Section

As for the view that the pronoun refers to Adam—as was reported to Imam Ahmad from some hadith scholars of Basra, and is also attributed to Abū Thawr—it is as Imam Ahmad said: “This is the interpretation of the Jahmiyyah. What image did Adam have before Allah created him?”

Al-Mu’assis claimed that this was the most plausible of the three interpretations. Yet it is not as he claimed; rather, it is the most unsound of the three. This is why Ibn Khuzaymah resorted to it only when compelled by the narration of those who reported the wording, “in the image of