their rabble. If you find someone whose inner purity and upright conduct you trust, or whom you trust to refrain from what whisperings prompt, and who regards the truth with acceptance and sincerity, then give him what he asks of it gradually, in separate portions, using what you have already imparted to judge what to impart next. Bind him by a covenant before Allah and by oaths from which he has no release, requiring him to handle what you give him as you do, following your example. If you divulge this knowledge and squander it, Allah shall judge between me and you.”

Al-Rāzī gave this same injunction in his commentary on it, just as he did in his discussion of the hadith of the Ascension, which he interpreted much as these people did.

This resembles the injunctions of the heretical Qarmatians in al-Balāgh al-Akbar and al-Nāmūs al-A‘zam.

The point here is that Ibn Sīnā, when discussing the actions and attributes of the Lord Most High in the book he held in such high esteem, followed the approach I have described to you, as we have already explained in