Likewise, when I was young, I heard a man who was one of their devils—though it was not then [known] that he belonged to them, nor was their doctrine known. He would discuss various matters and possessed intelligence. Among the things he related was an account of a shaykh whom he held in great esteem. This shaykh addressed a man who kept saying, “O Ever-Living One, O Sustainer of all!” repeating it incessantly, as happens to someone wholly absorbed in remembrance and supplication. He told him, “There is no difference between your saying ‘O Ever-Living One’ (yā Hayy) and ‘O stone’ (yā hajar), for the letter h occurs in both names, and both stimulate and strengthen the soul.” He said other things of this kind, which I heard too long ago to recall precisely. Later, however, I learned that his meaning was that nothing exists but existence itself, so a stone and anything else are alike. The purpose of this remembrance, according to him, is to stimulate and strengthen the soul, just as the body is strengthened through physical work—not that there is someone apart from this world whom one invokes, namely, the Ever-Living, the Sustainer of all.

Second, the hadith concerning the Resurrection states that He will come to the Muslims after the unbelievers among the polytheists and the People of the Book have departed with their gods. According to these people, however, He comes in those gods worshipped by the polytheists; their worshippers are the unbelievers among the polytheists and the People of the Book. In their view, He is