CHAPTER 5: ABSTRACT AND CONCRETE MATTERS
They say, “The abstract matters do not appear except in concrete forms like the Holy Spirit and other things, then, does the Word of God which has created the concrete appear without a cover? The answer is no.
It is said to them: Saying that the abstract appears in the concrete is a general statement. If you mean that a human’s soul appears in his body or that a jinni talks through an epileptic and so on, this does not concern us here.
If you mean that God becomes immanent in humans, this is a debatable issue, for where is the proof to support it? In fact, the only evidence presented here, is that which would prove the opposite.
This is a matter that is neither supported by reason nor by evidence. None of the prophets ever said that God is immanent in a human being. No truthful person has ever claimed the Immanentism of the Lord. Only the deceitful claim godhood like the Antichrist who will appear at the end of time. Allah, Exalted be He, will send ‘Isa (Jesus, peace be upon him) bin Maryam (Mary) down to the earth, to kill the Antichrist who falsely claimed godhood and he will show that the Lord of the universe is never immanent in any human being.
They ask, “Does the Word of God, which has created the concrete, appear without a cover?” The answer is no.
It is said to them: This is invalid. If the appearance of some divine matters is possible, then its appearance in the abstract is more reasonable than in the concrete. Angels descend to the prophets with inspiration, receive the Words of God from Him, and descend with it to the prophets. In this way, the Words of God reach the angels before they reach the human beings Angels are the intermediary as Allah called them in the verse,
which means, “…or (that) He sends a Messenger to reveal what He wills by His Leave.” (Ash-Shura’, 42: 51)
One: Allah, the Exalted, bestowed upon His human servants the means to support them in receiving inspiration from the angels. Sometimes the angels come down to them in shapes other than the human form and at other times they come in the human shape. Thus, the appearance of divine matters in the abstract and it’s reaching them, is more reasonable than in the concrete. If it were possible that the Lord should unite with one of the living human beings and become immanent in him, then it would be more suitable for Him to become immanent in one of the angels and unite with him more than with one of the human beings.
Two: According to them, the human entity of Christ, which was unified with Him, is body and soul! together. Thus, Christ had a body and a soul just like all human beings. According to them, the divine entity united with him. In this way, according to them, the name refers to a human body and soul as well as to a divine entity. Then, the divine entity, according to their belief, has united in an abstract, which is the soul and in a concrete form, which is the body. It did not appear only in the concrete form except for the abstract, which was with the concrete form and that is the soul.
Three: They compare the unification of the divine entity with the human entity, to the unification between the body and the soul. They also compared His appearance in him (Christ) to the appearance of the soul in the body. It is known that the pain, which the body experiences also affects the soul and that which affects the soul likewise affects the body. This means that when the human entity was crucified, suffered, and felt severe pain, the divine entity must have experienced severe pain too.
One Christian said to me concerning this issue, “The soul is not affected which means it does not feel pain.” I said to him, “What about the souls of the disbelievers? Will they be in bliss or in pain after death?” He said, “Their souls will be in pain.” I said, “This means that the separated soul experiences both bliss and pain. Then, if you compare the divine entity in the human entity, to the soul! in the body, this necessitates its feeling of pain with the human entity.” Thus, he acknowledged the truth of what I said.
It is also said to them: if it was possible for Him to unite with a human being, then it would be more suitable for Him to unite with an angel. Then, His unification with Jibril (Gabriel, peace be upon him) would have been more reasonable than His unification with a human being.
By: Sheikhul-Islaam Ibn Taymiyah
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