what the Messengers reported with what these men say, as did the authors of the “Epistles of the Brethren of Purity.” They follow the path of these ‘Ubaydids, the descendants of “‘Ubayd Allah ibn Maymūn al-Qaddāh.”
Can anyone acquainted with the religion of the Muslims, Jews, or Christians deny that the teachings of the authors of the “Epistles of the Brethren of Purity” contradict all three religions, even though these writings contain knowledge of undeniable merit in mathematics, the natural sciences, some branches of logic and metaphysics, and the disciplines of ethics, politics, and household management? For they contradict what the Messengers reported and commanded, deny much of what they brought, and alter the revealed laws of all the Messengers in ways plain to anyone acquainted with any of these religions. These people therefore stand outside all three religions.
Among their lies and false claims is that these “Epistles” are the words of Ja‘far ibn Muhammad al-Sādiq. Scholars know that they were only composed after the third century AH, around the time Cairo was built. Their author mentions events that befell the Muslim world, such as the Christians’ seizure of the Syrian coastal regions and other events that occurred after the third century AH. Ja‘far ibn Muhammad—may Allah be pleased with him—died in 148 AH, more than two hundred years before Cairo was built, for Cairo was built around 360 AH, as stated in the “History of al-Azhar Mosque.” It is said that its construction began in 358 AH and that in 362 AH, “Ma‘d ibn Tamīm” arrived from the Maghrib and settled there.