whichever of the two you wish.’ He said: ‘I have chosen my Lord’s Right Hand, and both my Lord’s Hands are right and blessed.’ Then He opened it, and there were Adam and his descendants.”

Also in the Sahih:

“When Allah created creation, He wrote for Himself with His Hand: ‘My mercy prevails over My wrath.’”

Also in the Sahih:

“When Adam and Moses disputed, Adam said: ‘O Moses, Allah chose you to speak to you and inscribed the Torah for you with His Hand.’ Moses had said to him: ‘You are Adam, whom Allah created with His Hand and into whom He breathed of His spirit.’”

In another hadith, He, glorified is He, said:

“By My might and majesty, I shall not make the righteous descendants of the one I created with My two Hands like one to whom I said, ‘Be,’ and he came to be.”

In another hadith in the Sunan:

“When Allah created Adam, He wiped his back with His Right Hand and brought forth his descendants from him. He said: ‘I created these for Paradise, and they will do the deeds of the people of Paradise.’ Then He wiped his back with His other Hand and said: ‘I created these for the Fire, and they will do the deeds of the people of the Fire.’”

I mentioned to him “these hadiths” and others, then “said to him”: “Do these hadiths admit of reinterpretation, or are they conclusive, unequivocal texts?” These are hadiths that the Muslim community has received with acceptance and belief, transmitting them from a vast ocean of such reports. The man then expressed repentance, and the truth became clear to him.

This, then, is what you suggested I write—may Allah be good to you. This is “a vast subject.”

“Anyone to whom Allah gives no light has no light.”

And:

“Whoever Allah guides is rightly guided; and whoever He leaves astray, you will never find for him a protecting guide.”

Peace be upon you, and Allah’s mercy and blessings, and upon the two Muhammads and Abū Zakariyyā