The seventh point is that his statement, “None of you should say, ‘May Allah disfigure your face and the face of anyone whose face resembles yours,’ for Allah created Adam in His image,” indicates that the reason for the prohibition is the resemblance of that person’s face to Allah’s image. If what were meant were an image created by Allah, then the person’s being himself a creation of Allah would provide stronger grounds than his resembling something Allah had created. This would amount to abandoning the full rationale in favour of something merely resembling it.

The eighth point is that if he had said, “Do not strike this man’s face, for Allah created him in His image,” one might have understood this to mean, “For Allah created this man in a noble and honoured image.” Rather, he said, “When any of you fights, let him avoid the face, for Allah created Adam in His image. None of you should say, ‘May Allah disfigure your face and the face of anyone whose face resembles yours,’ for Allah created Adam in His image.” Thus He created the created being in His image, and this man is one of Adam’s descendants, so it is known that his image is like Adam’s. Thus he mentioned three things: