and a brick of silver. The silver brick is his outward aspect (1) and the rulings in which he follows the Messenger, just as inwardly he receives from Allah what, in its outward form (2), he follows; for he sees the matter as it truly is and must therefore see it in this way. This is the place of the golden brick inwardly, for he receives from the same source from which the angel receives—the angel [through whom] (3) revelation is conveyed to the Messenger.”
He said (4): “If you understand what we have alluded to (5), you will have acquired beneficial knowledge (6).”
I say: We have refuted these people at length elsewhere and laid bare their misguidance and illusion, hypocrisy and heretical unbelief.
As for those who maintain a particular union, some of them declare it openly. As for one who possesses knowledge of the [manifest] scriptural texts (7) and sees that this contradicts what Muslims outwardly profess, he treats it as something to be conveyed only through allusion and symbolism, not openly divulged. Then, if he reveres the Messenger and the Quran, [he assumes that the Messenger] (8) held this view but did not divulge it, because it is something human beings cannot disclose. If, however, he is