…what it has conceptualized of the objects it knows. They further believe that the celestial spheres, the separate intellects, and the souls are everlasting; accordingly, they located the soul’s perfection in knowing those beings whose permanence they assume. Those among them who have inched closer to Islam claim instead that its perfection lies in knowing wājib al-wujūd (the Necessary Being). This is much the same as the view of Jahm ibn Ṣafwān and those who followed him, namely, that faith is nothing more than bare knowledge of Allah.
We have treated this issue in detail elsewhere—among other places, in our reply to the Ṣafadī question—showing that they are mistaken on several counts: they suppose that the soul’s perfection consists exclusively in knowledge; they imagine that such perfection is attained through awareness of abstract universals rather than concrete, particular existents; and they presume that what they possess in matters of divinity is real knowledge, whereas most of it is ignorance. Hence their ultimate aspiration is to imitate the celestial sphere.
For the same reason, whenever one of them writes about prayer, he states that its purpose is not the worship of Allah or calling upon Him—for, in their view, He does not know particulars and does not distinguish between one who prays and one who does not. The aim of prayer, they say, is to gain knowledge of absolute existence, which they regard as the soul’s perfection, while the outward performance of prayer merely disciplines and trains the body. Thus they instruct a person to petition the moon and seek refuge with it, contending that it manages this world through the mediation of the ‘aql fa‘‘āl (Active Intellect); that, for them, is the “lord” to be asked and in whom refuge is to be sought, and from whom knowledge overflows upon prophets and others.
At other times they say that the purpose of prayer is only to recall the code laid down by the Lawgiver, so that the order He instituted for their worldly benefit may be preserved—a notion voiced by Ibn Sīnā and others. They do not affirm that Allah hears His servants’ words, sees their deeds, or answers their prayers. Supplication, in their eyes, is nothing but the soul’s manipulation of the world’s hayūlá (prime matter): to the extent that the soul busies itself with detaching from the body, it attains a degree of separation whereby it can act upon that prime matter. As for the Lord—exalted be He—they do not consider Him All-Knowing of everything or All-Powerful over everything; in their estimation He does not know what is secret or whispered, and so on…