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Jesus, Adam and Analogy
إِنَّ مَثَلَ عِيسَىٰ عِندَ ٱللَّهِ كَمَثَلِ ءَادَمَ ۖ خَلَقَهُۥ مِن تُرَابٍ ثُمَّ قَالَ لَهُۥ كُن فَيَكُونُ
“Indeed the case of Jesus with God is like the case of Adam: He created him from dust, then said to him, ‘Be,’ and he was” (3:59)
The question
When God likens Jesus to Adam, is that an analogy (qiyās) of the kind the jurists use, and so proof that such analogy is valid?
Views answered: al-Qurṭubī
Jawādī Āmulī’s argument
Al-Qurṭubī argues that God here draws an analogy between Jesus and Adam, which shows that analogy is a valid way of reasoning. Āyatullāh Jawādī Āmulī answers that the verse is an instance of “the best form of argument” (jadal aḥsan), an argument from a premise the opponent himself accepts, not the analogy of the jurists. That analogy, which logic calls “representation” (tamthīl), leads to fallacy in rational matters and is not allowed in jurisprudence; here the common factor between Jesus and Adam is certain, and the Qur’an has many such arguments.
Views compared
Al-Qurṭubī’s view is given as al-Tasnim reports it. Each point opens al-Tasnim at that place.
What kind of argument? Read →
al-Qurṭubī
God drew an analogy between Jesus and Adam, and this is evidence that analogy is valid.Jawādī Āmulī
It is “the best form of argument” (jadal aḥsan), not the jurists’ analogy.Analogy and certainty Read →
al-Qurṭubī
Analogy is a valid way of reasoning.Jawādī Āmulī
The analogy of legal theory, logic’s “representation”, leads to fallacy in rational matters and is forbidden in jurisprudence; this comparison rests on a certain common factor.Reading guide
Each step opens al-Tasnim at that point.