Is gesturing with the hand when quoting hadiths that speak of the divine attributes tantamount to likening divine attributes to human attributes?
Question

                It was narrated that Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: 

It was narrated from Ibn ‘Umar that the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) recited this verse one day on the minbar (interpretation of the meaning): “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!” [az-Zumar 39:67]. And the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) was gesturing like this with his hand, moving it back and forth. “The Lord will praise Himself, (saying): ‘I am the Compeller, I am the Almighty, I am the Sovereign, I am the Supreme, I am the Most Generous.’” And the minbar shook with the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) until we thought it would fall with him.

My question is: Isn’t gesturing with the hand in this case tantamount to likening the hand of Allah to human hands, when Allah says (interpretation of the meaning): “There is nothing like Him, and He is the All-Hearer, the All-Seer” [ash-Shoora 42:11]?
Praise be to Allah.
	Firstly:

	Muslim (2788) 
	narrated from ‘Ubaydullah ibn Muqsim that he watched ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Umar 
	(may Allah be pleased with him) 
	to see how he narrated that 
	the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: 
	“Allah, may He be glorified and elated, will take His heavens and His earths 
	in His hands and will say: I am Allah – clenching and unclenching his fist 
	–  I am the Sovereign,” and I looked at the minbar and saw it shaking at the 
	bottom, and I thought that it would fall with the Messenger of Allah 
	(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him.

	And Imam Ahmad 
	(5414) narrated from Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) that the 
	Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) 
	recited this verse one day on 
	the minbar (interpretation of the meaning): “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!” [az-Zumar 39:67]. And the 
	Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) was gesturing 
	like this with his hand, moving it back and forth. “The Lord will praise 
	Himself, (saying): ‘I am the Compeller, I am the Almighty, I am the 
	Sovereign, I am the Supreme, I am the Most Generous.’” And the minbar shook 
	with the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) until 
	we thought it would fall with him. 
	Classed as 
	saheeh by Shaykh al-Albaani (may Allah have mercy on him) in as-Silsilah 
	as-Saheehah (7/596).

	Such hadiths 
	that mention gesturing with the hand when mentioning an attribute of Allah, 
	may He be exalted, is not intended to liken Allah’s attribute to that of 
	human beings. How can such a thing be thought of the Messenger of Allah 
	(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)? Rather such gestures are only 
	intended to affirm the divine attribute and to confirm that it is to be 
	interpreted in the true sense of the word, and to rule out any 
	interpretation of it as being metaphorical. So when seeing that gesture, and 
	bearing in mind the verse in which Allah, may He be exalted, says 
	(interpretation of the meaning): “There 
	is nothing like Him, and He is the All-Hearer, the All-Seer” 
	[ash-Shoora 42:11], 
	the listener will understand that the attribute is to be interpreted 
	according to the apparent meaning and is not metaphorical. It is not to be 
	understood that the intended meaning is to liken divine attributes to human 
	attributes, because it is well-known that there is nothing like Allah.

	Abu Dawood 
	(4728) narrated that Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) recited 
	this verse (interpretation of the meaning): “Verily, Allah commands that 
	you should render back the trusts to those, to whom they are due; and that 
	when you judge between men, you judge with justice. Verily, how excellent is 
	the teaching which He (Allah) gives you! Truly, Allah is Ever All‑Hearer, 
	All‑Seer” [al-Nisa’ 5:58]. He said: I saw the Messenger of Allah 
	(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) place his thumb on his ear and 
	his forefinger on his eye. Abu Hurayrah said: I saw the Messenger of Allah 
	(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) reciting it and placing his 
	fingers thus. Ibn Yoonus said: al-Muqri’ [one of the narrators of the 
	hadith] said: Meaning that Allah is All-Hearer, All-Seer, i.e., Allah has 
	hearing and sight. Abu Dawood said: This is a refutation of the Jahamiyyah.

	The hadith is 
	saheeh; it was classed as saheeh by al-Albaani and others.

