—the attributes, not in the essence. Nor can a single attribute unite apart from the others, or apart from the essence itself; hence it is impossible for one person (uqnūm) to unite with—or indwell in—any created being to the exclusion of the other person.

Third angle:
Their statement, “And this is what we say: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” We have already noted that they themselves admit they did not originate this formula, nor did they first discover through reason the Trinity they profess in their creed and then express it in these words.

In fact, this wording is found in some of their Gospels, reporting that the Messiah—peace and blessings be upon him—commanded that people be baptized with it. If the Messiah did indeed utter these words, then one must examine what he intended by them, consider the rest of his expressions and their meanings, and interpret his speech—in the very language in which he spoke—in a manner consistent with all his other statements.

Yet these people have imposed on the words of the Messiah and the prophets, peace be upon them, a meaning their speech does not convey—indeed, it points to the very opposite. They named God’s speech, or His knowledge, or His wisdom, or His utterance, “the Son,” a designation they themselves invented; none of the prophets ever called any attribute of Allah “son,” or “lord,” or “god.”

Then, having coined this terminology, they declared, “What the Messiah meant by ‘the Son’ is the Word.” This is a fabrication against the Messiah, peace be upon him, and a forced reading of his words that the wording itself does not support.