about the state of the person being questioned, as when the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, asked the slave girl, “Where is Allah?” If the person who asked the Sufi, “Where is Allah?” doubted his Lord’s attributes or was ignorant of the state of the person he questioned, then his knowledge was deficient. It is possible that the Sufi knew Allah and that the questioner had witnessed enough of his state to recognize his sincerity. Thus, he was saying, “Your question is that of someone seeking to infer a person’s state from its traces, although you have already witnessed what makes that unnecessary.” So he said, “Do you seek a trace or guidance when the thing itself is present?”

Likewise, the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, did not ask any of the Companions known for their faith, “Where is Allah?” He asked this only of those whose faith was uncertain, such as the slave girl. This resembles another account in which someone met a man and asked, “Where is your Lord?” He replied, “Do not say, ‘Where is your Lord?’ Rather, say, ‘What place does faith occupy in your heart?’” That is: someone like me should not be asked, “Where is your Lord?” Instead, ask me about what it is fitting to ask someone like me.

Indeed, there is the well-known account concerning Yazīd ibn Hārūn al-Wāsitī, with a similar account also related concerning Ahmad ibn Hanbal: when Munkar or Nakīr came to him and asked him, “Who is your Lord? What is your religion? Who is your prophet?” he replied, “Do you ask me this, when I am Yazīd ibn Hārūn al-Wāsitī, who has taught people the Sunnah for sixty years?” They both replied, “Excuse us, for this is what we have been commanded to do,” and departed, leaving him alone.

It appears that this was what the Sufi mentioned by the master Abū ‘Alī intended, for he said to the questioner, “May Allah cast you far away! Do you seek a trace when the thing itself is present?” And this