may be guided. But if you look at them with the look of contradiction, know that the door will be closed to you, and you will not know how to reconcile them, because you only looked at them as if they were contradictory and divergent. But if you look at them as if they are harmonious, how the harmony is achieved becomes easy for you. So we look at these two verses: We do not say that there is any contradiction in them. We say there is harmony between them, because the eye is singular and possessive, so it includes all that is affirmed for Allah of eyes, however many they are. Look at the saying of Allah the Exalted: "Favor" is singular and possessive. Is the intent one favor? No, it is innumerable favors. Also, the favors of Allah upon you are innumerable. Likewise, "My eyes," we say: it includes all that is affirmed for Allah of eyes. Now, regarding the reconciliation, do we say by the apparent meaning of the conjunction or not? Some scholars held that we say by the apparent meaning of the conjunction, and we say that Allah has many eyes, but they are not limited, because "eyes" is plural and "eye" is singular and possessive, so it includes whatever is affirmed, even if it were thousands of thousands. And at that time, we say that Allah has many eyes, not limited and not known in number. Did you understand? Good. The argument of these people is that they say: It did not come in the Qur'an or in the Sunnah that the eye is restricted to the dual, as the hand came. The hand came but the eye did not come. And even if there is a hadith in which there is discussion, but this hadith has discussion, so it is weak. So they thought that Allah has many eyes. But Al-Bukhari (may Allah have mercy on him), due to the precision of his understanding, narrated the hadiths of the Dajjal to clarify that the intent of the eyes is two eyes only, not more, which is what he said about the Dajjal. Good, he says that Allah is not one-eyed, and he pointed with his hand to his eye. Who pointed? The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). He is not one-eyed. And with this, the claim of those who said that the intent of "one-eyed" here is a defect is dropped and invalidated. Because some of the distorters who insisted that the eyes of Allah are many said that the intent of "one-eyed" is a defect, and the meaning is that the Dajjal is one-eyed, i.e., defective, and the intent is not the one-eyedness of the eye. But we stamp them with a stamp that crushes the falsehood when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) pointed to his eye. And the Messenger is more knowledgeable about Allah than we are. He said: And this also strictly prevents the intent of "one-eyed" to be a defect. One-eyed, and he specified the right eye and its like. Two narrations, if that is the case.
It is known that Allah has only two eyes. The indication is that if it were more than two, the excess would be a perfection, is it not? And this perfection would be the differentiator between the eyes of the Dajjal, because he has only two, and the eyes in excess of two, if we affirm that for Allah (Mighty and Majestic). And it is impossible that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would leave the sign that contains the perfection for the sign of the absence of the eye. This is impossible, because that would be hiding the perfection of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) by mentioning what is in excess of two.
It would be a failure to mention the perfection of Allah the Exalted by what is in excess of two. So if the eyes were more than two, the excess would be a perfection that would be the differentiator between the Dajjal and the Lord (Mighty and Majestic). Since that which is the perfection was not mentioned, and only the negation of the eye was mentioned, which is that Allah is not one-eyed, it is known that Allah, Exalted and Glorified, has only two eyes. And this is what the Ash'ari and others who mention the creed of the people of the Sunnah and the community say: "And that Allah has two eyes" And this is what is necessary for the believer to believe regarding his Lord (Mighty and Majestic) that He, Exalted and Glorified, has two eyes.
If someone were to say that there is a great difficulty in this hadith, namely: how is it that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) made the distinguishing mark in the eye, when the difference between the Creator and the created is rational, not sensory? That is, the difference is not merely that this one is one-eyed and Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is not one-eyed; no, there are many differences. So why? We said that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned this sensory mark because, when the Dajjal comes, men will be stunned and their minds will be confused. The sensory mark is quicker to perceive than the rational mark, because the rational mark requires premises, and a person may be distracted from them in that moment. But the sensory mark is clear, like the other mark that will come, if Allah wills, in the hadith that follows, which is that it is written between his eyes: "Kafir" (disbeliever). This is also a sensory mark. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was the most eloquent and the most sincere of creation; he mentioned the mark that requires no premises and no exertion of thought. As soon as a man sees this wretched Dajjal, he knows that he is not the Lord. This is the reason the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned this sensory mark without there being rational marks. Otherwise, it is known that this Dajjal will delude people into thinking that he creates by the command of the sky, so it will rain and the earth will sprout, and he will kill a man and bring him to life, causing confusion. But, praise be to Allah, this sensory mark requires no contemplation and no thinking.