his ears—which is most often the case—or they are intelligible to him, but he cannot make others understand them or express them in words that convey what is in his mind.”

He said: “Such speech serves no purpose except to unsettle hearts, bewilder reason, and confound minds.”

I say: These statements reported from al-Hallāj contain falsehoods, vague expressions open to different interpretations, and incoherent statements from which no sound meaning can be derived. Some convey nothing beneficial, while others contain truth. Yet following that truth through a path other than al-Hallāj’s is better, stronger, and more beneficial.

His statement, “He bound all things to a beginning, for beginningless existence belongs to Him,” contains a truth: He, glorified be He, is without beginning, while everything besides Him has been brought into being. Nevertheless, neither his reasoning nor his wording is sound. His statement, “He bound all things to a beginning,” apparently means that He made having a beginning inseparable from them, just as attributes—such as states of being, colours, and the like—are made inseparable from the things they describe.

But this is not so. Rather, having a beginning is inherent in their very reality. A created thing cannot be without a beginning such that it would need to be bound to one. This is like someone saying, “He required what is created to be created, and what is made to be made.”