And they acknowledge rational principles, self-evident to reason, which entail that a being conditioned by absoluteness exists only in the mind, not in external reality—as with an animal taken absolutely and conditioned by absoluteness, a human being taken absolutely and conditioned by absoluteness, and similar examples. They also acknowledge that what is absolute without any condition has no reality apart from external and mental existence. There is no absolute existence within existing individual entities apart from those entities themselves, just as there is no absolute human being within this person and that person beyond the individual person. Thus, on the first view, the Lord’s existence would be merely mental; on the second, it would be the very existence of created beings.

The position of the Jahmiyyah, both earlier and later, falls within these two views. This is the very essence of denying the divine reality; yet they also affirm Him. They thus combine negation with affirmation and remain bewildered. For this reason, they make bewilderment the ultimate attainment of knowledge and attribute to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, a fabricated hadith:

“The one among you who knows Allah best is the most bewildered.”

They also claim that he said:

“O Allah, increase my bewilderment concerning You.”

They combine two contradictories, expressly accepting this consequence.

This is the position of the Qarmatian esotericists and the proponents of union. It is also a necessary consequence of the position of the philosophers and the Muʿtazilah, even though the latter do not explicitly acknowledge their acceptance of it. By contrast, the esotericists and proponents of union among the Sufis expressly accept it and report it from al-Hallāj.

The point here is this: the claim that the Creator’s existence is the existence of the created being is unequivocal disbelief, by the agreement of the people of faith. It is among the most utterly false notions according to every human being’s self-evident reason, even though its adherents claim that it represents the pinnacle of insight and spiritual knowledge. This has been discussed at length elsewhere.