of the legislation brought by the Seal of the Messengers as regards legal rulings, this does not detract from his station or contradict our position, for in one respect he is lower, just as in another he is higher”—up to his words: “And when the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, likened prophethood to a wall made of bricks.”

These words contain forms of heresy, disbelief, and disparagement of the prophets and messengers that neither the Jews nor the Christians would utter.

How closely his words here resemble the saying he mentioned, “The roof fell down upon them from beneath them,” which he described as “neither reason nor Quran.” Likewise, his assertion here—that the prophets and messengers acquire knowledge from the Seal of Allah’s close servants, who comes after them—contradicts reason, for those who come earlier do not acquire knowledge from those who come later.

It also contradicts the revealed law, for it is necessarily known in the religion of Islam that the prophets and messengers are superior to Allah’s close servants who are neither prophets nor messengers.

He may claim that the knowledge he possesses is the highest knowledge. This is the doctrine of the oneness of existence: that the existence of the Creator is the very existence of creation. In reality, it amounts to negating and denying the Maker—the very doctrine that Pharaoh openly professed. It was not enough for him to claim that this was true; he went on to claim that it was the highest knowledge. Nor was that enough for him; he further claimed that the messengers perceive it only through the lamp-niche of the Seal of Allah’s close servants. Thus, he made the Seal of Allah’s close servants more knowledgeable about Allah than all the prophets and messengers, and made them perceive knowledge of Allah through his lamp-niche.

He then began to explain this, saying:

“For messengership and prophethood—I mean prophethood and messengership that bring legislation—