who bear witness that there is no god but Him, provided they have no incapacity that brings about effacement, are granted the strength with which to witness reality. This is a complete witnessing, more perfect than that of those who experience effacement. Their hearts cease to worship other things or to find joy and tranquillity in them; instead, their hearts worship Allah, find joy in Him, and find tranquillity in His remembrance. They do not lose the witnessing that increases their knowledge and faith: witnessing His all-encompassing lordship, both in general and in detail, and His exclusive right to worship, both in general and in detail, together with the various kinds of created beings and prescribed commands that this encompasses.

Abū al-Qāsim said: “I heard Muhammad ibn al-Husayn say: I heard Muhammad ibn ‘Alī al-Hāfiz say: I heard Abū Mu‘ādh al-Qazwīnī say: I heard Abū ‘Alī al-Dallāl say: I heard Abū ‘Abd Allāh ibn Qahramān say: I heard Ibrāhīm al-Khawwās say: ‘I came upon a man whom a devil had possessed. I began reciting the call to prayer into his ear, whereupon the devil called out to me from within him: “Let me kill him, for he says that the Quran is created.”’”

I say: This account accords with the principles of the Sunnah, and they have related similar accounts. Al-Ghazālī and others objected to this on the grounds that this is reasoning