said, concerning the Prophet’s statement (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), “Allah created Adam in His image,” that it meant “the form of clay.” Ahmad said, “This man is a Jahmī,” and added, “We accept the report as it has come.” Ahmad thus declared this man a Jahmī, just as anyone who says “in the form in the wombs” is a Jahmī. For the Jahmiyyah are those who deny the divine attributes and reinterpret the reports and verses concerning them.

This interpretation is better than those discussed earlier, since the expression “in Adam’s image” implies that Adam had a form according to which he was created, namely, his form in clay. Allah fashioned Adam from clay until it dried and became ringing clay, then breathed the spirit into him. What these people mean is that He created him according to that form fashioned from clay.

Yet this interpretation is also unsound. Saying that someone was “created according to that form” implies that he has another form, created according to the first. Adam, however, is that very form in which the spirit was created. Rather, giving him form was itself creating him from dust, then from clay, as Allah Most High says:

“We certainly created you, then gave you form.” [al-A‘rāf 11]

He thus mentions creation before the giving of form. How, then, could Adam’s form