anything I am to do as I hesitate over taking the soul of My believing servant: he dislikes death, and I dislike causing him distress, yet he must undergo it.’”

The proponents of the unity of existence invoke this hadith as evidence, yet it is evidence against them in many respects. Among them is that He said:

“Whoever shows enmity toward a friend of Mine has challenged Me to war.”

He thus affirmed Himself, His friend, and His friend’s enemy: these are three. Then He said:

“Nothing by which My servant draws near to Me compares with fulfilling what I have made obligatory upon him. My servant continues to draw near to Me through voluntary acts of worship until I love him.”

He thus affirmed a servant who draws near to Him through obligatory acts, then through voluntary acts, and who continues drawing near through voluntary acts until He loves him. When He loves him, the servant hears through Him, sees through Him, strikes through Him, and walks through Him.

According to these people, however, both before the servant draws near through voluntary acts and afterward, He is the very servant himself and every other created being. Thus, He is the servant’s abdomen and thigh; they do not restrict this to the four bodily members mentioned in the hadith. The hadith concerns a particular, qualified state, whereas they make an unrestricted, universal claim. How far apart the two are!

Likewise, they may invoke the following passage from the authentic hadith:

“Allah manifests Himself to them on the Day of Resurrection, then comes to them in a form other than the form in which they saw Him the first time. He says, ‘I am your Lord.’ They say, ‘We seek refuge in Allah from you. We shall remain here until our Lord comes to us. When our Lord comes, we shall recognize Him.’ Then He comes to them in the form in which they saw Him the first time and says, ‘I am your Lord.’ They say, ‘You are our Lord.’”

They make this evidence for their assertion that He is seen in this world in every form—indeed, that He is every form.