Another group recognized them and appealed to divine decree, believing that there was an inward path to Allah other than the path of the prophets.

A third group could not accept that friends of Allah could lie outside the Messenger’s authority, so they said: “The Messenger himself supplies aid to both factions—to these and to those.” These people revere the Messenger but are ignorant of his religion and revealed Law, whereas the preceding group permits following a religion other than his and a path other than his.

These three views were current in Damascus when Acre was conquered. It subsequently became clear that these people were followers of devils, that the “men of the unseen” were jinn, and that those accompanying the unbelievers were devils. Any human who sided with them was one of their kind: a human devil, among the enemies of the prophets. As the Most High says:

“And thus We have appointed for every prophet enemies—devils from humankind and jinn—who inspire one another with embellished speech to deceive.”

The cause of this misguidance was the failure to distinguish between the friends of the Most Merciful and the allies of Satan. Its root was the doctrine of the Jahmiyyah, who place all created beings on an equal footing, making no distinction between what Allah loves and what incurs His wrath. Many things then occurred that would take too long to describe. When Ghāzān, who had embraced Islam, came to Damascus, further matters came to light, and it became apparent that