Indeed, I used to say:

“If the person addressing us were someone who preferred Abraham, Moses, or Jesus over Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, that would be a tremendous calamity that Muslims could not bear. What, then, of someone who prefers a man from Muhammad’s community over Muhammad and all the prophets and messengers in the noblest branch of knowledge, and claims that they draw this knowledge from his lamp-niche?”

This knowledge is the very height of heresy and unbelief. The person who gives him this preference is among the most misguided of Adam’s descendants and the furthest from the straight path, even though he has spoken at length, written numerous works, possesses knowledge of many things, and holds sway over the hearts of groups engaged in philosophy, Sufism, speculative theology, and jurisprudence, as well as ordinary people. In the eyes of those endowed with knowledge and faith, these words are among the most grievously misguided statements. And Allah knows best.

It has become clear that these words contain disbelief, disparagement of the messengers, contempt for them, and belittlement of them—indeed, disbelief in them and in what they brought—in a manner that cannot escape any believer’s notice. One of the foremost learned men told me that he heard Shaykh Ibrāhīm al-Ja‘barī—may Allah have mercy on him—say:

“I saw Ibn ‘Arabī—a filthy shaykh—denying every Book Allah had revealed and every prophet Allah had sent.”

He certainly spoke the truth, but this is only one of the forms of disbelief he mentioned.

Likewise, Abū Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Salām’s statement:

“He is an evil, contemptible shaykh, a liar