Moreover, it is self-evident that the voice that was heard was the voice of the nasut (human nature); therefore the analogy with the tree is likewise invalid, as has been set out in detail elsewhere.

As for iron, wood, and similar materials: when they are thrown into fire they are transformed into fire through their contact with it—not because the very fire into which they turn already existed and then took up residence within them. This is a case of transformation (istihala) without indwelling (hulul). The fire that comes to exist inside the iron is produced by the original fire; it is not identical to it. Thereafter, when that piece of iron is hammered, the blows fall upon the fire, and the same is true if it is plunged into water.

If this were a sound analogy, the beating, crucifixion, and humiliation would have fallen upon the lahut (divine nature); it would be the divine nature that bathes in water, that eats and drinks—and that is blatant unbelief.

It is reported that some among them, such as the Jacobites, openly profess this blasphemy, while many others, like the Melkites and Nestorians, repudiate it; yet it is an unavoidable consequence of their doctrine.

The same objection arises when they liken Him to the soul in relation to the body. The soul suffers when the body suffers; its attributes are altered by its presence in the body, and it acquires from the body certain dispositions and qualities. Were this an exact parallel, it would follow that the lahut suffers the body’s pains, that it experiences its hunger, thirst, beating, and crucifixion, and that it would be subject to transformation by that which