As usual, embarrassed with such incredulous hadith, the translator of Sunaan Abu Dawud, Professor Ahmad Hasan, in a foot note, vehemently denies the existence of Allah’s physical organs like ears and eyes. He rather blames the Jahiliya (ignorance) for such an idea. In a foot note, he writes:  

The Jahmiyyah did not believe in Divine attributes. This tradition refuted their view. Allah does not have the organs of hearing and seeing, i.e. ears and eyes, but their power. (Hasan, 2001, p. 3.1324, foot note 4121).  

Needless to say, this is a prevarication by Professor Hasan to impose his personal opinion on unsuspecting readers.  

Let us read what Tirmidhi Hadith says about Allah’s finger. In The Noble Qur’an, Dr Muhammad Taqi-uddin Al‑Hilali and Dr Muhammad Muhsin Khan comments on verse 7:143 which talks about Allah’s conversation with Moses. This verse reads as follows:  

007.143
YUSUFALI: When Moses came to the place appointed by Us, and his Lord addressed him, He said: "O my Lord! show (Thyself) to me, that I may look upon thee." Allah said: "By no means canst thou see Me (direct); But look upon the mount; if it abide in its place, then shalt thou see Me." When his Lord manifested His glory on the Mount, He made it as dust. And Moses fell down in a swoon. When he recovered his senses he said: "Glory be to Thee! to Thee I turn in repentance, and I am the first to believe."

Here is the comment by these two impeccable Islamist scholars:  

The appearance of Allah to the mountain was very little of Him. It was approximately equal to the tip of one’s little finger as explained by the Prophet when he recited this verse (This Hadith is quoted by At‑Tirmidhi) (Hilali and Khan, 196, p. 225, foot note 1)  

Muhammad was so convinced of the anthropomorphic nature of Allah that he even compared the limbs of the idols of the Arab pagans to those of Allah. Ridiculing the idols of the Bedouin polytheists, he told them that their idols’ limbs were useless, whereas Allah’s hands, eyes and feet are real and workable.  

Let us read verse 7:194-196 from the holy Qur’an:

Idols have no legs to walk, no hands to hold, no eyes to see and no ears to hear; you may try in vain to call on them to smite Allah (this means that Allah has feet, hands and ears)…7:194–196:  

007.194
YUSUFALI: Verily those whom ye call upon besides Allah are servants like unto you: Call upon them, and let them listen to your prayer, if ye are (indeed) truthful!
007.195
YUSUFALI: Have they feet to walk with? Or hands to lay hold with? Or eyes to see with? Or ears to hear with? Say: "Call your 'god-partners', scheme (your worst) against me, and give me no respite!
007.196
YUSUFALI: "For my Protector is Allah, Who revealed the Book (from time to time), and He will choose and befriend the righteous  

Muhammad was adamant that his Allah was for real; that is, Allah does have physical limbs. To strengthen his claim he compared the eye of Dajjal (anti‑Christ) to that of Allah. He claimed that Dajjal is one-eyed, but Allah is not. Here is a hadith from Sahih Bukhari:  

Dajjal is one-eyed but Allah is not…(Sahih Bukhari, 4.55.553)  

Volume 4, Book 55, Number 553:

Narrated Ibn Umar:

Once Allah's Apostle stood amongst the people, glorified and praised Allah as He deserved and then mentioned the Dajjal saying, "l warn you against him (i.e. the Dajjal) and there was no prophet but warned his nation against him. No doubt, Noah warned his nation against him but I tell you about him something of which no prophet told his nation before me. You should know that he is one-eyed, and Allah is not one-eyed."  

Sahih Muslim writes that Allah is not deaf; He can talk and listen and he is really an entity—a physical entity, to be precise, just the likes of a human being.  

Let us read this hadith from Sahih Muslim:  

Allah is not deaf or absent; the treasure of Paradise is reciting ‘there is no might and no power but that of Allah’…(Sahih Muslim, 35.6528)  

Book 035, Number 6528:

Abu Musa reported that he (and his other companions) were climbing upon the hillock along with Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) and when any person climbed up, he pronounced (loudly):" There is no god but Allah, Allah is the Greatest." Thereupon Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) said: Verily, you are not supplicating One Who is deaf or absent. He said: Abu Musa or Abdullah b Qais, should I not direct you to the words (which form) the treasure of Paradise ? I said: Allah's Messenger, what are these? He said:" There is no might and no power but that of Allah."

Allah will shake hands. Yes, that’s correct. Allah does have arms to shake hands with the His ardent faithful followers.  

Here is a hadith from Sunann ibn Majah:  

Sunaan ibn Majah, Vol. I Hadith Nnumber 104:

‘Ubayy b. Ka’b (Allah be pleased with him) reported that Allah’s Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon  him said, “The first person with whom Allah will shake hands (on the Day of Judgment), will be ‘Umar and he will be the first man to whom Allah will pay salutation (say: Assalamu ‘alaika) and he will be the first man whom he will hold with his Hand and make him enter the Paradise.

According to Al-Zawa’id, its isnad is  daif. It contains in it Dawud b. ‘Ata al‑Madani and all the scholars are unanimous about his du’f (weakness). The other transmitters are reliable and sound. As‑Suyuti has said, “Hafiz ‘Imad ud-Din b. Kathir in his Jami al‑Masanid has said: This hadith is highly munkar (disagreeable) and is not far from being a maudu (fabricated) hadith.  

In case we are wondering about the content of the second paragraph of this hadith, here is the explanation. According to Ibn Majah, a person, named Dawud b ‘Ata al‑Madani who is one of the narrators of this hadith is not a very reliable narrator of hadith. The other narrators are reliable and the text of the hadith is acceptable, though this might be weak. Another opinion is that this hadith could be fabricated.  

The bottom line is: though this hadith might be weak and controversial there is no compelling reason to reject this hadith, out‑of‑hand, or render it totally un‑authentic. At best, it is controversial; at worst it is a weak hadith, but not completely inauthentic.  

Here is another proof from the holy Qur’an that Allah does indeed have physical eyes to see what His Prophets are doing. In fact, Allah instructed Noah to construct an arc right in front of His eyes. After inspecting Noah’s accomplishment, Allah vouched the complete annihilation of the wrong-doers.  

Here is the verse 011:036–037  

011.036
YUSUFALI: It was revealed to Noah: "None of thy people will believe except those who have believed already! So grieve no longer over their (evil) deeds.

011.037
YUSUFALI: "But construct an Ark under Our eyes and Our inspiration, and address Me no (further) on behalf of those who are in sin: for they are about to be overwhelmed (in the Flood)."

                                                                                            …..To be continued in Part–1(ii)

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