people know through reason to be impossible. They report matters that bewilder the mind, not matters that reason deems impossible. Nothing reported by the Messenger can contradict sound reason, nor can two conclusive proofs contradict one another, whether both are rational, both are scriptural, or one is rational and the other scriptural. What, then, of someone who claims an unveiling that contradicts the plain teachings of revelation and sound reason?”

These people may not deliberately lie. Rather, they imagine things that exist within their own minds and suppose that they exist externally. They also see things that do exist externally, but suppose them to be miraculous gifts granted to the righteous, when they are actually deceptions wrought by devils.

These advocates of oneness may place the saints above the prophets and maintain that prophethood has not ceased, as is reported of Ibn Sab‘īn and others. They posit “three” levels, saying: “The servant first witnesses obedience and disobedience, then obedience without disobedience, then neither obedience nor disobedience.”

The “first witnessing” is the correct one: distinguishing between acts of obedience and acts of disobedience. By the “second witnessing,” however, they mean witnessing divine decree. Thus, one of them says: “I disbelieve in a Lord who is disobeyed.” This person claims that disobedience means opposing the divine will—that is, what Allah wills to occur. All created beings are subject to the rule of this will. Their poet says: