to His very Essence, and they maintain that these beings administer the universe by way of emanation and causal necessity, not by a command from Allah and a permission granted whenever He wills. In fact, they claim that the entity they call the “Active Intellect” (1) is the true governor of this world and that Allah Himself never brings anything new into existence at all. Hence they worshipped those angels and the heavenly bodies and paid them the greatest reverence. The numerous, consecutively transmitted texts flatly refute them and show, in five or more distinct degrees, how far they have strayed from the truth.

First degree: Do the angels act and speak—as all other living beings do—without prior leave, order, or word from Allah? Granted, Allah is the Creator (2) of their deeds just as He is the Creator of the deeds of every creature—jinn, humans, and beasts alike. Those creatures may commit sins, or perform acts neither commanded nor forbidden, simply following their own wills, though those wills are themselves created. The angels, however, are nothing like that: “they do not precede Him in speech, and they act only by His command.” They never engage in deeds that fall among the merely permissible or the prohibited; they do only what is pure obedience.

Second degree: They intercede only for those with whom He is pleased; they will not intercede before Him for anyone for whom He does not wish intercession, unlike some people who call upon Allah for things He does not approve of.

Third degree (3): They never initiate intercession; they intercede only after He has granted them permission.

Fourth degree: They do not even ask to be allowed to intercede—for “they do not outstrip Him in word.” Rather, He grants them leave from the outset, commands them to intercede, and they carry this out as worship and obedience to Allah.