and if it is likewise permissible to say that it "proceeds," then the Word must also proceed.

Moreover, to describe an attribute as a divine creator—and thus to affirm three creator-gods while at the same time declaring that the Creator is one—is another contradiction.

He also says:

"Allah has never been without His Word nor without His Spirit."

If by "His Spirit" he means His life, the statement is sound; yet which of the prophets ever called Allah’s life His Spirit? Who has ever characterized Allah as an eternal, pre-existent Spirit? Is this not a sheer fabrication against the prophets?

No one may object that this is a mere verbal dispute of no consequence, for what is at stake is the interpretation of the prophets’ own words. It was they who spoke of "the Spirit of Allah," "the Holy Spirit," and similar expressions, and none of them ever intended by these terms the life of Allah.

Thus, to name the life of Allah “spirit,” and to interpret the prophets’ intent in that manner, is a slander against Allah and His messengers.

Eighth point:

He says,

"The creative Word of Allah descended with its abiding, perpetual, immutable subsistence, which has neither begun nor will ever cease; it took flesh from Mary the Virgin— a pure maiden chosen from the line of David. Allah selected her above all the women of the worlds for this dispensation and purified her by the Holy Spirit, His substantive Spirit, making her fit for the indwelling of Allah’s essential Word. Thus the creative Word concealed itself within a created human being that it fashioned for itself, by the good pleasure of the Father and with the aid of the Holy Spirit, as a new creation."

We say in response: the scriptures show that the Messiah was incarnated through the Holy Spirit and through Mary the Virgin, and this is exactly how it is worded in their creed. The Quran likewise states, in several passages, that He breathed into Mary of His Spirit and that He sent to her His Spirit.

The Exalted said: