They claim that they draw from the sheer, purely intellectual source from which the angel—whom they regard as nothing more than an imaginative form within the Prophet’s soul—also draws, and that the plane of intellect is superior to the plane of imagination. Having convinced themselves that the angels who address the prophets are merely images arising in the prophets’ own selves, they maintain that by taking directly from pure intellect they tap the very mine from which those angels take—angels who, in turn, communicated with the prophets. Thus, in their own estimation and in the estimation of their followers, they are superior to the prophets.

This and anything like it is, by the necessary knowledge of the messengers’ religion, sheer unbelief and falsehood. Whoever understands the Qur’an and the discourse of these people must choose one of two courses: either declare the Qur’an false or declare these people false. For their claim and what the Messenger brought are mutually contradictory—a contradiction evident to anyone who comprehends both their words and the words of the prophets.

No one can utter or consent to such speech except one of two types of men: either an ignorant person who does not grasp what the messengers truly brought nor what these claimants are actually saying—his veneration for both prophets and impostors being no more than a vague, indiscriminate reverence—like those who once revered Muhammad and Musaylima alike