What is the meaning of the hadith, "Indeed, Allah created Adam in His image," and the Qudsi hadith, "I did not hesitate over anything I am about to do as I hesitate over taking the soul of My believing servant"?

The questioner : Your Eminence, may Allah reward you with good. What is the meaning of the hadith of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): and the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ..

The Shaykh : .

The questioner : Yes?

The Shaykh : .

The questioner : And in another hadith: ?

The Shaykh : These are two questions, my brother, and the rule is that we do not accept anything but one question. The man snuck one in. Do you accept his sneaking it? Fine.
As for the first one, may Allah bless you, We would say: "And He created other than Adam in His image as well," is that not so? But the correct and necessary view is that the pronoun in refers to Allah (Mighty and Majestic). However, does it follow from the fact that Allah created Adam in His image that Adam is similar to Him? No.
First: because Allah said: , so we believe that there is nothing like Allah, and we believe that Allah created Adam in His image.
Because the first is the word of Allah, and the second is the word of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and it is obligatory for us to believe in and affirm all of it.
So if someone says: How can it be conceived that a thing is in the image of a thing without being similar to it? And this is what comes to mind. We say: Is it not established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) that ? Does it follow from the fact that this group is in the image of the moon that they are like the moon? No, it does not. So it does not follow from the fact that Allah created Adam in His image that he is similar to Allah (Mighty and Majestic). This is one aspect, and it is an apparent aspect, and it contains no figurative interpretation, nor does it depart from the apparent meaning of the wording.
The second opinion is that the pronoun in refers to Allah, but this is from the category of attributing a thing to Allah in the sense of honor and distinction, like: . Does Allah have a camel to ride, for example? Far be it from Him! But the Messenger attributed the camel to Allah from what category? From what? From the category of distinction.
Likewise, Allah the Exalted said: . The mosques are the mosques of the people in which they pray! Is Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in these mosques? No, by no means. Allah the Exalted is in the sky, above His Throne. But Allah attributed the mosques to Himself because they are the place of His worship and worthy of distinction and honor.
Fine. As for the soul of Adam, Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, said to the angels: . Is the soul of Adam the soul of Allah? No, absolutely not. The soul of Adam is a created soul that Allah created, but Allah attributed it to Himself in the sense of distinction.
So His saying: means: in the image that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) formed, and He attributed it to Himself in the sense of distinction.
So if someone says: And the image of the non-human, is it not Allah who formed it? We say: Yes, Allah is the one who formed it, but it does not deserve to be attributed to Allah. What is the most noble of what Allah created? The children of Adam. Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, said: What? , there is no one better in creation than the human being .
So: the image of Adam is not like the image of other human beings, so it deserved to be attributed to the Lord (Mighty and Majestic) as a distinction and honor.
So what is the meaning of the hadith? It has two meanings: The first meaning is to take it at its apparent level, and to say: It does not follow from the fact that Allah created Adam in His image that he is similar to Allah. This is one.
The second aspect is to say: , meaning: that Allah created Adam in the image that He chose and attributed to Himself in the sense of distinction. For this reason, He said: The face is not to be disfigured, nor struck, so that this image which Allah (Mighty and Majestic) created is not changed.
As for the second question, which came in as a sneak, we agree to answer it because of the benefit in it. It is His saying, Glorified and Exalted is He, in the Qudsi hadith: .
Indeed, Allah (Mighty and Majestic) does not love to do something that His believing servant dislikes. Rather, Allah the Exalted said: What? , meaning, whoever opposes a wali (close friend of Allah) from the awliya (close friends of Allah), and the awliya are , then he is declaring war on Allah (Mighty and Majestic).
So Allah (Mighty and Majestic) does not love to do what His believing servant dislikes, so He hesitates, not out of doubt about whether it is a benefit or not, meaning: not out of ignorance, but He hesitates from the side of what concerns the servant: whether He does it while the servant dislikes it, or He does not do it.
And by this we know that hesitation is of two types: Hesitation due to doubt about the result. What is this? Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is free from it. We declare Allah free from it, because Allah the Exalted is not unaware of anything. This happens to me and to so-and-so and so-and-so; we hesitate to do a thing because we do not know the result, for this reason we seek guidance from Allah.
And the second is: hesitation concerning the unseen while knowing the result. So what is this? Is Allah described with it or not? Allah is described with it, and there is no deficiency in it in any way. Did you understand? Fine. Are there no questions in the round, my brother? Come on, everyone, do you have a question? Go ahead.