—which, in their view, is more befitting to Allah’s transcendence and less suggestive of impossibility.

Thus, these people and their likes are the forerunners of every later group that claims a share of authority in the content of the Message for someone other than Allah and His Messenger—whether in doctrinal matters, practical rulings, intentions and spiritual states, or in politics and the laws of wealth. That other figure is then obeyed just as the Messenger is obeyed; indeed, Allah knows that many, if not most, of them have actually preferred obedience to him over obedience to the Messenger.

All such people resemble the followers of Musaylima, ‘Abd Allah ibn Ubayy, and Dhu al-Khuwayṣira. Every successor has a predecessor, every follower a leader, and every subordinate a superior. Whoever couples the Prophetic message with an obedience-commanding leadership or a ruling polity, so that obedience to it is treated like obedience to the Message, bears a likeness to the followers of ‘Abd Allah ibn Ubayy. Whoever objects to the Book and the Sunnah through some form of interpretation—be it analogy, personal taste, intellect, or spiritual state—resembles the Kharijites, the followers of Dhu al-Khuwayṣira. And whoever sets up a false authority besides Allah and His Messenger, summoning people to it and taking disputes to it, ⦗ق 13 ب⦘ resembles the followers of Musaylima. Among these people may be some who are worse than those earlier ones, just as among them are some who are better or equal to them.

All of them have reaped from this conduct nothing but hypocrisy lodged in their hearts until the Day they meet their Lord. Its true nature will only become clear to them when secrets are examined, consciences are laid bare, what is in the graves is scattered, and what is in the breasts is brought forth. A servant’s footing in Islam will never be firm until he resolves in his heart and innermost being that the whole religion belongs to Allah alone, [that guidance is Allah’s guidance, that truth revolves around the Messenger ﷺ in both existence and non-existence, and that no one is to be obeyed] (1) besides him, nor followed apart from him. The words of anyone else are weighed against his words: if they coincide, we accept them—not because that person spoke them, but because he conveyed what agrees with Allah and His Messenger; and if they contradict his words, we reject them and cast them aside. Nor are his words to be—