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Is it permissible to interpret the Face of Allah as power, or the Hand of Allah as power, while affirming that Allah has a real Face and a real Hand befitting His Majesty?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

A term denoting one of Allah Almighty's attributes may be mentioned, and what is intended is the attribute itself. Interpreting it to mean something else is a false distortion, as in His saying, "What prevented you from prostrating to that which I created with My own hands?" Here, the intention is the literal creation of Adam with His hands, not His power or His blessing. A term denoting an attribute may be mentioned, and what is intended is the possessor of the attribute, as in His saying, "Everything will perish except His Face." Here, the intention is Allah's essence. This usage is only valid if the attribute is truly established for its possessor. A term denoting an attribute may be mentioned, and the attribute itself is not intended at all, as in His saying, "So wherever you turn, there is the Face of Allah." Here, the intention is the direction of Allah. In summary, determining what is intended by the mention of an attribute's term depends on the context of the verse and the verbal and situational indicators.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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