and the Ismā'īlīs, go on to resemble the Sabian philosophers, then fall into polytheism, and then into denial of the True One, Most High. Excessive veneration of human beings, innovation in worship, and departure from the Sharia partake of their polytheism, each to its corresponding degree—as seen among the heretics who profess divine union and the extremists among the various groups of devotees.
When morning came, I went to the appointed meeting. I preferred not to bring anyone along to support me, but some of the companions who had been present also went. Allah is the One who brings about all causes.
I later learned that they had visited a number of senior emirs and resorted to their customary deception and fabrication, through which they had gained sway over most of the world’s dignitaries and leaders. They claimed, for example, that they possessed spiritual states in which none of Allah’s friends could rival them; that they followed a path unknown to any scholar; that their shaykh stood among the shaykhs as a caliph; and that these lofty accounts gave them precedence over everyone else. They also claimed that anyone who censured them merely adhered to the outward Law without reaching its inner realities and mysteries; that they had one path and he another; and that they were the ones who had reached the very heart of spiritual realization. Such were their ornate and embellished claims.
Owing to their widespread presence throughout the lands and their sway over kings, emirs, and soldiers, as the light of Islam had become obscured and most people had exchanged light for darkness,