to say, as the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Indeed, Allah has said through the tongue of His Prophet, ‘Allah hears whoever praises Him.’”

Both the sender and the messenger may be said to speak through the other’s tongue. Thus, Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal said to al-Marwadhī, “Say whatever you wish on my behalf.” Likewise, one may say, “This man says such-and-such on the ruler’s behalf.” The meaning of such expressions is understood.

But to claim that Allah Himself speaks through a human being, as a jinn speaks through the tongue of a possessed person, is outright disbelief. If, however, such words come from someone who has lost his reason and is exempt from accountability because he is utterly overwhelmed in a state of self-effacement and spiritual intoxication, then he has spoken while exempt from accountability in those states. Although the statement is false, its speaker is not held accountable.

Something like this may happen to someone whose reason is weak and who is overpowered by love. Thus, it is related that a beloved threw himself into the sea, and his lover threw himself in after him. The beloved said, “I fell in; why did you follow me in?” He replied, “So absorbed was I in you that I lost awareness of myself and thought that you were me.”

Some people may reach a state in which absorption in the One they worship makes them lose awareness of their worship; absorption in the One they remember makes them lose awareness of their remembrance; and absorption in the One they know makes them lose awareness of their knowledge. If such a person loses his discernment and his reason—to the point that he is exempt from accountability—he is not punished for what he says in this state, even though it is known to be error and misguidance, and a deficient state that does not occur among the friends of Allah.