He also says:

“The Seal of the Saints draws from the same source as the angel through whom revelation is conveyed to the Messenger.”

This accords with the principles of these atheistic philosophers, who regard the angels as luminous, imaginary forms appearing within the prophet’s soul, and Allah’s speech as what arises within him from these forms.

According to them, the prophet receives knowledge through these imaginary representations within his soul, which signify intellectual knowledge, whereas the saint receives abstract intellectual knowledge directly.

They therefore regard Allah’s speaking to one of them as superior to His speaking to Moses son of ‘Imrān, because, according to them, Moses was spoken to through the veil of letters and wool—that is, through an address within his own soul, not outside it. Some of them say that he was addressed from the heaven of his intellect, whereas one of them is addressed without this veil, through abstract meanings being inspired within his soul.

The author of Khal‘ al-Na‘layn (The Removal of the Sandals) and others like him follow this path.

These people drew from Mishkāt al-Anwār (The Niche of Lights), whose author based it on the principles of the philosophers and treated Allah’s speaking to Moses as being of the same kind as the knowledge He inspires in souls.