Dr. Nasim Rehmatullah - Naib Amir USA & Chairman Markazi Al Islam Team
Published: November 8, 2025
The Quran's emphasis on the right hand puzzled many until modern science unveiled a fundamental principle governing the universe: chirality. This Islamic teaching, far from being arbitrary ritual, reflects a profound understanding of natural law that humanity would only scientifically recognize fourteen centuries later.
Chirality means that an object cannot be superimposed on its mirror image, like your left and right hands. What makes the Quran's treatment of this phenomenon remarkable is its uniqueness among scriptures. While other religions oppose right with wrong, Islam distinguishes right from left, introducing a concept of sidedness that pervades both spiritual teachings and daily conduct.
Consider the molecular dance of limonene. In lemons, this compound spins invariably to the right; in oranges, always to the left. Chemically identical, physically indistinguishable, yet nature enforces this preference with absolute consistency. How do lemons "know" to select only right-spinning limonene while oranges choose the left? The Quran's insistence that creation contains no disorder or accident demands an explanation for such precision… "He has created everything and has determined its measure" (25:3)
The Prophet (sa) instructions were specific to the minutest detail. Begin ablution with the right hand. Enter the mosque right foot first. Say Azhan into a newborn's right ear before Takbir into the left. Use the right hand for all clean and honorable acts, reserving the left for less dignified tasks. When you shake a Muslim's hand, you clasp one that has been kept deliberately clean.
These weren't superstitious customs but prophetic preparation for an age when sidedness would dominate human understanding. The Prophet (sa) lived in an era when political structures showed no systematic preference for directional organization, when science had not discovered molecular spin or planetary rotation. Yet Islam embedded chirality into the believer's consciousness through daily practice.
The counterclockwise circumambulation of the Ka'aba mirrors a universal pattern. Blood circulates through your body counterclockwise from the heart's perspective. Electrons orbit atomic nuclei in this direction. The moon circles Earth, Earth rotates on its axis, planets revolve around the sun, the solar system orbits through the galaxy, all counterclockwise when viewed from the celestial north. When Muslims perform Tawaf, they join a cosmic procession that extends from subatomic particles to galactic clusters.
This is not mere coincidence but divine design. The Quran categorically rejects haphazard creation, and the uniformity of rotational direction across scales, from the microscopic to the astronomical, demonstrates purposeful order.
The right hand carries spiritual weight beyond physical preference. Those who receive their record of deeds in their right hand on Judgment Day are the Ashab al-Maimana (90:19), literally means, "the Companions of the Right." The righteous people destined to enter Paradise. But those who disbelieve Our Signs, they are the people of the left hand (90:20). When Allah asked Moses, "What is that in thy right hand?" (20:18), the question signified more than location, it represented acquisition through honest means, blessing, and divine favor.
The phrase "what your right hands possess" (ma malakat aymanukum) (4:4) (4:25) in Arabic usage indicates oath, pledge, and responsibility. It transforms ownership into trusteeship, material possession into moral obligation. The right hand becomes the instrument through which believers demonstrate their covenant with God.
Other divinely revealed religions emerged in ages when human affairs had not yet developed the polarity and sidedness that would characterize modern civilization. Islam arrived at the threshold of an era when directional preference would acquire unprecedented significance, in political divisions, economic systems, and most dramatically, in scientific understanding.
The Quran's emphasis on sidedness was prophetic. It prepared believers for an advanced age when chirality would govern everything from pharmaceutical efficacy to the structure of DNA. Right-handed and left-handed molecules of the same compound can have opposite effects in the body, one therapeutic, the other harmful. Nature's insistence on specific molecular handedness in biological systems echoes Islam's insistence on behavioral sidedness.
What emerges is a vision of creation where physical law and spiritual principle converge. The believer who begins with the right hand participates in a pattern woven throughout existence. The distinction between right and left in Islamic practice reflects a fundamental asymmetry built into nature's architecture, an asymmetry that gives rise to complexity, diversity, and life itself.
The Quran's treatment of sidedness reveals its divine origin. How could a seventh-century text anticipate a principle of nature that would only be scientifically understood in modern times? The answer lies in recognizing that true revelation speaks to all ages, embedding wisdom that unfolds as human knowledge advances.
When you raise your right hand in greeting, when you step forward with your right foot, you join a symphony of spinning particles and wheeling galaxies, all testifying, in their ordained direction, to the Unity of their Creator.
