the form in which it was created. This is like saying, “Allah brought a thing into existence just as He brought it into existence,” or, “Allah created things as they are and in the forms they have,” and similar statements whose meaning is self-evident to reason. Clearly, explaining and clarifying this is utterly inappropriate.

The seventh point: There is no evidence whatsoever that the statement, “He created Adam in Adam’s image,” signifies the other meanings they claim: that he was not created from a drop of sperm, then a clinging clot, then a lump of flesh; that he was not created over a period of time and from matter; or that he was not created through the agency of powers and elements. This wording does not convey these meanings in any way. One must therefore explain, on linguistic grounds, how the wording signifies the proposed meaning and cite a parallel instance of such usage.

The eighth point: The hadith has been transmitted through several routes, and its other wordings rule out the pronoun’s referring to Adam. These include his statement, “Do not revile the face, for Allah created Adam in the image of the Most Merciful”; his statement in another route of the hadith of Abū Hurayrah, “When one of you strikes, let him avoid the face, for the human form is in the image of the Most Merciful”; and the statement of Ibn ‘Abbās in what he relates from Allah Most High: “You turn to creatures of Mine