ḥabr (rabbi): The term comes from taḥbīr—the art of refining speech and giving it an attractive form—because a scholar’s learning leaves a lasting imprint on people’s hearts.
ʿalā ʾuṣbuʿ (on a finger): uṣbuʿ is the singular of “fingers.” In Arabic it can be treated as either masculine or feminine.
ath-tharāʾ (moist soil): damp earth; here, it most likely refers to the entire earth.
ash-shajar (trees): anything with a hard, upright trunk, such as the date-palm and the like.
wāsiʾr al-khalq (the rest of creation): i.e., all that remains besides what has been mentioned.
nawājidh (molars): plural of nājid. It has been variously explained as the far-back molars, the canines, the teeth between the incisors and the molars, or what are called the “laughing teeth.”
yuhazzuhunna (He shakes them): hazz means to move or agitate a thing; that is, He will shake them.
al-jabbārūn (the tyrants): plural of jabbār, referring to the overbearing oppressor.
ka-khardalah (like a mustard seed): an exceedingly small grain.
Overall meaning of the ḥadith:
A Jewish scholar told the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) what they read in the Torah concerning Allah’s immense majesty and the insignificance of creation before Him—that He places the heavens, the earth, and everything else upon His fingers. The Prophet affirmed his statement, was pleased by it, and recited a Qurʾanic verse that corroborates this teaching.
Lessons drawn from the verse and the various wordings of the ḥadith:
- They demonstrate Allah’s immeasurable greatness and the minuteness of created beings in comparison to Him.
- Anyone who associates partners with Him has failed to esteem Him as He deserves.
- They affirm for Allah—without likening Him to His creation—the attributes of hands, fingers, right and left, and palm, in a manner befitting His majesty.
- These magnificent truths found in the Torah were still known to the Jews of the Prophet’s time; they neither denied nor altered them.
- Allah alone possesses absolute sovereignty, and every other dominion will vanish.