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As to the debate as to what the ayahs which talk about the Hands of Allah mean. This was never a topic of discussion at the time of the Prophet saw.
As to whether these Ayahs are
1) literal
2) metaphorical
3) Mutashabihat
4) neither of the above
is a topic which hopefully we will attempt to resolve for the readers
One has to start the discussion remembering the boundaries that the human mind can access, and therefore what limitations the human has on generating a thought about a given topic.
Some may quote the ayahs such as :
"The made not a just estimate of Allah, such as is due to Him: On the Day of Resurrection, the whole earth will be in His Grasp and the heavens will be rolled up in His right Hand. Glory to Him! High is He above the partners they attribute to Him" [39:67]
""O Iblîs (Satan)! What prevents you from prostrating yourself to one whom I have created with Both My Hands..." [38:75]
The being of Allah is a reality which is only fully comprehended by Allah. Therefor it is not a reality which a human can understand as the being of Allah is beyond the senses. The existence of Allah i.e. a creator is not beyond the human mind as when we look at the reality we see that everything has to have been created by something else as everything is dependant on somethiung else for its existence, everything is is limited and everything does not have the ability to create itself. As to the nature of this unlimited independant creator we can only know about this when the creator tells us about himself, because it is not a reality for us but only a reality for the creator.
When Allah talks about himself, we must ask ourselves if our minds can comprehend what he is talking about.
If something is taken literally it indicates that one comprehends fully the subject being talked about. Therefore in Ayahs which talk about Allahs hands, we know we cant understand the being of Allah, as he is unlimited and we are limited, and therefore we cant draw any conclusions from these verses.
To say that he has hands but we cant say how, but reaffrim that he does have hands is nonsense, because, a person can only reaffirm something when he can completely understands what is to be comprehended. You cant reaffirm what you cant comprehend. In Ayahs which mention the hands of Allah, Allah talks about a reality which is unlimited and independant, i.e. himself, which is a reality which man cant access via his mind and therefore cant reaffirm.
"No vision can grasp Him, but His grasp is over all vision: He is above all comprehension, yet is acquainted with all things."
Quran 6:103
This Ayah which Muhkam, tells us that his being, not his existence, is beyond our minds, because for man to be able to access a reality and coment on it, the reality has to be accessible to the senses.
Tafsir Ibn Kathir:
The Mutashabihat and Muhkamat Ayat
Allah states that in the Qur'an, there are Ayat that are Muhkamat, entirely clear and plain, and these are the foundations of the Book which are plain for everyone. And there are Ayat in the Qur'an that are Mutashabihat not entirely clear for many, or some people. So those who refer to the Muhkam Ayat to understand the Mutashabih Ayat, will have acquired the correct guidance, and vice versa. This is why Allah said,
(They are the foundations of the Book), meaning, they are the basis of the Qur'an, and should be referred to for clarification, when warranted,
So when we refer to the Ayah which is Muhkam about no vision can grasp him, we see that the being of Allah is beyond our minds, and therefore we cant make any comment, including - he has hands but we dont know how he has hands, as this represents a failed attempt to understand an Ayah which is beyond understanding.
Now, can we say these verses are metaphorical.
In order to say that something is metaphorical one must first comprehend the literal, and when the literal doesnt make sense then say that the subject being discussed is meatphorical.
i.e. its raining cats and dogs.
It is obvious that it doesnt rain cats and dogs because we can comprehend ( i.e. we sense with our eyes that there are no cats and dogs), and so we take it metaphorically to mean a lot of rain
i.e. Put yourself in my shoes.
We know that when someone says this to us we dont see (i.e. sense) them giving us there shoes and therefor understand it metaphorically.
In these examples we can see that they key to discerning literal from metaphorical is being able to sense the literal meaning first.
Therefore we cant say that the ayahs which talk about the hands of Allah are metaphorical as we cant sense the literal meaning in the first place.
As our minds cant access the reality of the being of Allah, we see the Ayahs which talk about the hands of Allah are mutashabihat and are not up for discussion, or not thoughts which are suitable for a human being to build other thuoghts on- including - but we cant say how he has hands.
These ayahs are clearly mutashabihat.
Attributes of Allah vs.Capability of Allah
There are other ayahs which talk about the actions of Allah.These verses taken literally dont talk about something which a human being cant understand so they are not mutashabihat. So from the ayahs that talk about seeing and hearing we understand that allah comprehends all sound and sees all that exists. But these ayahs cant be compared to the ayahs about allahs hands because they dont talk about Allahs being, something uncomprehendable by the human, they talk about something that is comprehendable to the human. therefor these ayahs are not mutashabihat but the ayahs that tak about Allahs HANDS ARE MUTASHABIHAT.
The only thing that you can reaffrim about the ayahs which talk about the hands of Allah is the wording of the ayah and not the meaning of the ayah.
There is no interpretation in the mutashabihat ayahs as it is impossible for a human to extract a meaning from them, so saying he has hands but we dont know how is an attempt to interpret something that is beyond human interpretation.
One can only derive a thought from another thought if the first thought is a thought by which the human being can understand the reality fully. For example
Thought 1 – There are people who are 6 foot 10 inches tall. Can someone who is less than 6 foot 10 inches tall comment on what it is like to be that tall – the answer is no. However can we definitely say that there are people who exist who are 6 foot 10 inches tall – the answer is – yes – of course we can.
I.e. the first thought is correct but it is unsuitable for anyone who is under 6 foot 10 tall to comment, i.e. to build another thought on the matter.
Example 2
Thought 1 - Women menstruate. Can a man comment on how it must have felt to menstruate. The answer is of course is no because only the women can answer this question – i.e. only a women can build a thought on thought number 1.
If you scrutinize the reason for who can/cant comment on the primary thought – i.e. thought number 1 in both examples, you will find that the one who experiences the reality of thought 1 can comment, but the 1 who doesn’t experienxe the reality of thought 1 cant comment.
i.e. The one who cant comment is the one who will be talking about a reality which is not his reality, even if the primary thought i.e. the first thought is a true thought.
To summarise about the ayahs about Allahs Hands
1) They cant be taken literally as man cant comprehend the reality which is being talked about
2) They cant be taken metaphorically as in order to say something is metaphorical the literal meaning has to be comprehended first and when doesnt make sense then say it is metaphorical. however the literal meaning is beyond the human mind
3) These ayahs cant be compared to the ayahs about seeing and hearing as the ayahs about seeing and hearing dont talk about the physical being of allah, they can be comprehended. It is baatil to compare something that is uncomprehendable to something that is comprehndable
These Ayahs about Allahs hands are mutashabihat and not to be delved into.
Hence, the discussion about Allahs hands never materialised at the time of the Prophet saw or sahaba, but only when the Muatazila and other scolastics used the batil thinking way of logic to try and tackle these issues.
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