the Book: “There is nothing like Him” [al-Shūrā 11]. Whenever a report, solitary or mass-transmitted, affirms an image for Him, it conflicts with the Book and the Sunnah and introduces contradiction into the religion. Yet Allah has protected it from contradiction and guarded it against opposition, conflict, and inconsistency. His statement must therefore be reconciled:

“There is nothing like Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing” (11) [al-Shūrā 11],

with the Prophet’s statement, peace and blessings be upon him: “Allah created Adam in His image.” Negating a likeness thus negates an image consisting of delineation and shape. Attributing the image to Allah excludes attributing Adam’s shape to Him; the attribution is one of ownership, as in His statement: “And breathed into him of My spirit.” By “spirit,” He did not mean His essence. The purpose was to honour it by attributing it to Him, just as the structure of the Kaaba is honoured by being called His House, although He does not dwell in it. Likewise, Adam’s image is honoured