Moreover, it is self-evident that Adam had no image, prior to the one Allah Most High created for him, according to which he was created.

The fifth point: All the proposed interpretations, such as saying that Adam was created in Adam’s image, have parallels among all created things. For if this means being created in the images established for them in the divine decree, in Allah’s knowledge and His Book—that is, with the attributes they possess—or anything else, the same has parallels among all other created things: the heavens, the earth and everything between them, the angels, the jinn and the beasts. Indeed, Adam’s descendants are likewise created in their own images, in the very sense these interpreters give to the statement, “Allah created Adam in Adam’s image.” For Adam’s being in his own image—meaning a bodily form—is something also found in the forms of