before Him all together.
“As for those who have believed and done righteous deeds, He will pay them their full rewards and will add to them out of His bounty; whereas those who were too proud and disdainful, He will punish with a painful punishment, and for themselves they will find, apart from Allah, neither protector nor helper.” (al-Nisāʾ 172–173)
The Almighty thus forbids the People of the Book—and anyone who resembles them—from excess and exaggerated praise in matters of religion, that is, from overstepping the proper bounds. The Christians—may Allah curse them—went to extremes in lauding the Messiah until they surpassed all limits. What was incumbent upon them was to hold that he is a servant of Allah and His messenger, the son of His bond-maid, the chaste virgin who safeguarded her purity. Allah sent the angel Gabriel to her, and by His command he breathed into her; from that breath she conceived her son, Jesus (peace be upon him). The spirit transmitted to her by the angel is called “a spirit from Allah” only as an honor and distinction, yet it is one of Allah’s created entities—just as one says “the House of Allah,” “the She-Camel of Allah,” or “the Servant of Allah.” Likewise “the Spirit of Allah” is ascribed to Him for ennoblement and exaltation.
Jesus was given this designation because he came into being through that spirit without a father. That spirit is also “the Word” by which he was formed and through which he came to exist, as the Exalted says:
“Indeed, the likeness of Jesus in the sight of Allah is like that of Adam: He created him from dust, then said to him, ‘Be,’ and he was.” (Āl ʿImrān 59)
He also says:
“They say, ‘Allah has taken a child.’ Glorified is He! Rather, to Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and the earth; all are devoutly obedient to Him. The Originator of the heavens and the earth—when He decrees a matter, He only says to it, ‘Be,’ and it is.” (al-Baqarah 116–117)
And He says:
“The Jews said, ‘Ezra is the son of Allah,’ and the Christians said, ‘The Messiah is the son of Allah.’ That is a statement from their mouths; they imitate the words of those who disbelieved before. May Allah destroy them! How deluded they are.” (al-Tawbah 30)
Allah therefore informs us that both the Jews and the Christians—upon them be the curses of Allah—have made an outrageous claim against Him, alleging that He has a child. Exalted is Allah far above what they say. He also clarifies that they possess no proof whatsoever for this assertion or fabrication; it is nothing but empty speech and an imitation of those who preceded them in this misguided notion—their hearts are alike.
The philosophers likewise—may Allah curse them—claimed that the First Intellect emanated from the Necessary Being, whom they describe as the Cause of causes and the First Principle, and that from the First Intellect there issued a Second Intellect, a soul, and a sphere; then from the second arose others in like fashion until the intellects numbered ten, the souls nine, and the spheres nine—conclusions they reached through corrupt reasoning and feeble conjectures. A full discussion exposing their ignorance and lack of understanding belongs elsewhere.
Similarly, certain groups among the Arab polytheists, out of ignorance, alleged that the angels are daughters of Allah and that He took to wife the nobles of the jinn, from whom the angels were born. Exalted is Allah above what they say, and glorified is He beyond the partners they ascribe to Him, as He says:
“They have made the angels—servants of the Most Merciful—females. Did they witness their creation? Their testimony will be written down, and they will be questioned.” (az-Zukhruf 19)