Thus, if someone claims that Muhammad—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—knew only these outward matters, but not the realities of faith, and that he himself does not derive these realities from the Quran and the Sunnah, he is claiming that the portion of the Messenger’s teachings in which he believes is inferior to the other portion. This is worse than someone who says, “I believe in part and disbelieve in part,” without claiming that the part he believes in is the lesser of the two.

These heretics claim that “closeness to Allah” is superior to “prophethood.” They mislead people by saying, “His closeness to Allah is superior to his prophethood,” and reciting:

“The station of prophethood lies between the two:
Just above the messenger, below the close friend.”

They say, “We share with him in his closeness to Allah, which is greater than his messengership.” This is among their gravest errors. No one has equalled Muhammad in his closeness to Allah—not Abraham or Moses, let alone these heretics.

Every messenger is a prophet and a close friend of Allah. Thus, a messenger is both a prophet and a close friend of Allah: his messengership encompasses his prophethood, and his prophethood encompasses his closeness to Allah. If they suppose that Allah merely informs him without his being a close friend of Allah, this is an impossible supposition. For when Allah informs him, he cannot be anything other than a close friend of Allah. His prophethood cannot be separated from his closeness to Allah; and even if it were supposed to be separate, no one would equal the Messenger in his closeness to Allah.