let him name something we recognize. Otherwise, he is one who rejects Allah’s signs and denies His two hands.

He said: The ignorant al-Marīsī also advanced an absurd explanation of this emphasis, the like of which we know no one among the people of misguidance to have claimed. He said: This emphasizes creation, not the hand, on the basis of Allah Most High’s words:

“Then a fast of three days during Hajj and seven when you have returned—those are ten complete days.” [al-Baqarah 196]

To this bewildered man, whom Allah has deprived of reason and increased in ignorance, we say: Yes, it emphasizes the two hands, as we have said, not creation—just as His words, “Those are ten complete days,” emphasize the number, not the fasting. For the number is distinct from the fasting, and Allah’s hand is distinct from Adam. Thus Allah Most High emphasized the distinction with which He honored and ennobled Adam, favoring him above all His servants: He created all His other servants without direct contact with a hand, but created Adam through direct contact. Thus this is evidence against you, not