he would be reckoned a fool.

When the word “eye” is linked to a plural noun, whether the noun is expressed or implied, the most fitting usage is to render it in the plural so that the form corresponds to the wording, as in His words: “sailing under Our eyes” (54:14) and “and build the ark under Our eyes” (11:37). The same kind of correspondence appears with the word “hand” when it is attached to a singular noun, as in His saying: “in Whose hand is the dominion” (67:1) and “in Your hand is all good” (1) (3:26).

If, however, it is attached (2) to a plural pronoun, it is likewise expressed in the plural, as in His statement: “Have they not seen that We created for them, out of what Our hands have wrought, livestock” (36:71). The same applies when “hand” or “eye” is connected to an explicit plural noun, such as His words: “because of what the hands of people have earned” (30:41) and “They said, ‘Bring him before the eyes of the people’” (21:61).

Both the Qur’an and the Sunnah mention the “hand” ascribed to Him, exalted is He, in the singular, the dual, and the plural, and the “eye” ascribed to Him in the singular and the plural. The Sunnah also speaks of it in the dual form, as ‘Ata related from Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “When the servant stands in prayer he stands between the two eyes of the All-Merciful; and if he turns away, his Lord says to him: ‘Toward whom are you turning—toward something better for you than I?’” (3).