How should we understand the attribute “the hand of Allah”?

- Is there a statement by Imam Abu Hanifa that the term “Yadullah” is not interpreted as blessing or power?
- What is the reason for the different opinions regarding the issue?
- Which meaning should we consider today?

Dear Brother / Sister,

We think it will be more appropriate to give detailed information after the following brief information:

Allah is not only free from space and time, but He is also free from resemblance to creatures. It is contrary to divinity to attribute space, time and the characteristics similar to those of creatures to Allah, who is infinite.

There are some attributes in the Quran and hadiths that are incompatible with the principle of glorification of God Almighty. These attributes are called as-Sifat al-khabariyya (attributes reported in the texts/news) because they come only in narrations and reports.

Salaf scholars accepted these attributes without tashbih and tajsim (without likening them to the attributes of the creatures and without giving them a corporeal form), without representation, and by referring their characteristics to Allah; and they did not make any interpretations or comments on them.

Fearing that “the Muslim people would become attached to the literal meanings of these words and fall into tashbih about Allah”, the later theologians of Ash’ariyyah and Maturidiyyah interpreted the reported attributes in terms of their metaphorical meanings and gave them meanings worthy of the greatness of God Almighty; and they did not say that the meanings they gave were definite and they said that Allah knows their true meaning and characteristic.

Yad (hand) is one of the attributes ascribed to Allah in the sense of power, ownership, and sovereignty.

Yad, which lexically means “hand”, is used in the sense of “power-strength, ownership, sovereignty, blessing-grace, help-support” metaphorically and allegorically. (Lisanul-Arab, “ydy” item.; Qamus Translation, IV, 1238-1239)

The word is attributed to Allah in twelve verses of the Quran, eight of which are singular, three are dual, and one is plural. (M. F. Abdulbaqi, al-Mujam, “yad” item)

According to what is stated in those verses, when the Jews claimed that Allah’s hand was tight, God Almighty declared His generosity by saying, “both His hands are widely outstretched” (al-Maida 5/64), and in the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, it was stated that the Hand of Allah (His support and protection) was over their hands (hands of those who plighted) (al-Fath, 48:10), and Allah states that He created the sky with His own hands, and that all sovereignty, as well as goodness and blessing, are in His hands, and that He will give them to whomever He wills (adh-Dhariyat 51:47; al-Mu’minun 23:88; Aal-i Imran 3:26, 73).

The word yad is also attributed to Allah in various hadith narrations. It is stated in the hadiths that Allah’s two hands are both right hands (beneficent, gracious) (Muslim, Imarah, 18), that His helping hand and protection are over the congregation (Ibnul-Athir, p. 1007), that He increases a date given by a believer as sadaqah in His hand until it reaches the size of Mount Uhud (Musnad, II, 418), that He created Adam with His hand (personally) and wrote the Torah with His hand (personally) (Musnad, I, 281; II, 248; Bukhari, Anbiya, 3).

In the Quran, the word yamin, which lexically means “right, right hand”, “power-strength, perfection”, “goodness, luck” (Lisanul-Arab, “ymn” item) is attributed to God (az-Zumar, 39/67; al-Haaqqa, 69/45), and the same word is also included in hadith narrations (Musnad, II, 242, 313, 500; Muslim, Imarah, 18; Tirmidhi, Tafsir, 5/3; Ibn Majah, “Muqaddima”, 133; Ibnul-Athir, p. 1010).

Again, in the Quran, the concept of qabd, whose lexical meaning is “to take, to hold, to hold in the palm of one’s hand, to possess” and “to constrict”, is attributed to Allah (al-Baqara, 2/245; al-Furqan, 25/46), and the same concept is also mentioned in the hadiths (Wensinck, al-Mu’jam, qbd item).

The meaning of this concept in the verses in which it is mentioned is “Allah’s constriction of sustenance” and “drawing the shadow in the direction He wills”. In the verse in which the words qabd and yamin are mentioned (az-Zumar, 39/67), it is stated that the whole earth will be in Allah’s qabd (in His ownership and sovereignty, Maturidi, XII, 368-371) and the heavens will be rolled up with His right hand (power) on the Day of Judgment (cf. Lisanul-Arab, qbd item).

