to be genuine miracles, and they exploited them as a gateway to polytheism and to fastening people’s hearts to the performers—whether those performers were still alive or had long since died—until this ultimately spawned the gravest form of idolatry: worshipping graves, sanctifying individuals, and going to extremes in exalting them on account of the wonders and fables they claim for them.

The third camp, however—the people of the Sunnah and the community—struck a balanced path between excess and neglect with respect to miracles. They affirmed whatever miracles are affirmed by the Quran and the Sunnah, yet they did not exaggerate about the people through whom they occur, nor did they attach themselves to them in place of Allah. They do not hold that such individuals are necessarily better than others; rather, there may well be someone superior to them through whom no miracle has ever appeared. They repudiated anything that clashes with the Quran and the Sunnah—trickery, jugglery, fraud, and chicanery—regarding it as the handiwork of Satan, not as miracles granted to the saints. All praise and gratitude belong to Allah for making the truth manifest and exposing falsehood: “so that those who perish might perish upon clear evidence, and those who live might live upon clear evidence; surely Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing.” ⦗1⦘