is what takes shape within the prophet’s soul as luminous forms. Thus they say that the prophet receives knowledge from those images of the imagination, which, in their view, constitute the angel. Whoever receives intelligible meanings from the immaterial intellect is therefore greater and more perfect than someone who receives them from imagined representations. These people adopted the doctrines of those heretical philosophers and followed the path of spiritual discipline. They then began speaking of those heretical philosophical matters, presenting them in the guise of unveilings and communications.
What they have said about the Seal of the Saints has no basis in reality. Although al-Hakīm al-Tirmidhī mentioned it in his book Khātam al-Awliyā’ (The Seal of the Saints), he committed an error in that book that is well known to people of understanding, knowledge, and faith. These matters are discussed at length elsewhere.
No one may narrate or relate these hadiths and similar reports, which scholars recognize as lies and fabrications—especially when their falsity is established by reason; indeed, they are mere figments of the mind—except to explain that they are false. As authentically reported in the Sahīh, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:
“Whoever narrates a hadith from me while believing it to be a lie is one of the liars.”
Those in authority must prevent these reports from being related anywhere. Whoever persists in doing so must receive a severe punishment that deters him and others like him from lying about the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, his Companions, his household, and other people of knowledge and religion. And Allah knows best.