informing people of matters that lie beyond their intellectual capacity or that would harm them to know—just as ʿAlī, may Allah be pleased with him, said: “Address people with what they are able to understand and leave aside what they would reject; would you like Allah and His Messenger to be called liars?” ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd likewise said, “No man relates something to a company whose minds cannot comprehend it except that it becomes a source of trial for some of them.”

The Bāṭinite esoterics have tried to enlist such statements in favor of the school that negates and strips away the Divine attributes—whose falsity we have already exposed—yet the truth is precisely the opposite. For the remark, “Would you like Allah and His Messenger to be called liars?” proves that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) did in fact speak about these matters and did not remain silent.

This is comparable to the transmitted report: “Among knowledge there is that which is like hidden treasure; none understands it except those who truly know Allah, and when they mention it none rejects it save those deluded about Allah.” Although this ḥadīth is not firmly authenticated, Shaykh al-Islām has cited it, and Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī also quoted it. And Yaḥyā ibn—