in works on doctrines by members of our faith and those outside it—the doctrines of Muslims who pray and the doctrines of others. Many later worshippers likewise affirmed this in general terms, yet entertained various unbelieving notions concerning Him, as described by those familiar with them.

Some imagined Him to be the absolute existence common to existing beings, like universal humanity in relation to its concrete instances and individuals. If existence becomes determinate, it is not Him, since the absolute is not the determinate, as al-Sadr al-Qūnawī maintains. Others imagined that the existence of contingent beings is His very existence emanating upon them, as the author of al-Fusūs (The Bezels) states.

Others imagined Him to be the totality of existence, with every particular being constituting a part of Him, like the sea in relation to its waves, or a human being in relation to his limbs. Thus, He is not what is peculiar to each particular being, but rather the aggregate of all beings. This is the view of al-Afīf al-Tilmisānī and Abd Allāh al-Fārisī al-Balyānī. They say that every existing being is a level of existence or one of its manifestations, like the waves of the sea in relation to the sea, a human being’s limbs in relation to him, or parts of hawā in relation to air; or like this particular human being and this particular animal in relation to universal animality and universal humanity.

Their poet Ibn Isrā’īl says:

“You are not other than the cosmos; rather, you are its very self …
Only one who has tasted it understands this secret.”

He also said:

“My hand delights, if it passes over my body …
For in truth I am none other than you.”