Nevertheless, we do not ask “how” with regard to the two hands, and if we are questioned we confine ourselves to the sum of what He Himself has said, remaining silent about what He did not say.

The purport of the verse is this: the Jews said, “Allah’s hand is shackled,” meaning that it is withheld from giving. The Qur’an speaks of a shackle on the hand as a metaphor, for a fettered hand cannot reach out or open, just as the miser’s hand remains clenched. Allah, exalted is He, replied: “May their hands be shackled, and they are cursed for what they have said. Rather, both His hands are out-stretched; He bestows as He wills” (5:64). Likewise He says, “Indeed, We have placed shackles around their necks up to their chins, so their heads are forced upward” (36:8), that is, We have restrained their hands from spending in the way of Allah by the impediment of those shackles.

As for the Prophet’s ﷺ statement, “Both of His hands are right,” he intended thereby perfection and completeness; for everything on its left side is weaker and less forceful than its right. The Arabs prized what is right and disliked what is left because of the wholeness associated with the right side and the deficiency linked to the left, hence the expressions al-yumn (blessing) and al-shuʾm (ill-omen).

Blessing, then, is associated with the right hand, while ill-omen is linked to the left hand, called ash-shuʾmā. They would say, “So-and-so is maymūn—fortunate—because of the right, and mashʾūm—ill-fated—because of the left.” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said about camels, “If they retreat, they truly retreat; if they advance, they still retreat, and no benefit comes from their ashʾam side,” meaning their left.

It is also possible that by mentioning the two hands together he intended giving with both, for it is the right hand that normally gives.