he made clear that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, had not singled him out for these reports, but had related them to everyone. He said:

“The most knowledgeable among us was the one who remembered best.”

Further evidence of this is the report in the Sunan collections:

“In the year of the conquest, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, had declared the lives of several people forfeit, including ‘Abd Allah ibn Abī Sarh. ‘Uthmān brought him to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, so that he could pledge allegiance to him. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, hesitated for a while before accepting his pledge, then said, ‘Was there no discerning man among you who, seeing me refrain from accepting this man’s pledge, would strike off his head?’

“A man of the Ansār said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, why did you not signal to me?’

“He replied, ‘It is not fitting for a prophet to make a treacherous signal with his eyes.’”

This and similar reports show that the Prophet’s outward conduct and inward disposition, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, were consistent: he did not present people with something contrary to what he concealed within, as the heretics among the philosophizers, the Qarmatians, the misguided ascetics, and others like them claim.

Seventh: He said:

“Among us are those who know yet do not say such things, and this is the loftiest statement. Rather, knowledge and silence bestowed this upon him; inability did not. Such a person possesses the highest knowledge of Allah. This knowledge belongs only to the Seal of the Messengers and the Seal of Allah’s close servants. None of Allah’s close servants or messengers sees it except through the lamp-niche of the final Messenger, and none of Allah’s close servants sees it except through the lamp-niche of the final close servant. Indeed, whenever the messengers see it, they see it only through the lamp-niche of the Seal of Allah’s close servants. For messengership and prophethood—I mean prophethood and messengership that bring legislation—come to an end, whereas closeness to Allah never ends. Thus, in their capacity as Allah’s close servants, the messengers see what we have mentioned only through the lamp-niche of the Seal of Allah’s close servants. What, then, of those close servants who are beneath them? Even though the Seal of Allah’s close servants is a follower