The distinction between the two cases is as follows:

If what is attributed to Allah is a quality that subsists neither independently nor in any created being, it must be an attribute of Allah Most High, subsisting in Him. Its attribution to Him cannot be that of a creation under His lordship. If, however, what is attributed to Him is an independently existing entity, such as Jesus, Gabriel, or the spirits of the children of Adam, it cannot be an attribute of Allah Most High, since what exists independently cannot be an attribute of something else.

Thus, in His words, Most High:

“So We sent to her Our spirit, and he appeared before her as a well-proportioned man,”

and His words concerning Jesus:

“and a spirit from Him,”

and His words, Most High:

“Say, ‘The spirit is of the command of my Lord,’”

none of these independently existing entities can be an attribute of Allah Most High.

However, entities are attributed to Allah Most High in two ways.

The first is attribution to Him on account of His having created and brought them into existence. This encompasses all created things, as when people say, “Allah’s heaven” and “Allah’s earth.” In this sense, all created beings are servants of Allah, all wealth is Allah’s wealth, and all houses and she-camels belong to Allah.

The second is attribution to Him because Allah has singled something out for a purpose that He loves, approves of, and commands. Thus, He has singled out the Ancient House for worship performed there and nowhere else, just as He has set mosques apart so that acts of worship which He loves and approves of may be performed in them, and so that