the entire universe emanated from the First Intellect, which, according to them, is the lord of the heavens, the earth, and everything between them, although it is itself subject to the lordship of the One whose existence is necessary in Himself. They hold that it is generated from Allah and is a necessary concomitant of His essence. This is not the view of any adherent of the religious communities—Muslims, Jews, or Christians—except those among them who have deviated from their faith. Nor is it the view of the Magians, the majority of the Sabians, most polytheists, or the majority of philosophers. Rather, it is the view of one group among the philosophers.

Furthermore, in Muslim usage, the intellect is an accident inhering in something else: an innate faculty, knowledge, or action based on knowledge. In their usage, the intellect is not a self-subsisting substance. The first created thing therefore cannot be an accident inhering in something else, for an accident can exist only in a substrate; it cannot exist before any concrete entity exists.

Those philosophers, however, define it in their terminology as a self-subsisting substance. This is not what “intellect” means in Muslim usage. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, addressed the Muslims in the language of the Arabs, not that of the Greeks. It is therefore clear that, even if the Messenger had uttered this wording, he would not have intended the meaning meant by these philosophers. How much more so, then, when he did not utter it!

As for the second hadith, namely the saying:

“I have been commanded to address people according to their level of understanding,”

this has not been narrated by any Muslim scholar whose transmission is relied upon, nor is it found in any of their books. The speech with which Allah and His Messenger address people