a spirit (rūḥan), for he was fashioned by the Word, not in the manner by which other human beings are brought into existence. He is also called “a spirit” because his mother conceived him through the breath of the Spirit that was blown into her; she did not conceive him from a male as do the rest of Adam’s offspring.

Accordingly, it is said: since he was created from the breathing of the Spirit and from Mary, he was named “a spirit,” unlike the rest of humankind, who are conceived from a man and a woman, and only after four months is the spirit breathed into them.

The Christians state in their creed:

“He was incarnate of Mary and of the Holy Spirit.”

Had they confined themselves to this wording and interpreted the Holy Spirit as the angel who breathed into her—who is the Spirit of Allah—their statement would have agreed with what Allah has revealed. Instead, they made the Holy Spirit the very life of Allah, declared it divine, and thus contradicted themselves. On that basis there ought to have been in him two hypostases: the hypostasis of the Word and the hypostasis of the Spirit, yet they maintain that he possesses only the hypostasis of the Word. Thus, just as the Messiah is called “the Word” because he was created by the Word, he is likewise called “a spirit” because a spirit was infused into him.

If it is said, “But the Quran states, ‘Those to whom We have given the Scripture know that it has been sent down from your Lord’ (al-Anʿām 6:114), and it says, ‘The revelation of the Book is from Allah, the Almighty, the Wise’ (az-Zumar 39:1).”