	Al-Bayhaqi 
	narrated it in al-Asma’ wa’s-Sifaat (1/462) via Abu Dawood, then he 
	said:

	What is meant by 
	the gesture mentioned in the hadith is to affirm the divine attributes of 
	hearing and seeing. So he pointed to the locations of those attributes in 
	humans, in order to affirm the divine attributes of Allah, may He be 
	exalted. This is like when we say: So and so seized the wealth of So and so, 
	accompanied by a gesture of the hand to indicate that he took control of his 
	wealth. This report highlights the fact that Allah is All Hearing, All 
	Seeing, and that He has hearing and sight, but the verse is not to be 
	interpreted as referring to His having knowledge, because if it was intended 
	to refer to His knowledge, the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon 
	him) would have pointed to his heart, because the heart is the seat of 
	knowledge in us (humans). But there is nothing in the report to indicate 
	that Allah has physical faculties – exalted be Allah far above being likened 
	to created beings. End quote.

	Ibn al-Qayyim 
	(may Allah have mercy on him) said:

	In the words 
	“Allah will grasp His heavens in His hand and the earth in the other hand, 
	then He will shake them, then He will say: I am the Sovereign”, we see 
	mention of shaking and grasping and two hands, and when the Messenger of 
	Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) told them that, he started 
	to clasp and unclasp his hands, to affirm this attribute, not to liken it to 
	human attributes. Similarly, when he recited the words “Truly, Allah is 
	Ever All‑Hearer, All‑Seer” [al-Nisa’ 5:58], and put his hands on his 
	eyes and ears, this was an affirmation of the divine attributes of hearing 
	and seeing in a real and not metaphorical sense. 

	End quote from
	Mukhtasar as-Sawaa‘iq al-Mursalah (p. 391)

	Secondly:

	If a person 
	wants to do what the Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) 
	did of these gestures, he should think of his audience. If they may 
	understand the gestures as likening divine attributes to human attributes, 
	then he should not do that, so as to avoid this misunderstanding.

	Shaykh Ibn 
	‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked: There is a teacher who 
	teaches the people, and when discussing the divine attributes as part of a 
	course on ‘aqeedah, he makes physical gestures to help them understand. For 
	example, if he narrates a hadith about the Lord appearing to Moosa, he holds 
	up his pinky finger, and points with his pinky or another finger when 
	discussing the meaning of hadiths that speak of divine attributes. Is this 
	acceptable? If it is acceptable, then how can we understand the statements 
	of some of the earlier generations that prohibited that, such as the view of 
	ash-Shaafa‘i and others? May Allah reward you with good.

	He replied:

	This is a 
	serious matter.  We cannot be more keen than the Prophet (blessings and 
	peace of Allah be upon him) in explaining to the ummah. It was not his usual 
	habit to gesture with his hands when discussing the divine attributes. He 
	told his ummah that the Lord, may He be glorified and exalted, descends to 
	the lowest heaven during the last third of the night and says: Who will call 
	upon Me so that I may answer him? 

	Did the 
	Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) step down so as to show 
	the people how Allah descends? Never!

	And he said: 
	“[Allah] will come to judge between His slaves on the Day of Resurrection,” 
	but he did not make any kind of gesture. Similarly, Allah rose above the 
	Throne, but the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) did not 
	say, As I am sitting on this couch, or try to define how that happened.

	Undoubtedly if 
	the one who preaches to the common folk uses gestures in order to explain 
	the meaning of the divine attributes, that will make them think that what is 
	meant is likening divine attributes to human attributes, because the 
	ordinary Muslim may not understand or think properly. So we say to the one 
	who wants to explain to people or convey something about Allah and His 
	Messenger what Allah has said about Himself of names and attributes – we say 
	to him: the way in which the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon 
	him) explained these matters is sufficient for you.

	Moreover, anyone 
	could argue with us that the Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon 
	him) recited the words “Truly, Allah is Ever All‑Hearer, All‑Seer” [al-Nisa’ 
	5:58], and put one finger on his eye and another on his ear. In that 
	case we say that the Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) 
	intended to affirm these divine attributes. Moreover, he was talking to 
	people who had proper understanding. As for the ordinary Muslims, especially 
	nowadays, if every divine attribute were to be explained to them with a 
	physical gesture, that would cause confusion to some of them. Ibn Mas‘ood 
	(may Allah be pleased with him) said: You can never tell people something 
	that is beyond their comprehension but it will become a source of confusion 
	for them. And ‘Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Tell the people 
	what they can understand; do you want Allah and His Messenger to be 
	disbelieved?

