A discussion regarding the attribute of the Hand.
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh : And blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions. The people of distortion and denial interpret the two hands attributed to Allah (Mighty and Majestic) to mean that the intended meaning is grace and power. What is the evidence that establishes their claim? And what is the impediment that compelled them to divert the speech from its apparent meaning? We now have two things we demand of them. We say: First, prove that the word "hand" comes to mean grace and power. Okay, yes.
The student: ... poetry. Al-Farazdaq said: "And how many a darkness praises him"
The Shaykh : Al-Mutanabbi
The student: Al-Mutanabbi, praising one of the caliphs, says:
"And how many a hand the darkness of night has with you *** that proclaims that the Manichaeans lie"
The Shaykh : What?
The student: Grace
The Shaykh : Which grace? Okay, the evidence is power.
The student: Power and grace
The Shaykh : Power
The student: Why did the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) not sayMusannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah 37:317
The Shaykh : No, no, this is not from the saying of the Messenger, nor is it the intended meaning. The intent is to establish that "hand" means power. Yes.
The student: The hadith about Gog and Magog
The Shaykh : Yes
The student: He saidSunan Ibn Majah 4075Sahih (Darussalam)
The Shaykh :Mishkat al-Masabih 5475 Yes meaning no power. And the poet said:
"I bore the sighs of the midday and endured them *** but I have no hands for the sighs of the evening"
This passed by us in the *Alfiyyah* from the evidences of the *Alfiyyah*.
"I bore the sighs of the midday and endured them *** but I have no hands for the sighs of the evening"
This evidence, "hands," means power. Okay, what compels them to distort it to that?
The student: ... Glory be to Him who is free from desires, defects, and parts.
The Shaykh : Very well.
The student: And they say that the hand necessitates corporeality, and corporeality necessitates likeness, so they purified Him (Glorified and Exalted is He) from that.
The Shaykh : Yes, they said that affirming the real hands is impossible rationally because it necessitates division and fragmentation in Allah (Mighty and Majestic), then corporeality, and corporeality is likeness, and division is a clear deficiency. Okay, how do we refute them with what they cited as evidence for the permissibility of using "hand" for power and grace? Khalil.
The student: We refute them with four or five angles. We refute them by saying that this contradicts the apparent...
The Shaykh : No, no.
The student: The hand and grace only
The Shaykh : Yes, yes.
The student: Power and grace
The Shaykh : Ah
The student: We say if you say this, then it does not fit, like the saying of Allah (Mighty and Majestic):[Sad 38:75]
The Shaykh : No, no.
The student: Grace...
The Shaykh : Be patient, my brother. But they are now citing evidences.
The student: Yes.
The Shaykh : So how do we refute them? I mean, how do we prevent what they cited from being an evidence for them?
The student: ...
The Shaykh : No, my brother.
The student: We say the estimation of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) of the created beings, Adam (peace be upon him)
The Shaykh : No, no.
The student: When He created him with the Hand
The Shaykh : Yes
The student: We say this meaning diverts the word from its apparent meaning. It is metaphorical, and there is no evidence for the diversion.
The Shaykh : Glory be to Allah, I did not teach you that.
The student: No.
The Shaykh : Okay, what contradicts... what I mentioned, we will mention it now. We say these evidences you cited contain a context indicating that the real hand is not intended, or not? It is clear because the saying of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) in the Qudsi Hadith:Sunan Ibn Majah 4075Sahih (Darussalam) It is known that the single hand or the two hands are the ones that fight the fighters. With what? With power, with weapons, with arrows, and the like. Also, the saying of the leader of Quraysh Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah 37:317 he says to Abu Bakr Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah 37:317 It is known that the intended meaning is not that Abu Bakr's hand with this man is the real hand, is it not? But the intended meaning is grace. And "how many a hand the darkness of night has with you," the intended meaning is also grace, because the one being praised does not have several hands. So we say what you cited is not an evidence for you because it contains contexts that prevent establishing that it is in the meaning of what?
The student: The real
The Shaykh : The real. And thus we say that by your interpretation of the hand which Allah attributed to Himself as grace or as power, you have erred from several angles. And thus we count the five angles you mentioned. The first angle
The student: First, that it contradicts the text
The Shaykh : We say to the text, fine.
The student: Second, that it
The Shaykh : One
The student: Second, that it contradicts
The Shaykh : Wait.
The student: That Allah the Exalted says:[Ash-Shuraa 42:11]
The Shaykh : Is there no helper?
The student: That it contradicts what the righteous Salaf are upon
The Shaykh : Yes, it contradicts the consensus of the righteous Salaf.
The student: That this is impossible to the utmost degree in the saying of Allah the Exalted[Sad 38:75]
The Shaykh : Yes
The student: So according to their interpretation... the intended meaning is that Allah has only two graces and only two powers
The Shaykh : Or only two powers, and this is impossible to the utmost degree. Okay.
The student: The explicit saying of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He)[Sad 38:75] It is impossible for its meaning to be power
The Shaykh : Yes
The student: Because that would necessitate that there be no distinction for Adam over the rest of creation
The Shaykh : Yes, because all were created by the power of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). Okay, these are four. Shaybah.
The student: The fifth is impossible by sense, because among the created beings, some differ from others
The Shaykh : No, no, Salam, that is not it. Yes, Ahmad.
The student: We say because the attribute of the hand came in various forms
The Shaykh : Yes, in various forms
The student: ... and the finger, fingers, in scattered hadiths
The Shaykh : And the grasping
The student: Yes, and the grasping
The Shaykh : And the shaking, and all of this indicates that it is a hand
The student: Real.
The Shaykh : Real. Okay.
The student: Yes, and because they fled from one likeness to another likeness
The Shaykh : We did not mention this, I think.
The student: We did not mention it.
The Shaykh : Okay, how is that?
The student: I mean, they denied the real hand of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) to purify Him, and to deny that He is likened to the created beings, so they fled from the likeness of the perceived part to the power which is the station of every person.
The Shaykh : We say also that in your distortion of the meaning of the hand to power, you fled from one likeness to another likeness, because you say if we affirm the real hand, and the human has a real hand, then likeness is necessitated. We say also, if you affirm the real power, and the human has real power, then you have affirmed likeness according to your rule, because the human has power[Ar-Rum 30:54] and so on. And I think we mentioned this.
The student: We did not mention it.
The Shaykh : I remember that we were presented with these verses[Fussilat 41:15]
The student: We did not mention it.
The Shaykh : Okay, what contradicts... in any case, this is in addition to the fact that you, with your likeness according to your rule, distorted the texts. You distorted the texts and you said about Allah what He did not intend. Yes, okay. And we mentioned a rule previously that every distorter has said about Allah what he does not know from two angles: that he said Allah did not intend such and such, but intended such and such, so he did not intend such and such, which is a saying without knowledge, and he intended such and such, which is a saying without knowledge. Yes, yes.
The student: ... poetry. Al-Farazdaq said: "And how many a darkness praises him"
The Shaykh : Al-Mutanabbi
The student: Al-Mutanabbi, praising one of the caliphs, says:
"And how many a hand the darkness of night has with you *** that proclaims that the Manichaeans lie"
The Shaykh : What?
The student: Grace
The Shaykh : Which grace? Okay, the evidence is power.
The student: Power and grace
The Shaykh : Power
The student: Why did the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) not say
If it were not for a hand I have with you
لولا يد لك عنديThe Shaykh : No, no, this is not from the saying of the Messenger, nor is it the intended meaning. The intent is to establish that "hand" means power. Yes.
The student: The hadith about Gog and Magog
The Shaykh : Yes
The student: He said
whom no one will be able to kill
لا يدان لأحد بقتالهمThe Shaykh :
God will reveal to Jesus that He has brought forth servants of His with whom no one will be able to fight
أوحى الله إلى عيسى أني أخرجت عباداً لا يدان لأحد لقتالهمNo hands
لا يدان"I bore the sighs of the midday and endured them *** but I have no hands for the sighs of the evening"
This passed by us in the *Alfiyyah* from the evidences of the *Alfiyyah*.
"I bore the sighs of the midday and endured them *** but I have no hands for the sighs of the evening"
This evidence, "hands," means power. Okay, what compels them to distort it to that?
The student: ... Glory be to Him who is free from desires, defects, and parts.
The Shaykh : Very well.
The student: And they say that the hand necessitates corporeality, and corporeality necessitates likeness, so they purified Him (Glorified and Exalted is He) from that.
The Shaykh : Yes, they said that affirming the real hands is impossible rationally because it necessitates division and fragmentation in Allah (Mighty and Majestic), then corporeality, and corporeality is likeness, and division is a clear deficiency. Okay, how do we refute them with what they cited as evidence for the permissibility of using "hand" for power and grace? Khalil.
The student: We refute them with four or five angles. We refute them by saying that this contradicts the apparent...
The Shaykh : No, no.
The student: The hand and grace only
The Shaykh : Yes, yes.
