acts of obedience, and call upon their Lord with hope and fear. They avoid what He has forbidden, observe His limits, and seek Allah’s forgiveness and repent to Him for falling short in fulfilling His commands and transgressing His limits. They do so knowing that repentance is always obligatory upon His servants, and following the example of their Prophet, who says in an authentic hadith:

“O people, repent to your Lord! By Him in whose hand is my soul, I seek Allah’s forgiveness and repent to Him a hundred times a day.”

Another narration states:

“More than seventy times.”

The last surah revealed to him was:

“When Allah’s help comes and the conquest, and you see people entering Allah’s religion in multitudes, then glorify your Lord with praise and seek His forgiveness. Indeed, He is ever Accepting of Repentance.”

Once these two principles are understood, they provide the foundation for answering the statements contained in this question and identifying the errors that have entered into these matters.

The statement, “Allah made His essence subtle and called it ‘the Real,’ and unveiled it and called it ‘creation,’” is among the claims of those who advocate the oneness of existence, divine indwelling, and union, and it is false. If the subtle is identical to the dense, then the Real is creation, and there is neither a making subtle nor a making dense. If, however, the subtle is distinct from the dense, then the distinction between the Real and creation is established—and this is the truth. In that case, the Real cannot be creation. It is therefore inconceivable that the essence of the Real should be creation in any respect, just as the essence of a created being cannot be the essence of the Creator in any respect.

The same applies to the other person’s statement:

“He manifested Himself in them in reality, and was concealed from them metaphorically.”

If the One who manifests is distinct from the loci of His manifestation, then the distinction between the Lord and the servant is established. If neither is distinct from the other, then neither manifestation nor concealment is conceivable.