He said:

“My father was among those who responded to the Egyptians’ missionary and leader. He had heard them speak of the soul and the intellect as they themselves conceived and understood them. So had my brother. The two would sometimes discuss these matters together while I listened and understood what they were saying. They began inviting me to embrace these views, frequently mentioning philosophy, geometry, and Indian arithmetic.

“Then Abū ‘Abd Allāh al-Nātilī came to Bukhara. He claimed to be a philosopher, and my father lodged him in our home, hoping that I would learn from him.”

He then mentioned studying logic, Euclid, and the Almagest under him.

Everyone familiar with Islam knows that the Egyptians—the esotericist Banū ‘Ubayd—such as al-Hākim and his like, who were the masters of his household, were among those most deeply steeped in hypocrisy and heresy within Islam, and among those furthest removed from the Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, in both lineage and religion. Indeed, they were also among those furthest removed from clear rational evidence and authentic transmitted evidence. Thus they neither heed nor reason.