who are the most thoroughgoing proponents of indwelling and union. This is why they gain ascendancy over those who deny both indwelling and Allah’s separateness from the world. Indeed, the latter submit to the former, regard them as allies of Allah, and support them against the believers who affirm that the Creator is separate from creation, as we ourselves have witnessed and experienced.

The reason is that the doctrine of these proponents of indwelling and union is cloaked in devotion and worship, Sufism and moral conduct, claims of spiritual unveilings and communications, and similar things that most proponents of negation scarcely understand. Since they do not understand the true nature of this doctrine, they accept what its proponents say, supposing it to be akin to the words of the greatest allies of Allah, whom Allah has acquainted with realities beyond the grasp of most people. They accept whatever they do not understand of their statements, just as they accept whatever they do not understand of the Prophet’s statements, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Thus, they revere these people as they revere the Messenger.

They are like someone who believed both Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, and Musaylima the Liar, accepting each one’s claim to be a messenger. Such was the condition of the apostates who believed in Musaylima, the false claimant to prophethood, while claiming to believe in Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah. They did not recognize the contradiction and incompatibility between the statements of the two, because they were not firmly grounded in faith in Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.

Likewise, the Jahmīs who deny Allah’s being above His creation and His attributes, or those who deny only His being above creation, when they hear the revealed texts affirming His being above creation and His attributes, turn away from understanding