For this reason, Yahyā ibn Abī Kathīr said: “Angels have no internal cavities, whereas human beings do.”
This also provides another proof. For if the angels—who were created from light, as established in Sahīh Muslim on the authority of ʿĀʾishah, may Allah be pleased with her, who reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:
“Angels were created from light, jinn were created from fire, and Adam was created from what has been described to you”—
if, then, they are created from light, neither eat nor drink, and have no internal cavities as human beings do, yet speak, hear, see, ascend and descend, as established by authentic texts, while their attributes and actions nevertheless do not resemble human attributes and actions, then the Creator, exalted is He, differs from His creatures far more than angels differ from human beings. For both angels and human beings are created, and one creature is closer to resembling another creature than to resembling the Creator, glorified and exalted be He.
Likewise, the human soul hears, sees, speaks, descends and ascends, as established by authentic texts and clear rational evidence. Nevertheless, its attributes and actions are not like those of the body.
If, then, one may not say that the soul’s attributes and actions are like the attributes of the body—the physical frame—even though the soul is joined to it and together they constitute the human being, and if the human soul is not like the physical body, how can it be permissible to liken the Lord, blessed and exalted be He, His attributes and His actions to the body, its attributes and its actions?!
If the one who negates these attributes wishes to remain consistent with his own principle and says: “I maintain that He has no speech subsisting in Him; rather,