And they say: “The existence of idols is the existence of Allah, and those who worship idols worship nothing but Allah.”

They also say: “The Real is described by every deficient and blameworthy attribute ascribed to created beings.”

They say that those who worshipped the calf worshipped none but Allah, and that Moses rebuked Aaron because Aaron had condemned their worship of the calf. They claim that Moses was among those possessing spiritual knowledge who see the Real in everything—indeed, who see Him as everything itself—and that Pharaoh spoke truthfully when he said:

“I am your lord, the Most High.”

Indeed, they say that he is the Real Himself, along with similar statements made by the author of the Fusūs.

The foremost of their masters of true realization says: “The entire Quran is polytheism, because it distinguishes between the Lord and the servant. Monotheism is found only in our words.”

He was asked: “If existence is one, why is a wife lawful and a mother forbidden?”

He replied: “To us, all are one. But these veiled people said, ‘Forbidden,’ so we said, ‘Forbidden to you.’”

The same is found in Ibn al-Fārid’s poetry, in the ode he entitled Nazm al-Sulūk (The Poem of the Spiritual Path), such as his words:

To her I offer my prayers at the station … and witness in them that she has prayed to me.
We both are one who prays, prostrating … to his own reality in unity, in every prostration.