“Jesus is the Word of Allah, and Allah’s speech is uncreated; therefore Jesus is uncreated.”

The Sabians and the Jahmiyyah said:

“Jesus is the Word of Allah, and he is created. The Quran is Allah’s speech, so it too is created.”

These matters have confused many people. The imams, such as Ahmad ibn Hanbal and others, discussed them, addressing the ascription of speech and spirit to Allah and debating the Jahmiyyah and the Christians.

I have been asked about this, sometimes in connection with the proponents of divine indwelling and sometimes in connection with those who negate the attributes. The questioners have sometimes been Muslims and sometimes non-Muslims. The answer has been set out at length in several places. Here, however, the point is to distinguish between the two kinds of things ascribed to Allah:

If what is ascribed to Him is something that subsists in its own right, or something that inheres in such a self-subsisting entity, it cannot be an attribute of Allah, because an attribute subsists in that which it describes. The entities Allah has created subsist in their own right, and the attributes subsisting in them cannot be attributes of Allah. Ascribing them to Him therefore entails that they are created and owned by Him. They are ascribed to Him because of a particular connection that warrants this ascription, not because they are His attributes.

The Spirit, who is Gabriel, belongs to this category, as do the Kaaba and the she-camel. Wealth belonging to Allah also falls into this category, as do the souls of Adam’s descendants. Examples include His words:

“Then We sent to her Our Spirit, and he appeared to her as a well-proportioned man.”

“When I have fashioned him and breathed into him of My spirit.”

“And purify My House.”

“Allah’s she-camel and her turn to drink!”

“Whatever Allah has granted His Messenger from the people of the towns belongs to Allah and to the Messenger.”