that they do not, in their hearts, accept that he is the Messenger of Allah; they regard him instead as a sovereign whose commands were obeyed—one ruler among other rulers who governed people according to his own opinion.
Or they claim that he was Allah’s messenger only to the unlettered Arabs and not to the People of the Book, as many Jews and Christians assert.
Or they say that, although he was sent to the general populace, Allah has special friends—awliyāʾ—whom he was not sent to and who have no need of him, for they possess their own path to Allah independent of his, just as al-Khidr had with Moses.
Or they insist that they take directly from Allah everything they require, without any intermediary whatsoever.
Or they maintain that he was commissioned only with outward rulings, which they themselves observe, whereas the inward realities were not part of his mission—or he did not know them—or they know them better than he did, or at least know them as well as he did but by some path other than his.

[The State of Ahl al-Suffa]

Some of these people even allege that Ahl al-Suffa were self-sufficient and that the Prophet was not sent to them.
Others go further and say that Allah revealed inwardly to Ahl al-Suffa on the night of the Ascension the very same things He revealed to the Prophet, so that Ahl al-Suffa became his equals.
Such statements arise from sheer ignorance, for they do not realize that the Night Journey (isrāʾ) took place in Mecca, as Allah the Exalted says:

“Glory be to Him Who took His servant by night from the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque whose surroundings We have blessed.” ⦗Qur’an 17:1⦘

Moreover, the Suffa existed only in Medina; it was a veranda on the northern side of his mosque—peace and blessings be upon him—where travelers with no family or acquaintances to host them would lodge, for