What is meant by Allah's (c.c) hand(s)?

Question

In this website, http://www.kalamullah.com/one.html, explaining the ayat of Qur'an other than its apparent meaning is criticised, and this example is given;

قَالَ يَا إِبْلِيسُ مَا مَنَعَكَ أَن تَسْجُدَ لِمَا خَلَقْتُ بِيَدَيَّ ۖ أَسْتَكْبَرْتَ أَمْ كُنتَ مِنَ الْعَالِينَ

Sahih International

[ Allah ] said, "O Iblees, what prevented you from prostrating to that which I created with My hands? Were you arrogant [then], or were you [already] among the haughty?"

Main point of criticism is this;

In the above Aayah, Allah, the Most High, is saying that He created Aadam with His Two Hands. Yet some Muslims try to explain "Allah's two Hands" to mean His power Who knows Allah better, Himself or these people? As Muslims, we have to believe in Allah as He describes Himself or as His Messenger (peace be upon him) described Him. Therefore, if He, the Mighty, says he has Two Hands, we must believe that. However, we must also believe, that they are not hands like our: He, the Sublime said: "There is nothing like Him; and He is the Hearer; the Seer of all." [Shooraa 42:11]

Indeed, I have found in a Turkish tafseer by Hamdi Yazır using such interpretation. He quote a saying by Ibn Omar (or a Hadith narrated by Ibn Omar, I am not sure.), which I can translate as follows, "Allah created 4 things with his hands, Arsh (I think it means highest heaven), Jannah of Adn, Kalem (can be translated as Pen or Pencil), and Adam. Later, He said -be!- and everything became." Using this saying, mufassir comments that hands clearly means "with his power, without any esbaab (causation) interviening."

Moreover, there are other ayah in Qur'an, that mentions hand(s) of Allah (c.c). Such as this one;

وَالسَّمَاءَ بَنَيْنَاهَا بِأَيْدٍ وَإِنَّا لَمُوسِعُونَ

Sahih International

And the heaven We constructed with strength, and indeed, We are [its] expander.

Note that here, the word translated as "with strength" is بِأَيْدٍ which literally means "with hands" (a plural noun)

Moreover,

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يُبَايِعُونَكَ إِنَّمَا يُبَايِعُونَ اللَّهَ يَدُ اللَّهِ فَوْقَ أَيْدِيهِمْ ۚ فَمَن نَّكَثَ فَإِنَّمَا يَنكُثُ عَلَىٰ نَفْسِهِ ۖ وَمَنْ أَوْفَىٰ بِمَا عَاهَدَ عَلَيْهُ اللَّهَ فَسَيُؤْتِيهِ أَجْرًا عَظِيمًا

Sahih International

Indeed, those who pledge allegiance to you, [O Muhammad] - they are actually pledging allegiance to Allah . The hand of Allah is over their hands. So he who breaks his word only breaks it to the detriment of himself. And he who fulfills that which he has promised Allah - He will give him a great reward.

So, my question is, is understanding the hand of Allah (c.c) as his power should be considered as lying against Allah (c.c), if so, how should we understand it instead? Because as far as I can understand from Surat Ash-Shūraá - 11, there is nothing similiar to Him, so we cannot understand his hand, based on our hands.

Answer 1

Regarding what Allah said about himself, there's a certain careful approach that must be taken. I'll try to explain the Arabic from English standpoint.

• Realize that Rasolullah never dwell in these matters and believed and taught whatever Allah revealed to him.

• When using certain descriptions or identifying terms, the context is very important.

• "Yad" means hand depending on the context. When discussing humans, we know how a human hand looks like and what it consists of.

Still, in English when we say "can you give me a hand?" does this mean to cut off his hand and give it to me? Or does it me to help me? How do we know what I mean? It matters on the situation.

• Also, know that human hands aren't the same as, lets say, jinn hands, or hands of angels, or even a clock has hands. These are all considered hands but they differ depending on the surrounding and usage.

