‘We make no distinction between them. It is only these veiled people who believe such things to be unlawful. So we say that they are unlawful for them according to their own beliefs; as for us, nothing is unlawful.’”

Kamāl al-Dīn al-Marāghī related to me his discussion of this doctrine with al-Tilimsānī, saying:

“I was studying these writings under him, for they had spoken of him to us with great reverence, and we were eager to understand Fusūs al-Hikam (The Bezels of Wisdom). When he began explaining it to me, I would say, ‘This contradicts the Quran and the hadiths.’ He replied, ‘Cast all of that behind the door, and come with a pure heart so that you may receive this divine oneness’—or words to that effect. Then he became afraid that I would circulate what he had said, so he came to me weeping and said, ‘Keep what you heard from me concealed.’”

Kamāl al-Dīn also related to me that he met Shaykh Abū al-Abbās al-Shādhilī, a disciple of Shaykh Abū al-Hasan, who said concerning al-Tilimsānī:

“These men are unbelievers. They believe that the creation is the Creator.”

He continued:

“I had resolved to enter spiritual seclusion under his guidance, so I said, ‘I am not adopting this doctrine from him; I am only learning from him the proper conduct of seclusion.’ He said to me, ‘You are like someone who seeks access to the sultan through a furnace attendant and a refuse collector. If it is the refuse collector who brings him close to the sultan, what standing will he have with the sultan?’”

He also related to us:

“Chief Judge Taqī al-Dīn Ibn Daqīq al-Īd said to me, ‘The Tatars gained control of the eastern lands only because philosophy had become widespread among their inhabitants and because of the weakening of