an esoteric interpretation whose inner sense contradicts the outward meaning known to Muslims. Thus, in their eyes, prayer means acquainting oneself with their secrets, fasting means concealing those secrets, and the pilgrimage is nothing more than visiting their sheikhs—and so on. They sometimes add that these obligations are waived for the elite while remaining binding on the common folk. As for the scriptural texts dealing with the resurrection, the Names and Attributes of God, and His angels, their pretensions are even broader and more extravagant.

A number of people who claim affiliation with Sufism and with dialectical theology have adopted many of their notions—whether theoretical or practical. Indeed, the writings of Ibn ʿArabī, Ibn Sabʿīn, and others of the heretical mystics ultimately echo the doctrines of these very same people.

These unbelievers—drawn from the ranks of the philosophers, the Qarmatians, and their sympathizers—declare that prophethood possesses three distinctive qualities; whoever attains them is, by definition, a prophet. In their view prophethood never comes to an end: after every prophet, God continually dispatches another. Many of them even contend that it can be acquired at will, and Suhrawardī