someone else, and then conveys that person’s words, people say, “This is So-and-so’s knowledge and his speech,” because the second individual merely transmitted it on his behalf; what is truly meant is the knowledge and speech of the first. Everyone nevertheless understands that the very reality that inhered in the first person is not numerically identical to what inheres in the second, even though it may resemble it. Indeed, the first may be the one ultimately intended through the second, just as happens when a messenger relays another’s words: the speech being delivered is the very speech that is meant to be conveyed.

The attributes of the messenger—his movements and his voice—through which the transmission takes place are not themselves the intended object. Therefore, when it is said, “This is the speech of the one on whose behalf it is being conveyed,” the reference is to the essence of the speech that must reach the audience, not to the specific actions and qualities that belong to the messenger. For this reason, people have compared those who claim that the divine attribute indwells in a servant to the Christians, who also speak of indwelling; in certain respects their view does resemble that of the Christians.

The Christians, however, do not speak of the indwelling of a mere attribute; rather, they assert the indwelling of the uqnūm (hypostasis)—an entity that is itself characterised by the attribute. They say, “The Messiah is Creator and Provider; He created Adam and Mary, yet He is the child of Adam and Mary. In His lāhūt (divinity) He created them, and in His nāsūt (humanity) He is their son.”

They further say, “He is the Son of God, and in His divinity He is God,” and they speak of “divinity and humanity” on account of the supposed union.

Allah has declared them disbelievers for saying,

“Indeed, Allah is the Messiah, the son of Mary” ⦗al-Māʾidah 17⦘,

and similar statements.

Now, if by their analogies with the sun, fire, and the soul they intend to liken what inheres in the sun, fire, and soul—namely light, life, and speech—and if they take what they affirm of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit to be divine attributes, just as these