and al-Najm. Thus, whoever opposes Allah’s revealed signs with his own opinion and reason, without any authority having come to him, falls within the meaning of this verse.

This makes clear that the Book of Allah may only be countered with the Book of Allah, and not with anything else.

The Book of Allah contains two kinds of discourse: reports and commands, as previously explained. Reports cannot contradict one another, but one report may explain another and clarify its meaning. Commands, however, are subject to abrogation, and what Allah has revealed can only be abrogated by what Allah has revealed. Whoever seeks to abrogate Allah’s revealed Law on the basis of his own opinion and desires is a heretic. Likewise, whoever rejects what Allah has reported on the basis of his own opinion and reasoning is a heretic.

The Qarmatians combined both practices. They claimed that Muhammad ibn Ismā‘īl was the seventh, who abrogated the religion of Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Likewise, more than one heretic has ventured to claim prophethood.

Others claim a rank that they regard as higher than prophethood: either the status of the seal of sainthood, among those who allege that sainthood is superior to prophethood—as in the doctrine of Ibn ‘Arabī, the author of al-Fusūs (The Bezels), and others like him—or the possession of philosophy and wisdom, which many of them allege to be higher than prophethood.

These heretics are of two kinds. One kind claims that revelation has been sent down to them, as some heretics among practitioners of devotion and Sufism claim. Some of these say that Allah sent it down to them. Others say, “It was imparted to me,” or “It was revealed to me,” without identifying who revealed it.