The furthest reach of Ibn ʿArabī’s claim was that he himself was the Seal of the Saints, that the Seal of the Saints possesses a deeper knowledge of God than the Seal of the Prophets, and that the prophets draw from him their knowledge of God. Thus, outwardly, he observed that the Prophet—may God bless him and grant him peace—is the Seal of the Prophets, yet in reality he laid claim to a station greater than that of the Seal of the Prophets.

Ibn Sabʿīn, on the other hand, understood that such rhetoric was transparently hypocritical and manifestly corrupt—something only the most ignorant could fail to notice. He would say, “The son of Āmina blundered when he said, ‘There will be no prophet after me,’” and he aspired to become a prophet himself. They report that he refurbished the Cave of Ḥirāʾ, hoping that revelation would descend upon him there, just as some people rebuild the shrines of certain shaykhs in the hope that the same openings granted to them will be granted to the renovator.

Yet each of these two, in much of his speech, extols the Prophet—may God bless him and grant him peace—with eloquent praise. Still, their inner states may differ: such praise might be sheer hypocrisy, and they may venerate him above others while at the same time exalting themselves above him.