They also say that this is the secret of divine decree, and that Allah Most High knew things only by seeing them established in nonexistence, outside His sacred Self.

They say that Allah Most High cannot change a single particle in the world, and that they may know things from the same source through which Allah, glorified be He, knew them. Their knowledge and Allah’s knowledge would thus come from one source. They also say that they are superior to the Seal of the Messengers in certain respects, because they draw from the source from which the angel through whom the messengers receive revelation was drawn.

They say that they have never worshipped anyone other than Allah, that it is inconceivable for them to worship anyone other than Allah Most High, and that idol worshippers have worshipped none but Allah, glorified be He. They claim that His words:

“Your Lord has decreed that you worship none but Him”

mean that He determined this, not that He commanded it. Thus, in every object of worship, none but Allah has been worshipped, for whatever Allah Most High decrees necessarily comes to pass.

They say that calling people to Allah Most High is a deception practised upon those being called, for He was not absent at the outset, such that one should be called to Him at the end. They say that Noah’s people declared:

“Never abandon your gods, and never abandon Wadd or Suwā'”

because, had they abandoned them, they would have abandoned the Real to the same extent. For the Real has an aspect in every object of worship, recognized by those who recognize it and denied by those who deny it. They say that differentiation and multiplicity are like the limbs of a physical form and the immaterial faculties of a spiritual form, and that the gnostic among them knows whom he has worshipped and in what form He appeared to be worshipped.

For the ignorant person says, “This is stone and tree,” whereas the gnostic says, “This is a locus of divine manifestation that ought to be revered.” He therefore does not confine himself, for the Christians became unbelievers only because they singled out