and that idol worshippers erred only by confining their worship to certain manifestations, whereas the gnostic worships everything. Allah, too, worships everything, for things are His nourishment in respect of names and determinations, while He is their nourishment in respect of existence. He needs them, and they need Him; in this sense, He is the intimate friend of everything. They make Allah’s most beautiful names mere relations and connections between existence and established reality, and not nonexistent entities.

They say:

“Among His most beautiful names is the Most High. Exalted beyond what, when there is nothing but Him? And above what, when there is nothing other than Him? The name therefore designates originated things, which are exalted in themselves and are none other than He. He has had intercourse with none but Himself and has slaughtered none but Himself; the speaker is the very same as the listener.”

They also say that Moses rebuked Aaron only for forbidding them to worship the calf, because of Aaron’s limited understanding and lack of breadth, whereas Moses had broader knowledge and thus knew that they had worshipped none but Allah. They say that the highest object of worship is desire, and that whoever takes his own desire as his god has worshipped none but Allah. In their view, Pharaoh was one of the greatest gnostics, and the magicians affirmed the truth of his words:

“I am your lord, the most high,”

and his words:

“I know of no god for you other than myself.”

I used to expose their position in discussions with some learned men who had gone astray, saying that the reality of their position was precisely that of Pharaoh, who denied the existence of the Creator and Maker, until someone reported to me from many of their leading figures that they acknowledge this and say, “We adhere to Pharaoh’s position.”