And references to the “Hand” are established in the Sunnah through mass-transmitted reports from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.

What is understood from this discourse is that Allah Most High has two Hands, peculiar to Him and belonging to His Essence, in a manner befitting His majesty; that He, glorified be He, created Adam with His Hand, unlike the angels and Iblīs; that He, glorified be He, grasps the earth and rolls up the heavens with His Right Hand; and that “both His Hands are outstretched.” Their being outstretched means abundant generosity and bountiful giving, since giving and generosity usually involve opening and extending the hand, whereas withholding involves drawing the hand up to the neck. Such expressions have thus become literal in customary usage: when one says, “He is open-handed,” an actual hand is understood, while the apparent sense conveys generosity and miserliness. As Allah Most High says:

“Do not keep your hand shackled to your neck, nor extend it to its utmost extent.”

People also say, “So-and-so is tight-fingered,” and “He is open-fingered.”

I said to him:

If someone claims that He does not have a hand of the same kind as the hands of created beings, and that His Hand is not a bodily organ, this is true. But if he claims that He has no Hand beyond the seven attributes, he is asserting falsehood. He must therefore go through those four stages of argument.

As for the “first,” he says that “hand” can mean a favor or a gift, naming something after its cause, just as rain and vegetation are called “sky.” Examples include their saying, “So-and-so has done him many favors,” and the words of Abū Tālib when he could not find the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace:

“O Lord, return my rider Muhammad to me …
[Return him, my Lord] and bestow a favor upon me.”