rather than as a meaning conveyed by the wording. This is a form of analogy: what the jurists call analogy, the Sufis call allusion. This can be sound or unsound, just as analogy can.

Thus, suppose someone hears Allah’s words:

“None touch it except the purified,”

understands this to refer to the Preserved Tablet or a written copy of the Quran, and says: “Just as the Preserved Tablet, on which the letters of the Quran are written, is touched only by a pure body, so the meanings of the Quran are tasted only by pure hearts—the hearts of the God-fearing.” This is a sound meaning and a sound lesson to draw. Accordingly, this is reported from a number of the early generations. Allah Most High says:

“Alif Lām Mīm.”

“This is the Book about which there is no doubt, a guidance for the God-fearing.”

He also says:

“This is a clear statement to mankind, and guidance and admonition for the God-fearing.”

And:

“By it Allah guides those who seek His good pleasure to the ways of peace.”

There are other similar passages.

Likewise, someone may cite the saying:

“Angels do not enter a house containing a dog or a person in a state of major ritual impurity,”

and draw from it the lesson that the realities of faith do not enter a heart containing things that defile it, such as arrogance and envy. In this, he is correct. Allah Most High says:

“Those are the ones whose hearts Allah does not wish to purify.”

Allah Most High also says:

“I will turn away from My signs those who act arrogantly upon the earth without right. Even if they see every sign, they will not believe in it. If they see the way of right guidance, they will not take it as their way; but if they see the way of error, they will take it as their way.”

There are other similar passages.

The book Haqā’iq al-Tafsīr (The Realities of Quranic Exegesis), by Abū ‘Abd al-Rahmān al-Sulamī, contains three kinds of material: