Allah made the truth manifest, clarified the path, and suppressed the innovations of the innovators, the deviations of those who stray, and the doubts of the doubters. May Allah have mercy upon him—a revered imam and an eminent teacher who imparted understanding—and upon all the imams of the Muslims.’”

The point here is that the finest friends of Allah Most High, whose good name is acknowledged within the Muslim community, from its early and later generations, follow the way of the people of the Sunnah and the community, who affirm Allah’s names and attributes. They are among those furthest removed from the doctrines of heretics who profess divine indwelling, oneness, and union, although many later Sufis adopted doctrines of unrestricted permissiveness and divine indwelling, and mixed Sufism with Greek philosophy, just as some mixed it with certain teachings of the Jahmī speculative theologians.

This originated in the teachings of those who oppose scriptural texts with their own opinions. As al-Shahrastānī stated at the beginning of his book al-Milal wa-l-Nihal (Religions and Sects), every kind of misguidance originates in giving precedence to personal opinion over scripture and preferring desire to revealed law. Through this principle, the teachings of heretics spread among those who profess learning and religion—jurists, speculative theologians, and Sufis—to an extent that no