of certainty. As for this fourth figure, they claim that he alone possesses the Necessary Existence and that he is the all-encompassing reality (al-Iḥāṭa). For that reason Ibn Sabʿīn ordered that his tomb be engraved with the title: “Bearer of the Inscription of the Gem-Seal of Iḥāṭa.”

By “Iḥāṭa” they mean the absolute, undifferentiated existence that is bound by no restriction—a universal that is limited by neither necessity nor contingency. After that comes the mode of existence predicable of both the Necessary Being and the contingent being, or—according to another formulation—predicable of neither; for “absolute existence without condition” applies to both, whereas “absolute existence on the condition of absoluteness” applies to neither.

A group of the most astute among them once gathered around me when they launched their inquisition against Ahl al-Sunnah, seeking supporters for their path. Outwardly they enlisted anyone willing to deny the divine attributes: some confined themselves to rejecting Allah’s exaltedness over His creation and the attributes affirmed by transmitted texts, while others went further, negating all attributes altogether—along with actions, speech, and the rest—following the way of the Jahmiyyah. They merely cloak themselves in the language of the Ashʿarite-leaning Muʿtazilites, who deny the textual attributes and more besides, or in that of the Ashʿarite philosophers, who negate the attributes in their entirety, just as the Bāṭinite Qarmaṭīs disguise themselves under the banner of Shiʿism.

For this reason Ibn Sabʿīn once said to the venerable Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn al-Ḥawrānī—who was residing in Mecca, a man of learning and devotion who used to confront and refute him—“You hate me only because I am an Ashʿarī.” The shaykh replied, “If you were…"