and their views have already been explained. These people combine error with depravity: the depraved appetites of their bellies and sexual organs, together with trials that lead astray.

A hadith reports that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“What I fear most for you is the depraved appetites of your bellies and sexual organs.”

This can go so far that one of them becomes infatuated with beardless youths and claims that the Lord Most High has manifested Himself in one of them. They say, “He is the monk in the hermitage,” and, “These are manifestations of beauty.” One of them kisses a beardless youth and says, “You are Allah.”

It is reported that one of them used to have intercourse with his son and claim that he was Allah, Lord of all worlds, or that he had created the heavens and the earth. One of them says to his companion, “You created this, and you are He,” and other such things. May Allah disgrace a group whose god, whom they worship, is the very one with whom they have intercourse and whom they take to bed! Upon them is the curse of Allah, the angels, and all mankind. Allah will accept neither sarf nor ʿadl from them.

Anyone who says, “Their words contain a hidden secret and an inward truth, and this belongs to realities accessible only to the most select of the select among creation,” is one of two kinds of men: either one of the foremost heretics devoted to unbelief and al-mahāll, or one of the foremost people of ignorance and error. The heretic must be put to death. The ignorant person is to be informed of the true state of affairs; if he persists in this false belief after the proof has been established against him, he must be put to death.