And my hand delights (1) whenever it passes over my body,
For in truth, I am none other than you.
*) (2)

Since the Christians’ doctrine, when voiced among Muslims, was manifestly false, the proponents of this doctrine of union could not speak of it as the Christians did. Instead, for them it became something to be witnessed but not uttered—one of the secrets they were forbidden to divulge. Whoever divulged the secret was to be killed.

Some of them may say: “When al-Hallāj divulged (3) this secret, his execution became obligatory.” For this reason, he said (4):

“It is an affirmation of divine oneness that the Real reserved exclusively for Himself and merited in accordance with His true measure. He caused a glimmer of it to flash into the innermost hearts of a group of His elect, rendered them speechless from describing it, and made them incapable of divulging it.”

In reply, it is said: As for the Real affirming His own oneness (5) by Himself—that is, His knowledge of Himself and His speech in which He speaks of Himself—as in His statement:

“Allah bears witness that there is no god but Him” [Surah Āl Imrān: 18],

and His statement:

“Indeed, I am Allah. There is no god but Me, so worship Me” [Surah Tā Hā: 14],

that is an attribute subsisting in Him, just as all His other attributes—His life, His power, and so forth—subsist in Him.

That attribute never separates from the Lord’s Essence and passes to another. Indeed, even a created being’s attributes do not separate from its essence and pass to another, so how could the Creator’s attributes do so?!