• When it comes to Allah, we cannot compare "yad" with human "yad" or "yadayn" as it's totally a different context. We don't how Allah looks, therefore, we must affirm whatever Allah said without any denial and leave the rest. If "yad" means hand, "yadayn" mean two hands, so what? We're not talking about a human being anyways...

We say what all of the Prophets, Messengers and their followers said "We believe in Allah and what was sent down to us..."

• And this word ** بِأَيْدٍ ** from Surah adh-Dariyat you posted doesn't come from the word "yad", it comes from "إيَاد " which does mean power or force or strength or might.

Anyways, this is how to properly approach what Allah said about himself. And don't get into arguments over it as it's only transgressing the limits.

AllahoAlim

Answer 2

According to different hadiths from Ahl al Bayt, the hand of God in the Quran means the power of God.

It is narrated in a hadith that Muhammad Ibn Muslim asked interpretation of hand in the verse: [ Allah ] said, "O Iblees, what prevented you from prostrating to that which I created with My hands?(38:75) from Imam Sadiq a.s. And Imam replied:

The hand in the language of Arab means power and blessing. So God said: Be patient over what they say and remember Our servant, David, the possessor of hand; indeed, he was one who repeatedly turned back [to Allah](38:17) And said: And the heaven We constructed with hand, and indeed, We are [its] expander (51:47) or with power. And said: and we handed them with spirit from Him (58:22) that means he supported them by power.

In all of their verses included in this hadith the Arabic word of hand (Yad) is used. The latter the word ایدهم is used which is translated to "supported them" which is the verb form of the word Yad (hand).

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Source:

The hadith book "Tawhid" by al-Shaykh al-Saduq, page. 153. (using the software Jami`al-Ahadith 3.‎5 for searching inside text of 1142 volumes of old hadith books)

Answer 3

You should know that Muslims believe that Allah has a hand, face and in a way a body. Depending on the Qur'an "وجوه يوم اذ ناظره الى ربها ناظره" which means faces then are looking at God. Another verse from the Qur'an "ويبقى وجه ربك ذو الجلال والاكرام" and also the verse "ثم استوى على العرش" those versus tell us that God might be has hand and face and body. However, they are not something similar to what we can imagine so we normally don't talk about these kind of stuff.

@battle of karbala: Obviously, you're a Shia, you should still respect what I believe and if not for me, for 85% of Muslims out there. However, you mentioned the exact same verse that I mentioned "ثم استوى على العرش" if that's confusing, you can look at the other versus that I mentioned and maybe explain to me what they exactly mean. Moreover, I know one that everyone probably know by now that your sect is established to opposite the Sunni sect, so I'm not expecting any satisfaction from you. I would be very satisfied if you provide me with a good answer.

Answer 4

assalaamu 3alaykum wa ra7matullahi wa barakaatuh

Bismillah

There are few things that must be clarified: 1) The claim of those who do not believe that HAND is HAND but they say that this is POWER 2) The evidence used by those who make such claims

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CLARIFICAATION:

1) Allah 'Azza wa jall says in the Qur'an:

لَئِن بَسَطتَ إِلَيَّ يَدَكَ لِتَقْتُلَنِي مَا أَنَا بِبَاسِطٍ يَدِيَ إِلَيْكَ لِأَقْتُلَكَ ۖ إِنِّي أَخَافُ اللَّهَ رَبَّ الْعَالَمِينَ - 5:28

If you should raise your hand against me to kill me - I shall not raise my hand against you to kill you. Indeed, I fear Allah, Lord of the worlds.

Allah is talking about the 2 sons of Adam and the word used here is YADIYA ( MY HAND singular )

if we go here according to the understanding of POWER then he raises his POWER or stretches his POWER to kill his brother

2) Some people have the belief that AYDIN and YAD means same.

