That was because he imagined that he himself was Allah, and that there was no return or going back to Him beyond the state he was already in. But when Allah’s angels came to draw his soul from his body, and there appeared to him from Allah what he had never expected, it became clear to him that his former beliefs were a jumble of dreams from Satan.

Likewise, one of our companions related to me, through someone I know who has connections with these people, that the wicked al-Tilimsānī underwent a change and became agitated as death approached. The informant said:

“I went in to see him as he lay dying and found him groaning. I asked him, ‘Why are you groaning?’

“He replied, ‘For fear of loss.’

“I said, ‘Glory be to Allah! Someone like you fears loss, when you take a spiritual seeker into seclusion and bring him to Allah in three days?’

“He replied with words to this effect: ‘All of that has vanished, and I have found no reality in it.’”

Seventh:

These hypocritical heretics regard claims of divinity as valid, whether made by a human being such as Pharaoh or the awaited Dajjāl, or made on behalf of someone else. Such a person may be one of Allah’s friends—a prophet, such as the Messiah, or someone who is not a prophet, such as ʿAlī—or may not be one of Allah’s friends, such as al-Hākim in Egypt and others.

The author of al-Fusūs explicitly affirmed the validity of such claims, including Pharaoh’s claim. They frequently exalt Pharaoh, for no earlier leader of theirs in unbelief has equaled him, nor will any later one equal the one-eyed, lying Dajjāl. When they hypocritically profess faith before the believers, they say that Pharaoh died a believer and will not enter the Fire. They also say, “There is nothing in the Quran indicating that he will enter the Fire.”