the Most Merciful,” and by the opening statement, “Allah created Adam in His image.” But where he thought the first interpretation possible, he did not adopt this one.

The unsoundness of this interpretation can be demonstrated in several ways. First, if one says, “If one of you fights, let him avoid the face, for Allah created Adam in Adam’s image,” or, “Do not revile the face, and let none of you say, ‘May Allah disfigure your face and the face of anyone whose face resembles yours,’ for Allah created Adam in Adam’s image,” this would be utterly incoherent speech. There would be no connection whatsoever between the reason given and the ruling. However one interprets Adam’s being created in Adam’s image, it has no bearing on the prohibition against striking the faces of his descendants, reviling them, or reviling faces resembling theirs.

The confusion introduced by this interpretation arose only because the hadith was divided: his words, “If one of you fights, let him avoid the face,” were narrated separately, and his words were also narrated: