that, there are numerous accounts whose description would take too long. As for the doctrine of permissibility—that forbidden things, or some of them, become lawful for those who have attained perfection in knowledge and worship—it is more common than the former belief. This is the doctrine of the leaders of the Bātiniyyah—the Qarmatians, both Ismaili and non-Ismaili—and of many philosophers. Hence, they have become proverbial, and it is said:

“So-and-so regards shedding my blood as lawful, just as the philosophers regard the prohibitions of the revealed laws as lawful.”

It is also the doctrine of many who affiliate themselves with Sufism and speculative theology. Likewise, those who consider themselves or the person they follow superior to the prophets are found in great numbers among the Bātiniyyah, the philosophers, extremist Sufis, and others. A fuller discussion of this belongs elsewhere.] (1).

Overall, these doctrines are condemned by the consensus of the scholars of Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jamā'ah; these and still more heinous doctrines are found (2) among the Shia.

Many ascetics think (3) that they see Allah in this world with their own eyes. The reason is that (4), through remembering Allah Most High and worshipping Him, certain lights (5) arise in the heart of one of them, [by means of which] (6) he becomes oblivious to his outward senses, until he thinks that this [is] something (7) he sees with his physical eye, whereas it exists only within his heart.

Among these people are some to whom the form (8) they see speaks as the Lord,