They treat this text—and others like it that speak of the origin and the return—the very same way that you and we treat the texts on the Divine attributes. Some of them, however, chose the course of allegorical interpretation, just as certain Qarmaṭīs did—such as their judge al-Nuʿmān, author of The Foundation of Interpretation, or Abū Yaʿqūb al-Sijistānī, author of The Celestial Tokens and The Book of Boasting, and those of their ilk. These men cast off every cloak of modesty, confronted the public with brazen denial, and even alleged that the ritual prayer is nothing but recognizing their esoteric secrets or showing loyalty to their imams; that fasting means keeping those secrets hidden; and that the pilgrimage is merely visiting their shaykhs. They reveal such claims only when alone with their own brethren.

As for those who lived among the Muslims—al-Fārābī, Ibn Sīnā, and their peers—they could not utter anything so blatant, for they realized how quickly its falsehood would be exposed. Instead, they contended that the messengers spoke to people in terms that stir the imagination, describing matters whose belief would benefit them in their faith in God and the Last Day—even though, in their view, what the people believe on these points is false and does not correspond to reality. Speech indicating such beliefs is, therefore, literally a lie in their estimation, but they deem it a lie permitted because it brings about social rectification. Those among them who hesitate to call it outright lying claim it is merely a prudent form of dissimulation employed by the wise for the good of their followers.