the third of three.

Thus, the Christian scholars explain their statement, “He is the son of Allah,” by what they have stated: that the Word is the Son. All three sects agree on this. The falsity of their claim is evident to clear reason on several grounds:

First:

Nothing in the words of the prophets calls any attribute of Allah a son—neither His speech nor any other attribute. Their calling an attribute of Allah a son therefore distorts the words of the prophets, taking them out of their proper context. As for the statement they transmit from the Messiah, “Baptize the people in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,” he did not mean by “the Son” Allah’s attribute that is His Word, nor by “the Holy Spirit” His life. This meaning is nowhere intended in the words of the prophets, as has been explained at length in refuting the Christians.

The second ground:

Is this Word, which is the Son, an attribute of Allah subsisting in Him, or is it a self-subsisting substance? If it is His attribute, their doctrine is invalid on several grounds.

First:

An attribute cannot be a god who creates, provides sustenance, gives life, and causes death. Yet, according to them, the Messiah is a god who creates, provides sustenance, gives life, and causes death. If that which clothed itself in him is not a god, then he is all the more certainly not a god.

Second:

An attribute cannot subsist in anything other than the one it qualifies, and therefore cannot be separate from Him. If they say, “Allah’s speech descended upon him,” or say, “He is the Word,” or anything similar, this is something he shares with all the other prophets.