Eleventh Point: The word yad (hand) appears in the Quran (1) in three forms: singular, dual, and plural. The singular is found in His saying, “In His hand is the dominion” (al-Mulk 1); the dual in, “I created with My two hands” (Sād 74); and the plural in, “that which Our hands have wrought” (Yā Sīn 70).

Whenever the hand is mentioned in the dual, the action is attributed to Allah with a singular pronoun and the verb is linked to the two hands by the preposition bi, as in, “I created with My two hands” (Sād 74). When the plural form is used, however, the work is attributed to the hands themselves and the verb is not preceded by bi. These are three (3) distinct differences.

Accordingly, the verse “I created with My two hands” (Sād 74) cannot bear the same figurative reading that “that which Our hands have wrought” (Yā Sīn 70) might tolerate. Everyone understands from “that which Our hands have wrought” exactly what is understood from “We wrought” or “We created,” just as one understands the meaning of, “because of what your hands have earned” (4) (al-Shūrā 28).

As for the statement, “I created with My two hands” (Sād 74), were it meant merely to denote the act itself, mentioning the hand after already ascribing the deed to the Doer would be pointless—how much more so when the preposition bi is added, and even more so when the noun is put in the dual!

The key distinction is that an action may be ascribed to a person’s hand while the intent is to ascribe it to the person himself, as in, “for what your two hands have sent ahead” (al-Ḥajj 10) and “because of what your hands have earned” (al-Shūrā 28). But when the action is first attributed to the person and then the verb is transitive with bi to his hand, whether singular or dual, it refers to something his very hand has directly performed. For this reason ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAmr said, “Allah has created with His hand only three things: