Explanation of the author's statement: "And they are among the intrinsic attributes established by the Book and the Sunnah. Among the proofs from the Book is the statement of the Exalted: 'They sail by Our eyes.'"

The Shaykh :"And they are among the intrinsic attributes established by the Book and the Sunnah" The pronoun "they" refers to the two eyes. "Among the proofs from the Book is the statement of the Exalted:

It runs with our eyes

تجري بأعيننا

" "Sail" means to move, and the pronoun refers to the ship that Noah (peace be upon him) built. When Allah the Exalted had Noah call upon his Lord, He the Exalted said: What does "sail by Our eyes" mean? Some of the distorters say: This indicates that there must be metaphorical language in the Qur'an. There must be metaphorical language in the Qur'an because we know with certainty that this ship was not in the eye of Allah, nor was it adjacent to the eye of Allah. Therefore, the preposition "by" (bi) is not for location, nor is it for adjacency. So, there must be metaphorical language. But we respond to them by saying that this Arabic expression, "sail by My eye," means that He (Mighty and Majestic) observes it with His eye. He observes it with His eye, sees it with His eye, and protects and preserves it. This is an Arabic expression. For example, a person might say, "By Allah, you are in my eye." Because of how dear you are to me, you are in my eye. I don't know if he has placed a mattress and pillow in his eye or not? Huh? No, but it means that because of my intense love for you, I watch you with my eye and you do not disappear from my sight. The result is that regarding the statement "sail by Our eyes," no one claims, and no one who knows the Arabic language claims, that the apparent meaning of the words is that the ship is in the eye of Allah or on it. This is something no one can claim. So, the meaning is that it sails accompanied by Our gaze upon it with Our eyes. This is the meaning of the verse, and it does not admit of any other meaning.
However, it remains for us to say that you brought this as evidence to prove that Allah has two eyes, even though "ayn" is a plural. The answer to this, as will come later if Allah wills, is that we say that in the Arabic language, some scholars hold that the minimum for a plural is two, as in His saying: It is well known that they are two, and they have no more than two hearts. Here "hearts" is a plural, yet it refers to two. So "by our eyes" means by two eyes of ours. Is that clear? This is one aspect. The second aspect is to say that the minimum for a plural is three, and it cannot be that the minimum is two unless there is evidence, either religious or sensory. So the evidence that they are two is sensory and based on reality. The congregation in prayer, the minimum for the congregational prayer is two by religious evidence. But if there is no evidence, the default is that the minimum for a plural is three, and this is the well-known view. Yes.

The questioner : ...

The Shaykh : Huh, what? May Allah have mercy on you.

The questioner : ... by Our eyes, for example, means by Our care and Our preservation.

The Shaykh : No, no, it must be interpreted by the apparent meaning of the words.

The questioner : Shaykh Abd al-Rahman al-Sa'di, the Shaykh, interpreted it as ...

The Shaykh : If he interpreted it as anything other than a person who wants to say "by Our care" with "Our eyes," because if he did not come with "Our eyes," it would be ta'wil (figurative interpretation). It would be ta'wil, because care does not necessarily imply the eye. Yes. So, if a person says, for example, "sail by Our sight," by Our sight, we say: Sight is by what? By the eye. So, either he interprets "by Our sight" to mean by Our eyes, we see it with Our eyes, or better and clearer is to say "by Our sight with Our eyes," to emphasize, because the matter is serious.