may God bless him and grant him peace, “I am only a human being like you” [al-Kahf 18:110], by God’s command. He was told, “Say,” so he said, “Say, I am only a human being like you.”
By this we know it came by God’s command, for he conveyed the command to us as he conveyed what he was commanded to say.
This statement was a medicine for the illness of those among Jesus’ community who worshipped him, peace be upon him, saying, “God is the Messiah, son of Mary” [al-Maʾidah 5:17]. Much knowledge escaped them in saying “son of Mary,” without their awareness.
For this reason God, exalted is He, said in establishing the proof against those of this description, “Say, name them” [al-Raʿd 13:33]. They name them only by the names by which they are known, so that what they mean may be understood.
Once they name them, the name itself shows that this is not the One the Messenger sent to them asked them to worship.
We say “He is He” because of what sound unveiling affords the elect and explicit faith affords the generality, as the divine prophetic report states: When God loves His servant, He becomes his hearing and sight. He mentioned his faculties and limbs.
The human being is nothing other than these things whose very reality the Real has made His identity. If you are a believer, you know in whom you believe. If you have sound witnessing, you know whom you witness.
No greater prophetic explanation of God lies within human capacity until the believer becomes
