Al-Jawāb as-Sahīh li-man baddala dīn al-Masīh - Ibn Taimiya - (3/401)

and He has also said:

“Blessed be the name of your Lord, Possessor of Majesty and Honor” (ar-Raḥmān 78).

It is likewise reported in the hadith:

“The Hour will not arrive until no name of Allah is any longer worshiped,”

meaning that Allah will no longer be worshiped through any of His names. For when a person says, “I called upon Allah and I worshiped Him,” the spoken words contain only the name, while what is actually intended is the One who bears that name.

The interpretation we have set out—that the so-called appearance of the divinity in the Messiah and others is in reality the manifestation of what hearts contain of Allah’s oneness, knowledge, love, remembrance, light, guidance, and spirit—is precisely how many Christian scholars themselves explain the matter. They describe the union of the divine and the human as the appearance of the divinity within him, comparable to the way the impression of a signet ring shows itself in wax or clay.

It is self-evident that what resides in the wax or clay is only the pattern of the ring’s design; none of the ring’s substance is inside the wax or clay—only its imprint has become visible there.

In the same way, Allah’s light and His spirit appear in the prophets and the righteous. This reality is not confined to the Messiah—peace be upon him; rather, he shares it with all the other messengers, and every believer receives a portion of it in proportion to his faith.

وَقَالَ: {تَبَارَكَ اسْمُ رَبِّكَ ذِي الْجَلَالِ وَالْإِكْرَامِ} [الرحمن: ٧٨] . وَجَاءَ فِي الْحَدِيثِ: " «لَا تَقُومُ الْقِيَامَةُ حَتَّى لَا يُعْبَدَ لِلَّهِ اسْمٌ» " ، أَيْ لَا يُعْبَدَ اللَّهُ بِاسْمٍ مِنْ أَسْمَائِهِ، فَإِنَّهُ إِذَا قِيلَ: دَعَوْتُ اللَّهَ وَعَبَدْتُهُ، فَإِنَّمَا فِي اللَّفْظِ الِاسْمُ، وَالْمَقْصُودُ هُوَ الْمُسَمَّى. وَهَذَا الَّذِي ذَكَرْنَاهُ مِنْ تَفْسِيرِ ظُهُورِ اللَّاهُوتِ فِي الْمَسِيحِ وَغَيْرِهِ بِأَنَّ الْمُرَادَ ظُهُورُ مَا فِي الْقُلُوبِ مِنْ تَوْحِيدِ اللَّهِ وَمَعْرِفَتِهِ وَمَحَبَّتِهِ وَذِكْرِهِ وَنُورِهِ وَهُدَاهُ وَرُوحِهِ - هُوَ مِمَّا يُفَسِّرُ بِهِ ذَلِكَ كَثِيرٌ مِنْ عُلَمَاءِ النَّصَارَى، فَإِنَّهُمْ يُفَسِّرُونَ اتِّحَادَ اللَّاهُوتِ بِالنَّاسُوتِ بِظُهُورِ اللَّاهُوتِ فِيهِ كَظُهُورِ نَقْشِ الْخَاتَمِ فِي الشَّمْعِ وَالطِّينِ. وَمَعْلُومٌ أَنَّ الْحَالَّ فِي الشَّمْعِ وَالطِّينِ هُوَ مِثَالُ نَقْشِ الْخَاتَمِ لَا أَنَّ فِي الشَّمْعِ وَالطِّينِ شَيْئًا مِنَ الْخَاتَمِ، بَلْ ظَهَرَ فِيهِ نَقْشُ الْخَاتَمِ. وَكَذَلِكَ يَظْهَرُ نُورُ اللَّهِ وَرُوحُهُ فِي الْأَنْبِيَاءِ وَالصَّالِحِينَ، وَهَذَا الْمَعْنَى لَا يَخْتَصُّ بِهِ الْمَسِيحُ عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ، بَلْ يَشْتَرِكُ هُوَ فِيهِ وَسَائِرُ الرُّسُلِ، بَلْ وَكُلُّ مُؤْمِنٍ لَهُ مِنْ هَذَا نَصِيبٌ بِحَسَبِ إِيمَانِهِ.