Thus, those who followed their path ended in heresy concerning belief in Allah, the Last Day, and righteous deeds. This spread among many who delved into ultimate realities through speculative inquiry and devotion, among scholastic theologians and Sufis alike. Eventually, heretical Sufis such as Ibn ‘Arabī, the author of Fusūs al-Hikam (The Bezels of Wisdom), and others like him maintained that existence is one, identifying the existence of the Creator with that of creation. This amounts to denying the Creator.
Their position, in essence, resembles that of the naturalistic Dahriyya, who acknowledge no Necessary Being that brought contingent beings into existence. This is Pharaoh’s position, which is why they held Pharaoh in reverence.
They then maintained that the inhabitants of Hell enjoy bliss there, just as the inhabitants of Paradise enjoy bliss in Paradise, thereby denying the reality of the Last Day. They further claimed that sainthood is superior to prophethood, and that the “Seal of the Saints”—a notion with no reality—is superior to the Seal of the Prophets, indeed to all the prophets. They claimed that all the prophets derive their knowledge of Allah from his light—a knowledge whose substance, according to them, is that the existence of creation is the existence of the Creator.
Their doctrine warranted the same response as that given to someone who says:
“Then the roof fell upon them from beneath them.”
“Neither reason nor Quran!” For those who come later learn from those who came before, not the reverse, and the prophets are superior to everyone else. Thus, they contradicted sensory evidence and reason, besides disbelieving in the revealed law.
The culmination of their doctrine was to deem forbidden acts lawful and abandon obligations, as practised by its most accomplished exponents, al-Tilimsānī and others like him.
Yet the renowned Sufi masters are among those most thoroughly free of this doctrine, furthest removed from it, and most vehement in condemning it and its adherents.
The masters renowned for their goodness, such as al-Fadl ibn ‘Iyād, Abū Sulaymān al-Dārānī, and al-Junayd ibn Muhammad