If you say: What is the meaning of His saying, "I created with My two Hands"? I say: It has been previously established that the one with two hands performs most of his actions with his hands. Thus, the action by hands has predominated over other actions that are performed without them, to the extent that it has been said regarding the action of the heart: It is from what your two hands have done. It has even been said regarding one who has no hands: Your hands have tied. And your mouth has blown. Thus, there remains no difference between saying: This is from what I have done, and this is from what your two hands have done. From this is His saying, "From what Our Hands have done" and "What I created with My two Hands." If you say: What is the meaning of His saying, "What prevented you from prostrating to what I created with My two Hands?" I say: The reason for which Iblis was astonished at prostrating to Adam, and he refrained from it, was that it was prostration to a created being. He took pride and was arrogant to prostrate to someone other than the Creator. Additionally, Adam was created from clay while he was created from fire. He saw that fire had an advantage over clay, so he found it difficult to prostrate to a created being while he had superiority over him in status. He overlooked that Allah, glorified and exalted is He, when He commanded it, honored His servants with it, and brought them closer to Him, who are the angels. They are more deserving to elevate themselves from humility to a lowly human being, and they should have refrained from prostrating to him rather than to others. Yet they did not do so; they followed the command of Allah and kept it before their eyes. They did not pay attention to the difference between the one who prostrates and the one to whom prostration is made, out of reverence for the command of their Lord and in awe of His speech. He, despite being lower than their ranks, was worthy of being followed and imitated, and they knew that in prostrating to one who is beneath them by the command of Allah, they were lowering their pride and humbling themselves. So it was said to him: What prevented you from prostrating to what I created with My two Hands? That is, what prevented you from prostrating to something that is, as you say, a creation that I made with My Hands—there is no doubt in its being a creation—out of obedience to My command and reverence for My speech, as the angels did? Thus, he was reminded of what he neglected in prostration along with the reason he clung to for his refusal. He was told: Why did you abandon it despite this reason existing, and Allah commanded you with it? This means: You should have considered the command of Allah and not this reason. An example of this is: If a king commands his minister to visit some lowly people, and he refrains due to their low status, the king would say to him: What prevented you from humbling yourself to one whose lowliness is not hidden from me? The intent is: You should have considered My command and My speech and neglected their lowliness.

One of them is that the two hands are attributes of the essence, affirmed by the hearing. This is the view of Abu al-Hasan and al-Qadi, after refuting the interpretation of the hands as power. For the power of Allah, glorified and exalted is He, is one, and the two hands are mentioned in the dual form. They also refuted the interpretation of them as blessings, because the blessings of Allah cannot be counted, so how can they be limited to duality? Others among the people of the Sunnah, like Imam al-Haramayn and others, permit interpreting them as power and blessing. They respond to what has been mentioned by saying that the intended meaning is the blessings of this world and the Hereafter. This is what affirms his preference over Iblis, for Iblis was not created for the blessing of the Hereafter. And regarding the intended meaning of power, the duality is a form of glorification, and similar instances exist frequently in the language. The second belief is that the Prophet is better than the angel. Al-Zamakhshari is very biased in this matter and denies those from the people of the Sunnah who say so. Indeed, he has committed an offense in elaborating on the words about Adam, peace be upon him, likening his story to the degradation of his status, according to his claim, compared to the rank of the angels by the words of the angel to his minister. He likened the minister of the king to Adam, who is the element of the prophets, peace be upon them, and he justified Iblis's excuse and supported his belief that he is better than Adam because he is made of fire and Adam is made of clay. However, he erred in another regard. He did not compare himself to the angels when they prostrated to him, knowing that in relation to them, he is of a lower rank and diminished status. He made Allah's saying, 'For what I have created with My two hands,' merely a mention to affirm the reason that prevented Iblis from prostrating, which is that he is beneath Adam. This—may Allah grant us protection—is the intended meaning contrary to what al-Zamakhshari understood. Rather, it was mentioned to emphasize the disobedience of Iblis, as he refrained from honoring one whom Allah honored by creating him with His hand. This is a glorification of Adam, not a belittlement of him. This is supported by the hadith related to intercession, where people say to him when they seek him in it: 'You are Adam, the father of mankind. Allah created you with His hand, and He commanded His angels to prostrate to you and settled you in His garden.' They mention this in the context of enumerating his honors and characteristics, not in a way that diminishes him. May Allah protect us from the pitfalls of desires and their dangers, and guide us to the path of truth and its ways. Indeed, He is the Guardian of success, and He is worthy of response. He means: 'Why did you not consider my matter and my words and leave aside the consideration of his degradation?' In it: 'I created him with My hands, so I know his condition. Yet, I commanded the angels to prostrate to him for a reason of wisdom that prompted Me: to bestow upon him the noble honor and to test the angels. So who are you to divert yourself from prostrating to him, when I did not divert Myself from commanding prostration to him?' It was said: the meaning of 'For what I have created with My two hands' is that I created him without an intermediary. It was read: 'with My hands,' just as it was read: 'with My help.' It was read: 'with My hand,' in the singular, from among the exalted ones whom I have elevated. He responded that he is from the exalted ones when he said: 'I am better than him.' It was said: 'Did you become arrogant now, or have you always been among the arrogant?' The meaning of the hamza is affirmation. It was read: 'Did you become arrogant?' by omitting the interrogative particle, because 'Am' indicates it. Or it means to inform. This is in the first instance, meaning: 'If he were created from fire, I would not prostrate to him, for he is created like me. So how can I prostrate to one who is beneath me, as he is made of clay and fire overcomes clay and consumes it?' The second sentence has flowed from the first, which is 'You created me from fire,' in the manner of an explanation of the statement that clarifies the previous one.