have also negated the Creator, the prophetic message, and all realities. They have made realities depend on what is unveiled to a person, without recognizing that realities have an intrinsic nature by which something is established as real and by whose contrary it is negated. Rather, in their view, being unrestricted entails this: you must not confine yourself to any one belief, but must embrace everything that people have believed. Even if these are contradictory statements, existence encompasses them all, and the oneness of existence encompasses them all.

Yet it is well known that existence accommodates only the existence of these beliefs, not the actual reality of everything believed. Rational people do not dispute this. A false belief and an untrue statement exist and are part of existence, but this does not entail that they are true or truthful. When truth and truthfulness are ascribed to statements reporting something, what is meant is not merely that those statements exist. Their existence is known through the senses; on that interpretation, they would all be true and truthful.

It is well known that someone asking whether such statements are true and truthful regards them as falling into categories of truth and falsehood, truthfulness and untruthfulness. The question is whether or not they correspond to what is reported. A statement may correspond to the speaker’s belief but not to external reality: this is error. It may sometimes be called falsehood, and sometimes it is not described that way.

Examples of the former include the Prophet’s words, may Allah bless him and grant him peace:

“Abū al-Sanābil has spoken falsely.”

And his words:

“Whoever said that has spoken falsely. He will indeed receive two rewards. He is indeed one who strives hard”—a fighter in Allah’s cause.

Also, the words of ʿUbāda, “Your father has spoken falsely,” and the words of Ibn ʿAbbās, “Nawf has spoken falsely.”