—striking themselves with weapons, lying beneath the wheels of a car without suffering the slightest harm, and other displays of jugglery that are in truth sorcery wrought by Satan through these people to lead others astray. At times such feats are nothing but empty illusions—sleight-of-hand performed before spectators, just as Pharaoh’s magicians did with their ropes and staffs.

Shaykh al-Islam, recounting his debate with the magicians of the Batāʾihiyyah Ahmadi (Rifaʿi) order, said: “Their shaykh”—that is, the head of the Batāʾihiyyah—“raised his voice and proclaimed, ‘We possess spiritual states—this, that, and the other.’ He claimed exclusive, supernatural powers such as entering fire unharmed and insisted that people ought to submit to them on that basis.

“I responded,” Shaykh al-Islam continues, “raising my own voice in anger: ‘I address every Ahmadi from the east of the earth to its west: whatever you do with fire, I will do the same, and whoever is burned is the defeated one—indeed, upon him be the curse of Allah. But we must first wash our bodies with vinegar and hot water.’

“The princes and the public asked me about that condition, and I explained: ‘They use tricks to withstand fire, concocted from substances such as frog fat, bitter-orange oil, and talc-stone.’ At this explanation the crowd erupted in commotion.”