Stranger still is what one of these mistaken people once said to me concerning His words:

“None knows its interpretation except Allah.”

He said that this meant: “None knows the interpretation of ‘He’”—meaning the name “He” used in the invocation “He, He.” Ibn ‘Arabī wrote a book about this “He.” I replied to him—though I was very young at the time—“If it were as you say, it would have been written in the Quran as two separate words, ta’wīlu huwa (‘the interpretation of “He”’), rather than as one word, ta’wīlahu (‘its interpretation’).”

The falsity of what this man said is self-evident. Many mistaken Sufis offer similar false interpretations of the Quran and Sunnah. The meaning they intend may be sound, but the wording does not indicate it, nor is it what the speaker intended; or the meaning itself may be unsound. Thus, the error sometimes lies in the conclusion and sometimes in the evidence.

For example, some interpret:

“Because he sees himself as self-sufficient”

to mean: “Because he sees his Lord, he becomes self-sufficient.” Yet the meaning is that he transgresses because he sees himself as self-sufficient.

Likewise, some interpret “If you do not see Him” (fa-in lam takun tarāhu) to mean: “If your awareness of yourself is effaced, you will see your Lord.”

This is not the meaning of the hadith. Had that been intended, the wording would have been fa-in lam takun tarahu, whereas it says tarāhu. Moreover, what would he do with the result clause, namely, “He certainly sees you”?

Furthermore, according to their false interpretation, the verb kāna (‘to be’) would express existence in its own right. Thus, “If you are not” would mean: “If you do not occur or exist.” This is an impossible interpretation, for the servant exists; he is not nonexistent. Even if what was intended was his detachment from his desires, or the effacement of his awareness of other things, this would not be expressed by denying his existence, for that is impossible.

Whenever the meaning is sound, but the wording was not intended to convey it, this may be called an “allusion.”