‘The spirit of Allah’ means only a spirit that Allah owns and has created, just as one says, ‘the servant of Allah,’ ‘the heaven of Allah,’ and ‘the earth of Allah.’”

Imam Ahmad thus explained that the Jahmiyyah, who deny the divine attributes, and the Christians, who believe in divine indwelling, went astray on this point. The Jahmiyyah who deny these attributes liken the Creator, exalted is He, to created beings in attributes of imperfection, just as Allah, exalted is He, relates that the Jews attributed imperfections to Him. The same applies to the Jahmiyyah when they say, “He Himself neither speaks nor loves,” and make similar denials.

Those who believe in divine indwelling liken created beings to the Creator, attributing to them qualities of perfection that belong to Allah alone, as the Christians did with the Messiah.

Those who combine denial with divine indwelling—such as the Jahmiyyah who advocate indwelling, including the author of al-Fusūs and others—say:

“Do you not see that the Real manifests Himself with the attributes of created things—and has said this of Himself—and with attributes of imperfection and blame? Do you not see that the creature manifests itself with the attributes of the Real? They are all its attributes, just as the attributes of the creature are truly Allah’s.”

Thus they describe the creature with every attribute ascribed to the Creator, and they describe