nor any transformation; rather, he likens it to the union of soul and body in a single human being, each of the two welded to the other without the soul having changed or departed from its essence—so that it is still a soul recognizable by its own activities—nor the body having altered or been transformed from its natural state and functions.

We reply:
This proposition is false—its falsity obvious to anyone who pictures it. When the body is bereft of the soul, as it is before the spirit is breathed into it or after the spirit leaves it at death, it is lifeless. Even Adam—peace be upon him—the father of humankind, was fashioned from earth and water and remained a dry clay like pottery until the spirit was breathed into him; only then did he become a body of flesh, bone, nerves, and blood.

Would any rational person claim that Adam’s body, before and after the soul entered it, was in one and the same state, having undergone no change or transformation? His descendants are created from a drop of fluid, then a clinging clot, then a lump of flesh: at that stage the body is dead, but once the spirit is breathed into it the body becomes alive after having been lifeless.

What change is greater than the body’s passage from death to life?

By both sense perception and reason the difference between the living and the dead is evident, as the Exalted says:

“The living and the dead are not alike.” ⦗Fatir 35:22⦘

Thus, when the spirit has not yet been breathed into the body, it is inert: it has no sensation, no volitional movement; it neither hears nor sees, neither speaks nor comprehends, nor does it grasp or eat.