Is it permissible to gesture with the hand when speaking about the attributes of Allah the Exalted?
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The questioner : Some people, when they speak about the essential attributes,
The Shaykh : Some, what?
The questioner : When they speak about the essential attributes, like the hand and the fingers, they move their hands and fingers, meaning as a sign for this thing. Is there anything wrong with that?
The Shaykh : By Allah, I see that one should not do anything except what has come in the text. And even what has come in the text, one should not say it to the common people. If, for example, you recite[Al-Hajj 22:61] and put your finger on your ear and the other on your eye, they would completely imagine, what?
The student: Likeness.
The Shaykh : Likeness. And for this reason, 'Ali ibn Abi Talib said: meaning by what they can understand, not by what they had already known before, but rather the meaning is by what they can understand and visualize. And Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: So, for example, if a person recites [Al-Hajj 22:61] and then puts his finger on his ear and the other on his eye in front of the common people, it is not appropriate. How can a person come and make a movement that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did not do? What made him know that the movement was in this manner from Allah (Mighty and Majestic)? Yes, I have taken it.
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : The important thing is that I do not allow a person to ask now unless he has not asked before. Yes.
The Shaykh : Some, what?
The questioner : When they speak about the essential attributes, like the hand and the fingers, they move their hands and fingers, meaning as a sign for this thing. Is there anything wrong with that?
The Shaykh : By Allah, I see that one should not do anything except what has come in the text. And even what has come in the text, one should not say it to the common people. If, for example, you recite
because Allah is Hearing and Seeing.
إن الله سميع بصيرThe student: Likeness.
The Shaykh : Likeness. And for this reason, 'Ali ibn Abi Talib said:
Inform the people of what they know.
حدثوا الناس بما يعرفونOf what they know.
بما يعرفونDo you want to make Allah and His Messenger a lie?
أتريدون أن يكذب الله ورسولهYou will not tell a people a story that their minds cannot grasp except that it will be a trial for some of them.
إنك لن تحدث قوما حديثا لا تبلغه عقولهم إلا كان لبعضهم فتنةbecause Allah is Hearing and Seeing.
إن الله سميع بصيرThe questioner : ...
The Shaykh : The important thing is that I do not allow a person to ask now unless he has not asked before. Yes.