Clear and Authentic Narrations Affirming Allah’s Hands as Attributes

Narration #1:

Imam at-Tabari in his commentary on Surah 39, Ayah 67 and Abdullah ibn Ahmad ibn Hanbal in his Kitab as-Sunnah Volume 2, page 476, narration no. 1090, narrate:

حَدَّثَنَا اِبْن بَشَّار , قَالَ . ثنا مُعَاذ بْن هِشَام. قَالَ : ثني أَبِي عَنْ عَمْرو بْن مَالِك , عَنْ أَبِي الْجَوْزَاء , عَنْ اِبْن عَبَّاس , قَالَ : مَا السَّمَوَات السَّبْع , وَالْأَرَضُونَ السَّبْع فِي يَد اللَّه إِلَّا كَخَرْدَلَةٍ فِي يَد أَحَدكُمْ

Ibn Bashshar - Mu'adh b. Hishaam - Amr b. Maalik - Abi Al-Jawza' - Ibn Abbass said: The seven heavens and seven earths in Allah's Hand are similar to a mustard seed in the hand of one of you.[1]

It is evident that Ibn Abbass affirmed the Hand of Allah literally. Look how he compares a mustard seed in our hand to the seven heavens and seven earths in Allah's Hand. Surely, he would not have done such a thing if he was making Ta'weel (i.e., if he thought yad here meant power, then why compare it to our hand instead of our power?) or Tafweedh (i.e., if he does not know what it means, then why compare it to our hand instead of just staying silent about it?).

Narrations #2-4:

This hadeeth is found in Musnad Ahmad, vol. 9, hadith no. 5414:

حدثنا عبد الله ثنا أبي ثنا عفان ثنا حماد بن سلمة أنا إسحاق بن عبد الله يعنى بن أبي طلحة عن عبيد الله بن مقسم عن بن عمر : ان رسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم قرأ هذه الآية ذات يوم على المنبر { وما قدروا الله حق قدره والأرض جميعا قبضته يوم القيامة والسموات مطويات بيمينه سبحانه وتعالى عما يشركون { ورسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم يقول هكذا بيده ويحركها يقبل بها ويدبر يمجد الرب نفسه أنا الجبار أنا المتكبر أنا الملك أنا العزيز أنا الكريم فرجف برسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم المنبر حتى قلنا ليخرن به

Abdullah – Abdullah’s Father – Affan – Hammad b. Salamah – Ishaaq b. Abdullah (i.e., b. Abi Talha) – ‘Obaidillah b. Miqsam – Ibn Umar: The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) recited this ayah on the pulpit one day, “They made not a just estimate of Allah such as is due to Him. And on the Day of Resurrection, the whole of the earth will be grasped by His Hand and the heavens will be rolled up in His Right Hand. Glorified is He, and High is He above all that they associate as partners with Him!” (Surah 39:67) and Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) said like this with his hand moving it back and forth. The Lord glorifies Himself saying, “I am the All Compeller, I am the Proud, I am the King, I am the Mighty, I am the Generous.” The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) began to shiver on the pulpit until we said it will collapse with him.[2]

The following narration is found in At-Tabarani's Al-Mu'jam Al-Kabeer, volume 12, page 355:

حدثنا يحيى بن أيوب العلاف المصري ثنا سعيد بن أبي مريم أنا ابن أبي حازم ثنا أبو حازم عن عبيد الله بن مقسم أنه سمع عبد الله بن عمر : يقول : رأيت رسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم على المنبر وهو يقول : ( يأخذ الجبار سماواته وأرضه بيديه ) وقبض رسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم يده وجعل يقبضها ويبسطها ثم قال : ( فيقول : أنا الرحمن أنا الملك أين الجبارون أين المتكبرون ) وتمايل رسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم عن يمينه وعن شماله حتى نظرت إلى المنبر يتحرك من أسفل شيء منه حتى أقول أساقط هو برسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم

Yahya b. Ayub Al-'Allaaf Al-Masri - Sa'eed b. Abi Maryam - Ibn Abi Hazim - Abu Hazim - ‘Obaidillah b. Miqsam - Abdullah b. Umar said: I saw the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) on the pulpit saying, "The All Compeller will take His heavens and earth in His Hand" and the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) clasped his hand continuously clasping and unfolding it. Then he said, "Then He will say: I am the Most Gracious, I am the King. Where are the ones who are arrogant and proud?". Then Allah's Messenger peace be upon him started swaying left and right until I saw the pulpit move from its bottom until I said that it is going to collapse with the Prophet (peace be upon him) on it.

