He was asked—may Allah have mercy on him:

“Are there righteous people in this community whom Allah has hidden from others, so that no one sees them except those whom they choose? Even if they are among people, are they concealed by virtue of their spiritual state? Are there forty men on Mount Lebanon hidden from view, who, whenever one of them dies, take another person to replace him, who then becomes hidden along with them just as they are? Are distances shortened for all these people, so that they perform Hajj and cover in an hour journeys that would take a month or a year? Do some of them fly like birds, speak of unseen events before they occur, eat bones and clay and find them palatable and sweet, and do other such things?”

He replied:

All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. As for the existence of people who remain perpetually concealed from others, this is false. No prophet, friend of Allah, or sorcerer has ever possessed such a power.

However, a person may sometimes be concealed from certain people, either as a miraculous gift bestowed upon a friend of Allah or through sorcery. Some of these states come from the Most Merciful: these are the miraculous gifts bestowed upon the friends of Allah who follow the Quran and Sunnah—the believers who are mindful of Allah. Other states arise from the soul or from Satan, as happens to some