	If someone 
	quotes to us something like this hadith which says that the Prophet 
	(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) gestured when speaking of the 
	divine attributes of hearing and seeing, or when speaking about Allah 
	grasping the heavens on the Day of Resurrection, then we would say to him 
	that for every situation there is an appropriate approach. Moreover we 
	should limit ourselves to what is mentioned in the text of the hadith only, 
	and not use gestures with regard to anything else, because there is no text 
	to that effect.

	End quote from
	Liqa’ al-Baab al-Maftooh (32/18)

	And he (may 
	Allah have mercy on him) said:

	We should not 
	tell the common folk anything that is beyond their comprehension, so that 
	there will not be any confusion or negative impact on their beliefs and 
	deeds.

	For example, 
	some students ask a great deal about the fact that it is proven from the 
	Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) that when he recited the 
	verse in which Allah, may He be exalted, says (interpretation of the 
	meaning), “Verily, Allah commands that you should render back the trusts 
	to those, to whom they are due; and that when you judge between men, you 
	judge with justice. Verily, how excellent is the teaching which He (Allah) 
	gives you! Truly, Allah is Ever All‑Hearer, All‑Seer” [al-Nisa’ 4:58], 
	he put his thumb and his forefinger on his ear and on his eye. And the 
	students ask: is it permissible for me to do the same?

	Our answer to 
	this is: do not do it in front of the common folk, because they may think of 
	these divine attributes as resembling those of human beings. This is in 
	contrast to seekers of knowledge. Moreover, this is something that the 
	Messenger did (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) and it is not a 
	command. He did not say: Put your fingers on your eyes and ears, such we 
	might say that we have to follow the command of the Messenger. Rather the 
	aim was to affirm the divine attributes of seeing and hearing, not to make 
	it a must to use this gesture. So why should we make it binding upon 
	ourselves and keep asking this question, so that we may say it in front of 
	the common folk?

	Conclusion: if 
	the seeker of knowledge is an educator and a teacher, and the matter in 
	question is something that may lead to confusion and it is not binding upon 
	us to discuss it, we should avoid it completely.

	More serious 
	than that is what some people do when quoting the hadith: “Verily the hearts 
	of the sons of Adam are between two of the fingers of the Most Merciful,” 
	and they make a gesture by holding up two fingers together to explain the 
	idea of the heart being between two of the fingers of Allah. This is grave 
	audacity and a fabrication against the Messenger of Allah (blessings and 
	peace of Allah be upon him), because he did not gesture like that. How could 
	this poor man who is gesturing know that the hearts are between two of the 
	fingers of Allah in the manner that he is showing in his gesture? He should 
	fear Allah his Lord, and not go beyond what is mentioned in the Quran and 
	hadith.

	End quote from
	ash-Sharh al-Mumti‘ (3/83-84)

	Shaykh Saalih 
	al-Fawzaan (may Allah preserve him) was asked:

	Is it 
	permissible to gesture with the hand when explaining hadiths that speak of 
	the attributes of Allah, such as the hadith, “Hearts are between two of the 
	fingers of the Most Merciful”?

	He replied: No. 
	What is not narrated in the hadith is not to be said. The divine attributes 
	are a matter of tawqeef [i.e., they can only be known through divine 
	Revelation and sound texts of hadeeth, with no room for ijtihad] and it is 
	not permissible to introduce anything from one’s own mind and say “This is 
	to explain it.” Rather they should be narrated as they are. As for the 
	hadith in which the Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) 
	referred to Allah being All-Hearing, All-Seeing, and he pointed to his ears 
	and eyes, this is something that is unique to this hadith, so it is to be 
	quoted as it was narrated. As for adding something from your own mind, that 
	should not be done. End quote.


	http://www.alfawzan.af.org.sa/sites/default/files/1318.mp3

	And Allah knows 
	best.