the image that is struck and reviled, which it is forbidden to strike or revile—namely, human faces; Adam, whom Allah created; and the image in which Adam was created. All three must therefore be affirmed. If a created image were intended, there would be only one image, and one would say, “He created these people—or this man, or the descendants—in his image.”

The ninth point is that Allah’s creation of Adam is among the most evident facts known to the learned and ordinary people alike. If His words “in His image” meant nothing more than that it was the image He created and owned, then saying “He created Adam” would have sufficed, since, on this interpretation, “He created Adam” and “He created Adam in His image” mean the same thing. If it is claimed that attributing the image to Him in the sense of His having created it confers a special distinction, then the word “created” conveys that same distinction. There is no difference between saying, “This is Allah’s creation,” and saying, “Allah is the One who created this.”

It is clear that interpreting the hadith in this way deprives it of its point, just as if he had explicitly said, “He created Adam in the image Allah created,” or, “He created Adam in the image the Most Merciful created.” Such speech cannot be attributed even to the lowliest of people, let alone to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.