This claim is false. For those who know the arabic language will know that the words mentioned in these ayaat do not have the same root even, for example:

وَالسَّمَاءَ بَنَيْنَاهَا بِأَيْدٍ وَإِنَّا لَمُوسِعُونَ - 51:47

The word mentioned here is AYDIN it is a NOUN in singular form and its root is not the same as the root or the word YADD, YADD in itself is singular, so how do I say AL AYDU and AL YADDU are same when even an ignorant person sees here the difference?

the root for aydin is أ ي د and it means strength and power, for example Allah says:

وَالسَّمَاءَ بَنَيْنَاهَا بِأَيْدٍ وَإِنَّا لَمُوسِعُونَ - 51:47 And the heaven We constructed with strength, and indeed, We are [its] expander. NOT BI YADDIN but BI AYDIN SINGULAR, not same word

The root from which the word yadd comes from is ي د ي Allah says: لَئِن بَسَطتَ إِلَيَّ يَدَكَ لِتَقْتُلَنِي مَا أَنَا بِبَاسِطٍ يَدِيَ إِلَيْكَ لِأَقْتُلَكَ ۖ إِنِّي أَخَافُ اللَّهَ رَبَّ الْعَالَمِينَ - 5:28 If you should raise your hand against me to kill me - I shall not raise my hand against you to kill you. Indeed, I fear Allah, Lord of the worlds.

The word used here is YADIYA my hand singular. And to make it clear to those who say that it is not HAND a more precise example: Allah says: قَالَ يَا إِبْلِيسُ مَا مَنَعَكَ أَن تَسْجُدَ لِمَا خَلَقْتُ بِيَدَيَّ ۖ أَسْتَكْبَرْتَ أَمْ كُنتَ مِنَ الْعَالِينَ - 38:75 [ Allah ] said, "O Iblees, what prevented you from prostrating to that which I created with My hands? Were you arrogant [then], or were you [already] among the haughty?"

• If you compare the 2 ayaat with each other you will see that in the first one the word YADIYA is mentioned, no sukkoon on the YAA and in the second ayah the word is YADAYYA which is the genitive dual noun, so it is refering to 2 OF SOMETHING. Allah has 2 POWERS? Allah created Adam with 2 POWERS?

Seriously, please do not blindly follow people. Only people who make a comparison in their minds make such claims while Allah says:

فَاطِرُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ ۚ جَعَلَ لَكُم مِّنْ أَنفُسِكُمْ أَزْوَاجًا وَمِنَ الْأَنْعَامِ أَزْوَاجًا ۖ يَذْرَؤُكُمْ فِيهِ ۚ لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْءٌ ۖ وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْبَصِيرُ - 42:11 [He is] Creator of the heavens and the earth. He has made for you from yourselves, mates, and among the cattle, mates; He multiplies you thereby. There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the Hearing, the Seeing.

LAYSA KA MITHLIHI SHAY - There is nothing like unto HIM The fact that Allah has hands doesn't mean His Hands are like the hands of His creation, just like Allah is AL Mu'min and Allah mentions AL MU'MINEEN, it does not mean that a person is like Allah, since a person who is A MU'MIN is one whom people trust their wealth and their lives, yet we know that a person makes mistakes and only Allah is the ONE Whom a person can trust completely because Allah does not error.

Correct belief is: We do not ask the HOW, we believe in it as Allah says:

لَّٰكِنِ الرَّاسِخُونَ فِي الْعِلْمِ مِنْهُمْ وَالْمُؤْمِنُونَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِمَا أُنزِلَ إِلَيْكَ وَمَا أُنزِلَ مِن قَبْلِكَ ۚ وَالْمُقِيمِينَ الصَّلَاةَ ۚ وَالْمُؤْتُونَ الزَّكَاةَ وَالْمُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ أُولَٰئِكَ سَنُؤْتِيهِمْ أَجْرًا عَظِيمًا - 4:162

But those firm in knowledge among them and the believers believe in what has been revealed to you, [O Muhammad], and what was revealed before you. And the establishers of prayer [especially] and the givers of zakah and the believers in Allah and the Last Day - those We will give a great reward.

I ask Allah to guide us all. Ameen