For them, no real distinction remains between what is commanded and what is forbidden. Rather, they agree with Jahm and those who adopt his position—such as al-Ashʿarī—that nothing is good or bad in itself. Goodness and badness consist solely in a thing’s being commanded or forbidden. This distinction concerns the servant’s own interests, whereas these people claim to have effaced all concern for personal interests.

Sometimes they say that observing the commands and prohibitions belongs to the station of talbīs (disguise), or something similar, as appears in the writings of Abū Ismāʿīl al-Harawī, author of Manāzil al-sāʾirīn (The Stations of the Wayfarers). At other times they say that one does this for the inmates of the madhouse—meaning ordinary people—as Shaykh al-Maghribī says. There are other forms of this approach that this is not the place to discuss at length.

Even when someone following their path holds the commands and prohibitions in high regard, the most he can say is what is reported from al-Shādhilī:

“Let your heart witness unity, while your tongue expresses distinction.”

Thus, his writings and those of others contain statements, supplications, and devotional litanies that entail setting aside the commands and prohibitions. For example, he may pray that Allah grant him something greater when he disobeys Him than He grants him when he obeys Him, and other such supplications implying that, in his view, it is permissible for Him to make