the faith required of them, a person may thus become an unbeliever, a heretic, a hypocrite—ignorant, astray and leading others astray, profoundly unjust and ungrateful—and become one of the greatest enemies of the messengers, concerning whom Allah said:

“Thus We have appointed for every prophet an enemy from among the criminals. But your Lord is sufficient as a guide and helper.”

“Those who disbelieve say, ‘Why was the Quran not sent down to him all at once?’ Thus it is, so that We may strengthen your heart thereby, and We have recited it with measured deliberation.”

“They never bring you an argument without Our bringing you the truth and the best explanation.”

Some of them may acquire faith, whether through this method or otherwise, while also acquiring hypocrisy through it. A person may therefore possess both faith and hypocrisy, being a believer in one state and a hypocrite in another. He may apostatize, either from the foundation of the religion or from some of its prescribed laws, with an apostasy of hypocrisy or an apostasy of disbelief. This is widespread and prevalent, especially in times and lands where ignorance of divine guidance, disbelief, and hypocrisy prevail. These people exhibit such astonishing ignorance, injustice, falsehood, disbelief, hypocrisy, and misguidance that there is no room here to recount it all.

Hence, when many of them recognized the ignorance and misguidance inherent in this denial, they began to say: “Sanctified souls—such as the souls of the prophets and the allies of Allah—receive knowledge through emanation without the syllogistic method.” They all agree that some souls have no need to weigh their knowledge