are the elements. Moreover, he was left for forty years before the spirit was breathed into him, whereas his descendants remain in that state for only four months. Allah Most High says:

“Has there not come upon man a period of time when he was not a thing mentioned?” (1) [al-Insān 1]

Furthermore, the wording does not indicate the exclusion of any of this in any way, whether literally or figuratively. Rather, this supposed indication resembles the claims of the extremist Rāfidīs (Rejectionists) and other ignorant heretics like them that the phrase “a clear register” (imām mubīn) refers to ‘Alī ibn Abī Tālib. Indeed, this interpretation may even be stronger, for the word imām has