Truly the likeness of Jesus in God's sight is as Adam's likeness. He chose to purify the spirit rūḥ in them from the act of passing from one body to another tanāsukh in the loins but He singled out Adam as the first [of men] while He singled out Jesus عليه السلام for the special distinc- tion of breathing the spirit into him in the most exalted way. But even though these two were weighty beings the imperfection of being in time and being mortal was nonetheless unavoidable for them: He created him of dust then He said to him “Be” and he was [3:59].
