And the apparent meaning conveyed to the listener by the statement, “His deeds will come in the form of a man,” is that Allah Most High creates and fashions a form from his deeds. Its apparent meaning is not that his actual words and actions are in the form of a man, for this is neither conveyed by the statement nor understood from it by anyone.

Accordingly, the statement is not being diverted from its apparent meaning. Rather, it is being freed of the false meaning that the innovator imposes upon it when he identifies the very speech that Allah spoke with the fashioned form, just as they identify the Messiah, son of Mary, himself with the word that Allah spoke. The Messiah only came into being through Allah’s word, and was therefore called Allah’s word. The apparent meaning of the statement is not that Allah’s very speech is the Messiah’s very body.

Thus, what is brought into being through the word, and what is brought into being from a person’s recitation and righteous deeds, are named after the word and those deeds, respectively. If it were said that this involves a degree of linguistic latitude and figurative usage, insofar as the name is applied