the Tatar, who swore solemn oaths, saying, ‘Every day, signs of eating can be seen in it, but today, with you present, none have appeared.’”

I said to this shaykh:

“I shall explain the reason to you. That Tatar is an unbeliever and a polytheist, and his idol has a devil that leads him astray by producing those traces in the food. You had enough of the light of Islam and the support of Allah Most High to make the devil refrain from doing that in your presence. Yet your relation—and that of people like you—to those whose Islam is pure is like the Tatar’s relation to people like you. That Tatar and those like him are black; those whose Islam is unalloyed are white; and you are mottled, with both black and white in you.”

Those present appreciated this comparison. At another gathering, they asked me, “Do you want us to display these signs?”

I replied:

“If you perform them before people who are not versed in these matters—Bedouins, peasants, Turks, ordinary people, or the majority of students of jurisprudence, spiritual aspirants, and Sufis—that will not count in your favour. Whoever has gold should bring it to me in the money-changers’ market, among experts who can distinguish pure gold from adulterated gold and brass. He should not come to me among people who know nothing of such things.”

They said to me, “We will only do this if you lend us your support.”

I replied, “My support is not with you. Rather, I oppose you and will stand in your way, because your purpose in doing this is to overturn the Sharia of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah Most High bless him and grant him peace. If you have the power to display these things, then do so.”

So they went away humiliated.