expression outwardly while inwardly disbelieving in its meaning. They reinterpreted it according to their own foundational doctrine—that of the Sabians—and became hypocrites among the Muslims and among the adherents of other religions.

They say: “This Quran is the speech of Allah, and what the messengers brought is the speech of Allah. But this means that it emanated upon the soul of the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—from the Active Intellect.” Sometimes they say that this intellect is Gabriel, who is “not withholding knowledge of the unseen”—that is, not miserly—because it pours forth abundantly. They say that Allah spoke to Moses from the heaven of his intellect, and that those who practise spiritual discipline and attain purity can reach the point of hearing what Moses heard, just as Moses heard it. Many prominent figures were led astray by his words, including Abū Hāmid al-Ghazālī, who mentioned this idea in some of his books.

They composed the Epistles of the Brethren of Purity and other works, in which they claimed to reconcile the doctrines of the later Sabians—namely, their innovated philosophy—with what the messengers brought from Allah. They thus presented what they claimed was rationally established, although much of it has no supporting proof. Sometimes they claimed that it was based on transmitted reports.

It contains an enormous amount of falsehood and distortion. They lead many astray through it only by means of the matters of natural science and mathematics it contains, which have no bearing on prophethood and the divine message, either to negate or to affirm them. These matters do, however, serve worldly interests, as do crafts such as farming, weaving, building, sewing and the like.