“Thus they contradicted themselves in their false doctrine and deemed the dog and the donkey superior to the best of creation.” He told me: “They openly curse him and other prophets.”

There is no doubt that they are among the foremost worshippers of Satan and disbelievers in the Most Merciful. It is established in the authentic hadith collection that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“When you hear roosters crowing, ask Allah of His bounty, for they have seen an angel. When you hear a donkey braying or a dog barking, seek refuge in Allah from Satan, for they have seen a devil.”

Thus, when they hear a donkey braying or a dog barking, devils are present, and their prostration is therefore to the devils.

Among them was a distinguished shaykh, one of their most accomplished—but he was not among those who reviled the prophets. He wrote a book entitled Fakk al-Azrār ʿan Aʿnāq al-Asrār (Unfastening the Buttons from the Necks of Mysteries), in which he recounted a conversation he had with Iblīs. Iblīs said to him, in substance:

“You have overcome me and overpowered me,” and words to that effect, “but something happened to me with one of your shaykhs that astonished me. I manifested myself to him and said, ‘I am Allah; there is no god but Me.’ He prostrated to me, and I was astonished that he should do so.”

This shaykh said:

“I told him, ‘That man is the best and most knowledgeable among us. You did not understand his intention. He did not see two in existence; he saw only one, and so he prostrated to that one, making no distinction between Iblīs and anyone else.’”

Thus this shaykh regarded that man who prostrated to Iblīs, making no distinction