these things. As for his having been created in this form from the outset or instantaneously, he was created only through successive states: from dust, then clay, then dried clay, just as his descendants were created from a drop of sperm, then a clinging clot, then a lump of flesh. There is therefore no real incompatibility between the two cases. If one may be said to have been created in his own image despite passing through these stages, the other may likewise be said to have been created in his own image while passing through these stages.

Since this is so, and it is universally agreed that the statement, “He created Adam in His image,” refers to something distinctive to Adam—even though his descendants share in it through him—just as Allah Most High created him with His two Hands and caused His angels to prostrate before him, any interpretation that makes this common to others and removes its distinctive character is demonstrably false.

The sixth point: The meaning conveyed by this formulation they have proposed is something self-evident to reason. It is inappropriate to explain such things or speak of them merely to make them known, rather than for some other purpose. For saying that a particular thing was created in its own image conveys nothing beyond what reason already knows: that every created thing was created in