You also find that these people’s attacks on “the imams of the Sunnah and the guides of the community” resemble the attacks of the Rāfidīs and their hypocritical allies on Abū Bakr, Umar, and the leading Emigrants and Helpers; the attacks of the Jews, Christians, and their followers among this community’s hypocrites on the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace; and the attacks of the Sabians and polytheists, philosophers and others, on the prophets and messengers. In His Book, Allah has recorded statements made by disbelievers and hypocrites against the prophets and messengers and the people of knowledge and faith. These contain lessons for those who reflect, clear evidence for those who seek insight, and admonition for those who are bewildered and confused.

You find that most speculative theologians and those who have turned away from the path of the early generations—except those whom Allah protects—venerate the leaders of monism even after these men have explicitly expressed monism in their books. They strain to interpret those statements in ways their authors never intended. Allah knows the extent of the reverence and veneration they hold for these men in their hearts, and how readily they attest to their standing as imams and saints, and as masters of spiritual realities.

Here is Ibn Arabī, explicitly declaring in his Fusūs (Bezels) that sainthood is greater than prophethood—indeed, more perfect than messengership. Among his words are:

“Prophethood occupies an intermediate station,
Just above the messenger, yet below the saint.”

Some of his followers interpret this to mean that a prophet’s sainthood is superior to his prophethood, and likewise that a messenger’s sainthood is superior to his messengership. Alternatively, they take his sainthood to be his state in relation to Allah, and his messengership to be his state in relation to creation. This is profound ignorance. For when the messenger addresses creation and conveys the message to them, he does not cease to possess sainthood; rather, he is a friend of