The student: Power and grace
The Shaykh : Ah
The student: We say if you say this, then it does not fit, like the saying of Allah (Mighty and Majestic):
to that which I created with My hands
لما خلقت بيديThe Shaykh : No, no.
The student: Grace...
The Shaykh : Be patient, my brother. But they are now citing evidences.
The student: Yes.
The Shaykh : So how do we refute them? I mean, how do we prevent what they cited from being an evidence for them?
The student: ...
The Shaykh : No, my brother.
The student: We say the estimation of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) of the created beings, Adam (peace be upon him)
The Shaykh : No, no.
The student: When He created him with the Hand
The Shaykh : Yes
The student: We say this meaning diverts the word from its apparent meaning. It is metaphorical, and there is no evidence for the diversion.
The Shaykh : Glory be to Allah, I did not teach you that.
The student: No.
The Shaykh : Okay, what contradicts... what I mentioned, we will mention it now. We say these evidences you cited contain a context indicating that the real hand is not intended, or not? It is clear because the saying of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) in the Qudsi Hadith:
whom no one will be able to kill
لا يدان لأحد بقتالهمIf you had not had a favor with me, I would not have repaid it to you, but I would have answered you.
لولا يد لك عندي لم أجزك بها لأجبتكIf you had not had a favor with me.
لولا يد لك عنديThe student: The real
The Shaykh : The real. And thus we say that by your interpretation of the hand which Allah attributed to Himself as grace or as power, you have erred from several angles. And thus we count the five angles you mentioned. The first angle
The student: First, that it contradicts the text
The Shaykh : We say to the text, fine.
The student: Second, that it
The Shaykh : One
The student: Second, that it contradicts
The Shaykh : Wait.
The student: That Allah the Exalted says:
There is nothing like unto Him
ليس كمثله شيءThe Shaykh : Is there no helper?
The student: That it contradicts what the righteous Salaf are upon
The Shaykh : Yes, it contradicts the consensus of the righteous Salaf.
The student: That this is impossible to the utmost degree in the saying of Allah the Exalted
to that which I created with My hands
لما خلقت بيديThe Shaykh : Yes
The student: So according to their interpretation... the intended meaning is that Allah has only two graces and only two powers
The Shaykh : Or only two powers, and this is impossible to the utmost degree. Okay.
The student: The explicit saying of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He)
to that which I created with My hands
لما خلقت بيديThe Shaykh : Yes
The student: Because that would necessitate that there be no distinction for Adam over the rest of creation
The Shaykh : Yes, because all were created by the power of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). Okay, these are four. Shaybah.
The student: The fifth is impossible by sense, because among the created beings, some differ from others
The Shaykh : No, no, Salam, that is not it. Yes, Ahmad.
The student: We say because the attribute of the hand came in various forms
The Shaykh : Yes, in various forms
The student: ... and the finger, fingers, in scattered hadiths
The Shaykh : And the grasping
The student: Yes, and the grasping
The Shaykh : And the shaking, and all of this indicates that it is a hand
The student: Real.
The Shaykh : Real. Okay.
The student: Yes, and because they fled from one likeness to another likeness
The Shaykh : We did not mention this, I think.
The student: We did not mention it.
The Shaykh : Okay, how is that?
The student: I mean, they denied the real hand of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) to purify Him, and to deny that He is likened to the created beings, so they fled from the likeness of the perceived part to the power which is the station of every person.
The Shaykh : We say also that in your distortion of the meaning of the hand to power, you fled from one likeness to another likeness, because you say if we affirm the real hand, and the human has a real hand, then likeness is necessitated. We say also, if you affirm the real power, and the human has real power, then you have affirmed likeness according to your rule, because the human has power
Allah is the one who created you from weakness, then made after weakness strength
الله الذي خلقك من ضعف ثم جعل من بعد ضعف قوةThe student: We did not mention it.
The Shaykh : I remember that we were presented with these verses
and said, "Who is greater than us in strength?" Did they not consider that Allah who created them was greater than them in strength?
وقالوا من أشد منا قوة أولم يرو أن الله الذي خلقهم هو أشد منهم قوةThe student: We did not mention it.
The Shaykh : Okay, what contradicts... in any case, this is in addition to the fact that you, with your likeness according to your rule, distorted the texts. You distorted the texts and you said about Allah what He did not intend. Yes, okay. And we mentioned a rule previously that every distorter has said about Allah what he does not know from two angles: that he said Allah did not intend such and such, but intended such and such, so he did not intend such and such, which is a saying without knowledge, and he intended such and such, which is a saying without knowledge. Yes, yes.