For when one body becomes the receptacle of another—like water settling inside a vessel—the very fact of its indwelling proves that it depends on the body that contains it. In the same way, the knowledge of the Lord and the faith that take root in the hearts of the believers subsist in those hearts and are dependent on them. So too with the philosophers’ doctrine of hayula (prime matter) and form: they maintain that prime matter is the locus for form, yet at the same time concede that the form itself relies on prime matter.

Those who espouse wahdat al-wujud (the oneness of being) sometimes place the Creator in relation to created things as form stands to prime matter. Ibn Sabʿīn hints at this when he says, “He is water in water, fire in fire, and in everything in the likeness of that thing.” A detailed discussion of such people has been set out in works other than this one.

If they assert that the Lord indwelt in the Messiah just as He indwells in others—claiming this to be the kind of indwelling found in David’s words, where they say, “You indwell in the hearts of the saints”—it is clear that what is meant is the indwelling of faith in Him, the knowledge of Him, and His guidance.