the Lord’s essence”—as they also maintain concerning the intellects and celestial souls. Those adherents of religious traditions who have joined them claim that these are the angels.

Another group consists of the heretics and misguided members of this community among the Sufis, speculative theologians, and hadith scholars. They claim that the soul is from Allah’s essence. Their doctrine is even worse than that of the former group. They divide the human being into two halves: a divine half, which is his soul, and a human half, which is his body. Thus, half of him is a lord and half a servant. Allah declared the Christians unbelievers for saying something similar about the Messiah; what, then, of those who extend this claim to everyone—even Pharaoh, Hāmān, and Qārūn?

Everything that establishes that the human being is a created servant subject to his Lord, and that Allah is his Lord, Creator, Owner, and God, also establishes that his soul is created. For the human being comprises both body and soul; indeed, he is defined more by his soul than by his body. The body is merely a mount for the soul, as Abū al-Dardā’ said: “My body is only my mount. If I treat it gently, it will carry me to my destination; if I do not, it will not.”

Ibn Mandah and others have narrated it from Ibn ‘Abbās, who said:

“Disputes among created beings on the Day of Resurrection will continue until the soul and the body dispute with one another. The soul will say to the body, ‘You committed the evil deeds.’ The body will say to the soul, ‘You commanded me.’ Allah will then send an angel to judge between them.

“He will say, ‘You are just like a man who could not walk and a blind man who entered an orchard. The man who could not walk saw fruit hanging there and said to the blind man, “I can see fruit, but