Even when someone who follows their path holds the commands and prohibitions in high regard, the most he can say is what is reported from al-Shādhilī:

“Unity is to be witnessed in your heart, while distinction is to be voiced upon your tongue.”

His words and those of others also contain statements, supplications, and devotional litanies that entail setting aside the commands and prohibitions. One example is the claim that Allah grants him more for disobedience than He grants him for obedience. Such claims imply that, in his view, Allah may treat those who commit evil deeds like those who believe and do righteous deeds—or even better. They also offer supplications that overstep proper bounds, as found in al-Shādhilī’s litany.

Others among their common followers consider it possible for Allah to honour a wicked person—even an unbeliever—with the miraculous gifts of the greatest of His close servants. They say:

“This is a gift and a bounty.”

They imagine these to be miraculous gifts bestowed upon Allah’s close servants, when in fact they are satanic phenomena of the kind found among sorcerers and soothsayers. Allah Most High says:

“And when a messenger from Allah came to them confirming what was with them, a party of those who had been given the Scripture cast the Book of Allah behind their backs, as though they did not know.”

“And they followed what the devils recited during Solomon’s reign. Solomon did not disbelieve, but the devils disbelieved, teaching people magic and what had been revealed to the two angels in Babylon, Hārūt and Mārūt. Yet the two would teach no one without first saying, ‘We are only a trial, so do not disbelieve.’ But they learned from them that by which they could separate a man from his wife. Yet they could harm no one thereby except by Allah’s permission. They learned what harmed them and did not benefit them. And they certainly knew that whoever purchased it would have no share in the Hereafter. Wretched indeed was that for which they sold themselves, if only they knew.”

“And had they believed and feared Allah, a reward from Allah would have been better, if only they knew.”