Section: Explaining the meaning of “Spirit” in the phrase, “and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.”

They say—quoting his words yet again—“And the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.”

We reply: this statement occurs in the opening of the first book, the “Book of Creation” (Genesis). At the very beginning it recounts that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, that the earth lay submerged under water, and that the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. The passage further indicates that the water lay upon the soil, the air above the water, and that the “Spirit of God” refers to the wind moving over the surface of the water.

Such is the interpretation accepted by every community—Muslims, Jews, and the more rational among the Christians. In Hebrew the word is rūaḥ, with the rāʾ pronounced with ḍamma and the wāw doubled. It simply means “spirit,” and the word “wind” (rīḥ) is likewise called rūḥ; its plural is arwāḥ. The text therefore never intended to suggest that the life of God was hovering over the water.

No intelligent person would claim that, for the life of God is an attribute inherent in Him; it never departs from Him nor can it exist in anything else. It is therefore impossible for it to reside in water—or anywhere else—let alone hover above the water. That which hovers over water must be a self-subsisting body; what the passage is describing, then, is the wind that was moving across the waters.

In the same vein the Prophet—may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him—said, “Do not revile the wind…”