—the eternal, pre-existent attribute—this would be a patent falsehood against the Messiah, for in his own language the term “son” was never intended to refer to Allah’s eternal attribute.
Likewise, since nowhere in the speech of the Prophets is Allah’s life called “the Holy Spirit,” and since by “the Holy Spirit” they mean only that assistance which Allah—blessed and exalted is He—sends down upon the prophets and the righteous to strengthen them, to interpret the Messiah’s words “the Holy Spirit” as though he meant Allah’s life is likewise a fabrication against him.
In certain respects this is even more unsound than the claim advanced by some philosophers that the intellects, souls, and celestial spheres are His effects, generated from Him and inseparable from Him for eternity. That view, too, is invalid according to plain reason and is disbelief in the reports of the Prophets, as has been set out elsewhere: nothing issues from the Maker of things successively while still remaining simultaneous with Him, for generation can only occur from two parents.
Moreover, the entity that is alleged to be “one in every respect” and devoid of all positive attributes simply does not exist; and even if it did exist, nothing could proceed from it on its own, as has been explained in other places.
To clarify further: the Christian elite and their scholars—while permitting the statement that the Messiah is the Son of God—are thereby forced to concede that Mary would have to be God’s consort and wife, as some of their extremists have indeed asserted. Some among them even make Mary a deity alongside Allah, just as they have made the Messiah a deity. If they maintain this, they attribute to Allah a consort and a child, and they make the Messiah the son