and the refreshment and comfort it brings, as in the expression ‘a cool life,’ meaning a life of ease and plenty,” the response is that this is false on several grounds.

First: When he says, “Then He placed His hand between my shoulders, until I felt its coolness between my breasts”—or, in another wording, “in my chest”—a pronoun, as is well known, refers back to something already mentioned. The only preceding referent is the hand, so it is clear that the pronoun refers to it.

Second: The interpretation of the hand as a favor has already been refuted, so the pronoun cannot validly refer to a favor.

Third: If a favor were intended, that favor would encompass him both outwardly and inwardly, as Allah Most High says:

“and has amply bestowed upon you His favors, both apparent and hidden” [Luqmān 20].

It would therefore be placed in both his back and his chest, and its effect would likewise extend to both. But confining the favor to his back and its coolness to his chest or the space between his breasts is plainly false.