their meaning and affirming what they imply and entail. They believe in words whose purport they do not understand, and believe in the Messenger only in the general sense that he speaks nothing but the truth. Their hearts lack the knowledge of Allah’s separateness from His creation and His being above them that would enable them to reject the innovations of the proponents of indwelling and union and others like them. For one of two opposing beliefs is removed from the heart only by affirming its opposite, and one of two contradictory beliefs can be decisively dispelled from the heart only by affirming the other.

Thus, if the reality of the matter is that the Lord Most High is either separate from the world or within it, then whoever does not affirm His separateness has nothing with which to rule out His being within it. He either acknowledges His being within it or remains without belief in either of the two opposing, contradictory positions. Without believing the opposite of a proposition, he cannot regard it as false, deny it, or refute it.

Rather, he remains like someone who has heard that Muhammad said he was the Messenger of Allah, and that Musaylima said he was the Messenger of Allah, yet has neither believed nor disbelieved either of them. Such a person cannot refute Musaylima or declare him a liar.

Likewise, whoever has not acknowledged that the Creator Most High is separate from creation cannot refute the position of those who advocate indwelling and union. At most, he can withhold his agreement with them, just as he has withheld his agreement with those who affirm Allah’s being above creation. Thus, he has believed neither what Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, and those who believe in him have said, nor what his opponents—the lying impostors among the proponents of indwelling and union and others who deny Allah’s being above creation—have said.