Scholars have put forward different views on the meaning of the concepts of yad, yamin and qabd attributed to Allah in verses and hadiths.

Aside from Mushabbihites and Mujassimites, who are very few in number and who claim that these concepts are used in their literal meanings and that Allah has two hands as stated in the Quranic texts (Bayhaqi, p. 417; Ibnul-Jawzi, pp. 12-13), Salafiyya and Kalam scholars put forward some interpretations regarding the issue though there are some differences between them.

1. Yad, yamin and qabd are attributes of Allah, whose nature is not known. There is no doubt that they cannot be interpreted as “hand” similar to that of creatures; however, they cannot be interpreted by being attributed metaphorical meanings such as “power, blessing, help” other than their literal meanings  either because such an interpretation does not seem consistent in terms of linguistics.

For instance, the verse stating that Allah created Adam with His two hands cannot be interpreted as “He created Adam with two powers or two blessings”. The statement, “Nay, both His hands are widely outstretched”, in response to the Jews’ claim that “(Allah)’s hand is tied up” (al-Maida, 5/64) proves that two hands should be attributed to His essence.

Therefore, it is necessary to believe that Allah has two hands, which do not resemble the hands of creatures and do not mean an organ that constitutes a part of His essence. As a matter of fact, the divine attributes such as life and knowledge also include the condition “not resembling the attributes of creatures”.

The left hand is not attributed to Allah because the left hand implies incompleteness and weakness. The statements in the hadith that Allah’s two hands are both right hands show this. The statement in the hadith that Allah will hold the earth in one hand and the heavens in the other on the Day of Resurrection also demonstrates this. Scholars of Salafiyya, Abu Hanifa and some kalam scholars like Abul-Hasan al-Ash’ari hold this view. (Ibn Khuzayma, I, 193-198; Ash’ari, p. 125-140; Bayhaqi, pp. 416-419; Baydawi, p. 190; Beyâzîzâde, p. 186)  

2. All the concepts attributed to Allah in the verses and hadiths, such as yad, yamin, qabda, and kaf, which evoke the meaning of organ in the mind and suggest that Allah is composed of parts, need to be interpreted by taking into account the usage in the language since they are not in the literal sense but are metaphors or allegories. Otherwise, one cannot avoid falling into tashbih and tajsim.

Accordingly, yad and yamin refer to Allah’s power, which expresses the perfection of His creativity and sublimity, and indicates that everything submits to His sovereignty, and His blessing, which indicates that He favors His creatures, and sometimes His command and judgment.

The fact that the word yad is used in the dual form is an exaggerated use that aims to express the greatness of His power and blessing.

The fact that it is stated in the hadiths that Allah’s two hands are both right hands indicates that the word yad has a figurative meaning.

Qabd (qabda) and kaf also have the meaning of “power and sovereignty”.

The majority of kalam scholars and some Salafists such as Ibnul-Athir and Ibnul-Jawzi hold this view. (Qadi Abduljabbar, p. 228; Nasafi, I, 131; Ibnul-Jawzi, pp. 11-12, 52-53) The majority of scholars accept that the word yad attributed to Allah and other synonymous or related concepts are not used in their apparent and literal meaning.

The fact that the Salafis refrain from the interpretation of these concepts does not eliminate the issue of tashbih. The fact that the words in question are given meanings such as “hand, right hand; to hold, to hold in the palm of one’s hand” inevitably evokes some organs and actions specific to creatures in the human mind.

Saying that they do not resemble the organs and actions of creatures does not solve the problem because humans can only perceive objects and events in the world they live in. The use of the word “yad” in some verses and hadiths in the dual form means to work at the level of perfection. The same thing holds true for yamin (right hand).

In fact, such words and concepts are frequently mentioned in Arabic dictionaries with examples from poetry in parallel to the interpretation of kalam scholars. (see TDV İslam Ansiklopedisi, Yed item)

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