The shaykh—may Allah have mercy on him—was asked:

About some people who persisted for a time in “spiritual discipline,” then believed that they had refined their essence and said: “We no longer care what we do. Commands and prohibitions are merely formal observances for ordinary people; if they too refined their essence, these would cease to apply to them. Prophethood ultimately amounts to wisdom and the promotion of welfare, and its purpose is to keep ordinary people in check. We are not ordinary people, such that we should be subject to the restraints of religious obligation, for we have refined our essence and understood wisdom.”

Does this statement constitute disbelief on the part of the one who says it? Or is he to be deemed an innovator without being declared a disbeliever? Can such a statement come from someone whose heart holds submission to the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace?

He answered:

There is no doubt among people of knowledge and faith that this statement constitutes one of the gravest and most extreme forms of disbelief. It is worse than the position of the Jews and Christians, for the Jew and the Christian believe in part of the Scripture and disbelieve in part. They are indeed the true disbelievers, as has been stated. They acknowledge that Allah issues commands and prohibitions, promises reward and threatens punishment, and that all this applies to them until death. This is if they adhere to Judaism and Christianity in their altered, abrogated forms. But if they are among the hypocrites of their own religious community—as is generally the case with their scholastic theologians