[What Ibn ʿArabi Built upon the Philosophers’ Corrupt Illusions and the Confusion He Introduced Concerning Prophethood]
These pseudo-philosophers sometimes maintain that Gabriel is nothing but the imaginative form that takes shape in the Prophet’s soul, and that imagination is subordinate to intellect. Along came other heretics—sharing the same philosophical unbelief—who claimed to be friends of Allah, asserted that the friends of Allah are superior to the prophets of Allah, and boasted that they receive directly from Allah without any intermediary. Foremost among them is Ibn ʿArabi, author of al-Fatūḥāt and al-Fuṣūṣ.
He declared that he draws from the very source from which the angel who conveys revelation to the Messenger draws. That source, in his view, is the intellect; the angel is the imagination; and imagination is subservient to intellect. Thus, according to his claim, he takes from the root of imagination, whereas the Messenger receives from imagination itself—hence, in his own eyes, he ranks above the Prophet. Even if what they described were something unique to the Prophet, Ibn ʿArabi would not be of the same category—much less superior to him. How, then, when what they describe can occur to ordinary believers?
Prophethood, however, is a reality beyond all these notions. Although Ibn ʿArabi and his ilk profess to be Sufis, they are in fact the Sufis of the philosopher-heretics, not the Sufis of the people of knowledge—much less the eminent masters of the followers of the Book and the Sunnah, such as al-Fudayl ibn ʿIyāḍ, Ibrāhīm ibn Adham, Abū Sulaymān al-Dārānī, Maʿrūf al-Karkhī, al-Junayd ibn Muḥammad, Sahl ibn ʿAbd-Allāh al-Tustarī, and their peers. May Allah be pleased with them all.
[The Attributes of the Angels in the Qur’an]
Allah, exalted be He, has depicted the angels in His Book with qualities that contradict the assertions of these people, as in His words: “And they say, ‘The Most Merciful has taken a child.’ Glory be to Him! Rather, [the angels] are honored servants; they do not precede Him in speech …”