For this reason, the proponent of these doctrines was confused and inconsistent. He has no firm standing among sincere Muslims who affirm Allah’s oneness, nor is he regarded by these heretics who hold that Allah and creation are one as one of their accomplished, knowledgeable adepts. All of these people are of the same kind as the Nusayriyyah and the Ismā‘īliyyah: their doctrines concerning the Lord resemble those of these sects. Among those sects are people who adhere to the Sharia and others who abandon it; the same is true of these people. Those sects, however, are more adept in heretical unbelief and know themselves to be deniers, like Pharaoh, whereas these people are ignorant and think that they are doing good.

The sixth point:

His statement: “If the higher and lower realms were removed, the light of Allah Most High would spread out so that nothing whatsoever would appear within it.”

This statement is ambiguous. Undoubtedly, its proponent is one of those who waver between the unbelievers and the believers: he is neither one of the believers nor a thoroughgoing proponent of the doctrine that Allah and creation are one. Rather, he has mixed truth with falsehood. For the proponents of that doctrine say that if the very heavens and earth ceased to exist, Allah would cease to exist. Some state this explicitly, but most merely allude to it. Their ordinary followers do not understand that this is part of the doctrine held by the others. These people are of the same kind as the Qarmatians and the Bātiniyyah; the latter attain this only at al-balāgh al-akbar (the supreme attainment), the final rank of their elite.

For this reason, one of the leading proponents of the doctrine that Allah and creation are one told me that the author of this statement used to say, “There is only a subtle difference between monotheism and heresy.”

I said to him, “This is utterly false. Indeed, no two doctrines differ more greatly than monotheism and heresy.” He said this on the basis of the confusion and intermingling he had introduced, as in