I do not know this to be a saying of al-Junayd. Whether he actually said it is open to question; indeed, it seems more likely that it is not characteristic of his known statements. If he did say this, he meant not knowing what he had not yet attained. He did not mean that the prophets and Allah’s righteous servants had attained no certainty, knowledge, or guidance. Al-Junayd is far above intending such a meaning, and such a statement is to be rejected, whoever says it.

But if what is meant is that, however much knowledge, certainty, and guidance those who know Allah attain, there remain matters they have not reached, then this is correct. This is illustrated by the hadith narrated by Imam Ahmad in al-Musnad and Abū Hātim in his Sahīh:

“O Allah, I ask You by every name belonging to You, by which You have named Yourself, which You have revealed in Your Book, which You have taught to any of Your creation, or which You have kept exclusively with Yourself in the knowledge of the unseen, to make the Quran the springtime of my heart, the light of my breast, the dispeller of my sorrow, and the remover of my worry and distress.”

He said:

“Whoever says this, Allah will remove his worry and distress and replace them with joy.”

He thus stated that Allah has names which He has kept exclusively with Himself in the knowledge of the unseen. Neither an angel nor a human being knows these names. If someone means that the minds of rational people have not attained knowledge of such matters, this is correct. But if he means that rational people possess neither knowledge nor certainty, but only bewilderment and doubt, this is categorically false.

As for what is related from Dhū al-Nūn on this subject—although Dhū al-Nūn did make statements for which he was censured, and al-Hārith ibn Miskīn disciplined him, and he was summoned by