‘Jesus is Allah’s spirit, from Allah’s own essence, and Allah’s word, from Allah’s own essence—just as one says, “This scrap of cloth is from this garment.”’

We said, ‘Jesus came into being through the word; he is not himself the word.’

He said, ‘Allah’s words, “and a spirit from Him,” mean that the spirit came to be in him by His command, just as in His words:

“And He has subjected to you whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth—all from Him.”

Here, too, He means “by His command.” The meaning of “Allah’s spirit” is that it is a spirit which Allah created through His word, just as one says “Allah’s servant” and “Allah’s heaven.”’”

Imam Ahmad thus stated that the Christian heretics are those who say that Jesus’s spirit is from Allah’s own essence. He explained that attributing the spirit to Allah denotes His ownership and creation of it—as when one says “Allah’s servant” and “Allah’s heaven”—not the attribution of an attribute to the one possessing it. How much more, then, does this apply to the souls of all other human beings? He also explained that these heretics who uphold divine indwelling say that when Allah wishes to bring something about, He enters some of His creation.

Shaykh Abū Sa‘īd al-Kharrāz, one of the foremost spiritual masters and imams, and a contemporary of al-Junayd, wrote a work establishing that souls are created. Among the arguments he advanced was the following:

“Had they not been created, they would not have acknowledged His Lordship. When He took the covenant from them—while they were souls in bodily forms like tiny ants—He said to them:

‘Am I not your Lord?’ They said, ‘Yes, we testify.’

He addressed the soul together with the body. Can there be a Lord without one subject to His Lordship?”

He said:

“Moreover, had souls not been created, the Christians would not have been blameworthy for worshipping Jesus, nor for saying, ‘He is the son of Allah,’ and, ‘He is Allah.’”