As for his statement that Adam was created directly in his image, without first being a drop of sperm, then a clot and a lump of flesh, the response is this: he was created after first being dust, clay, and dried clay. The wording provides as much evidence for excluding these earlier stages as it does for excluding those. If saying “Adam was created in Adam’s image” entails that he was created directly, without passing through successive stages, then it excludes both sequences; otherwise, it excludes neither. This confusion arose only because they treated the image in which he was created as subsequent to his creation, contrary to what the wording indicates.

As for the third interpretation, he states that man does not come into being over a period longer than those of his descendants and through the agency of the celestial spheres and the elements. According to him, “He created Adam in Adam’s image” means that He created him without these intermediaries, the purpose being to refute the philosophers. The response is this: this is even more obviously false than the first interpretation. Adam, peace be upon him, did indeed come into being over a longer period than his descendants, and from material greater than that from which his descendants are formed. For Allah created him from dust and water and made him into dried clay, and these