Unlike the previous two narrations, this narration from Saheeh Muslim, Book 52, hadith no. 8, states that the Prophet (peace be upon him) clasped his fingers:

رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ ‏ "‏ يَأْخُذُ اللَّهُ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ سَمَوَاتِهِ وَأَرَضِيهِ بِيَدَيْهِ فَيَقُولُ أَنَا اللَّهُ - وَيَقْبِضُ أَصَابِعَهُ وَيَبْسُطُهَا - أَنَا الْمَلِكُ ‏"‏ حَتَّى نَظَرْتُ إِلَى الْمِنْبَرِ يَتَحَرَّكُ مِنْ أَسْفَلِ شَىْءٍ مِنْهُ حَتَّى إِنِّي لأَقُولُ أَسَاقِطٌ هُوَ بِرَسُولِ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم

Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said: Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, would take in His hand His Heavens and His Earth, and would say: I am Allah. — And he (i.e., the Messenger) would clench His fingers and then would open them — (and say): I am your Lord. I saw the pulpit in commotion from underneath because of something (vibrating) there. And (I felt this commotion so much) that I said (to myself): It may not fall with Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) upon it.

What Is Derived from These Hadeeths?

Notice the parts that I have bolded where Ibn Umar said that after the Prophet (peace be upon him) talked about how Allah will grasp the heavens and the earth on the Day of Judgement with His Right Hand, the Prophet (peace be upon him) would make an action with his hand (or fingers, which are obviously part of his hand). This is similar to another hadeeth where the Prophet (peace be upon him) pointed to his eyes and ears to affirm sight and hearing for Allah (something Asharis would agree with). Using that same logic, the Prophet (peace be upon him) affirms the attribute of Hand for Allah. If we did not know the meaning of Hand (i.e., Tafweedh Al-Ma'na ) or if we were to interpret it metaphorically as power or something else (i.e., Ta'weel), then it would have been meaningless and misleading for the Prophet (peace be upon him) to make an action with his hand.

If the meaning of Hand was not known for Allah, why would the Prophet (peace be upon him) use his hand for emphasis? The same logic applies to deeming it to be a metaphor.

This is clear evidence that the Prophet (peace be upon him) recognized that Allah literally has a Hand (unlike that of creation, of course) and knew and taught the core conceptual meaning of it.[3]

Human imagination knows no creative bounds, and nothing could prevent anyone from concocting and retrojecting some evidenceless ad-hoc reason as to why the Prophet (peace be upon him) made the gestures he did while uttering the words he uttered. Nevertheless, we should honestly ask ourselves whether that mere conceptual possibility would have plausibly been what the Sahabah would have immediately inferred from listening to the Prophet (peace be upon him).

Without any preconceived bias influencing our decision, it is pretty clear what should be inferred from these narrations.

Recommended Reading:

Allah's Divine Attributes Discourse

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[1] This narration’s chain was declared to be hasan by the editors of Tafsir At-Tabari: Hani Al-Haaj, Emaad Zaky Al Baaroodi, and Khayri Saeed, on volume 23-24, page 24.

[2] Shaykh Shu’ayb al-Arna’ut said regarding this hadith:

إسناده صحيح على شرط مسلم رجاله ثقات رجال الشيخين غير حماد بن سلمة فمن رجال مسلم.

“It’s isnaad is Saheeh on the condition of Muslim. Its men are trustworthy and the men of the two Shaykhs, except for Hammad bin Salamah. as he is only from the men of Muslim.”

[3] Read more about the notion of knowing the meaning of attributes in The Hanbali School's Aqeedah on Allah's Attributes.