they fabricate, claiming that these constitute esoteric knowledge, both of the kind mentioned by the questioner and of other kinds. There is no limit to their claims involving deviation concerning Allah Most High’s names and signs and the distortion of the words of Allah Most High and His Messenger from their proper meanings.

Their aim is to deny faith and the laws of Islam by every possible means, while pretending that these matters have underlying realities known to them. These include what the questioner mentioned, as well as their claims that “the five daily prayers” mean knowing their secrets, “the obligatory fast” means concealing their secrets, and “pilgrimage to the Ancient House” means visiting their shaykhs; that “the two hands of Abū Lahab” are Abū Bakr and ‘Umar; and that “the great news” and “the clear record” refer to ‘Alī ibn Abī Tālib.

Their hostility to Islam and its followers is marked by well-known incidents and written works. Whenever they have the power, they shed Muslim blood. On one occasion, they killed pilgrims and threw them into the well of Zamzam. They also once seized the Black Stone, which remained in their possession for some time. They have killed so many Muslim scholars and shaykhs that Allah Most High alone knows their number. They have written numerous books containing what the questioner mentioned and other things besides. Muslim scholars, in turn, have written books exposing their secrets and tearing away their veils, explaining the unbelief, heresy and deviation they embrace, which make them greater disbelievers than the Jews, the Christians and the idol-worshipping Brahmins of India.

What the questioner has mentioned in describing them is only a small part of what scholars know about them. It is known to us that the Christians gained control of the coastal regions of the Levant only through them. They invariably side with every enemy of the Muslims; thus, they side with the Christians against the Muslims. And among