those born blind and those afflicted with leprosy, and nothing of the kind was found in anyone else.’

“I said to him, ‘Yet you have conceded that the absence of evidence does not entail the absence of what it indicates. Moreover, the transformation of a staff into a serpent occurred at the hands of Moses. Transforming a piece of wood into a serpent is more astonishing than restoring a dead person to life, so it is even more deserving of being taken as evidence of indwelling in principle.’”

He said:

“In short, the doctrine of the Christians and those who believe in indwelling is too base to merit attention.”

[Ibn Taymiyyah’s commentary]

I say:

His argument refuting indwelling by confronting the Christians with the implications of their position is sound. However, it holds only on the position of those who affirm the divine attributes and affirm that He is distinct from the world. On the position of the Jahmīs, who deny the divine attributes, this argument does not hold.

Indwelling takes two forms:

First: the position of those who believe in particular indwelling, such as the Christians and the extremists within this community who maintain that He indwells either Ali or someone else.

Second: the position of those who believe in universal indwelling, who say of all created beings something akin to what the Christians say of the Messiah, peace be upon him, or something still worse