because this is more immediately apparent to human senses and intuitive reason. The more directly something is perceived through the senses and grasped intuitively by reason, the better a person knows it, especially when that perception and understanding are repeated.

They also thereby drew attention to what Allah Most High stated concerning the unbelief of those who said that Allah is the Messiah, son of Mary, and that Allah Most High dwelt in Mary’s womb. For this entails, all the more so, declaring anyone who says of any human being that he is Allah to be an unbeliever. Whoever says this of all existence is guilty of far, far greater unbelief.

Thus, a great gathering assembled in Damascus for a session of devotional listening, during which the singer recited poetry by Ibn Isrā’īl. He was a poet among the Sufi devotees, whose poetry contained both faith and unbelief, guidance and misguidance. Much of his poetry expressed the views of those who profess the identity of God and creation, though al-Tilimsānī and Ibn al-Fārid were more adept at expressing this doctrine than he was. The singer recited these lines of his:

“You are none other than the universe; indeed, You are its very being.
This secret is understood by one who has tasted it.”

Present there was a shaykh known as Shaykh Najm al-Dīn ibn al-Hakīm, who had been a companion of Shaykh Ismā‘īl al-Kūrānī. He denounced this and recited the words of Allah Most High: