while others contest them on these very points. These, then, are not the kind of rational certainties that do not require rejecting sensory perception or transmitted knowledge on their account, nor are they the foundations upon which the sciences of humankind are built. Rather, sound rational insights—subtle, precise, and elusive—must ultimately be traced back to primary, self-evident axioms, unlike the plain and obvious rational truths, such as the fact that a single body cannot occupy two places at the same moment. That rule is known by the innate disposition with which Allah has created people.

If therefore sense perception, or a sound report, seems to contradict this—such as when the same individual is seen at ʿArafāt even though he has never left his hometown, or he is observed sitting in his usual place while he is actually elsewhere, or it is claimed that he came to the aid of someone who called upon him, or that he appeared flying through the air although it is known that he has not moved from his place—then what is witnessed is merely a jinn that has assumed that person’s form; it only resembles him, it is not he himself.

Sensory data, unless sifted by reason, are prone to frequent error; likewise, anyone who claims—on the basis of what he has experienced of mukāshafa (spiritual unveiling) or mukhāṭaba (inner discourse)—something that contradicts clear reason is known to be mistaken, just as those who espouse waḥdat al-wujūd (the unity of being) and say: “Within my innermost self I witness an absolute existence, stripped of all names and attributes,…"