and released, and other such attributes which, according to them, belong only to what they call a “body” in their terminology. Thus, to say that the soul is neither a body nor within the body contradicts the Messenger’s words. How, then, can the Messenger’s words be interpreted in this way, making what is less clear in his speech contradict what is explicit and unequivocal?

The twenty-second argument: Allah says in two places in the Quran:

“So when I have fashioned him and breathed into him of My spirit, fall down before him in prostration.” (29)

He also says:

“And He began the creation of man from clay (7), then made his offspring from an extract of a humble fluid (8), then fashioned him and breathed into him of His spirit, and gave you hearing, sight and hearts.” [al-Sajdah 7–9]

He thus states that He breathed into him of His spirit. How, then, can it be said that the soul is not within him?

If it is said, “He only said this because the soul governs the body, just as it is said that Allah is in heaven,” the reply is: “By the same reasoning, one ought to say that Allah is in heaven, on earth and in every place, because He governs all of that, rather than restricting the expression to His being in heaven.” It is well known that neither the Book nor the Sunnah contains