Thus, as for the speaker’s phrase:

“the elimination of temporal origination” (1):

If by this he means that what is temporally originated is nonexistent, this is a denial of the obvious. If, however, he means removing what is temporally originated from the servant’s heart, so that nothing remains therein but the Pre-eternal One, then if he means the Essence of the Pre-eternal One, this is the doctrine of the Nestorian Christians. But if what is meant is knowledge of Him, faith in Him, and affirmation of His oneness—or if one speaks of a representation of Him, a conceptual representation (2), His light, or something similar—then this meaning is sound. The hearts of those who affirm Allah’s oneness are filled with this; however, the pre-eternal Lord’s Essence and His attributes subsisting in Him are not within their hearts.

As for the proponents of universal union, they say, “Nothing exists except pre-eternal existence.” This is the doctrine of the Jahmiyya.

Abū Ismāīl did not intend this, for in several places in his books he explicitly declared these Jahmiyya who affirm divine indwelling to be disbelievers—the ones who say that Allah, in His Essence, is in every place. He was only alluding to something peculiar to certain people. Hence, he said:

“He caused a glimmer of it to flash into the innermost hearts of a group of His elect.”

[Discussion of Seeing Allah Most High]

Many worshippers, Sufis, and people of spiritual states have fallen into specific union and indwelling. For they (3) are suddenly confronted by something they are incapable of recognizing, and their intellects are too weak to distinguish its true nature, so they imagine it to be the Essence of the Real. Many of them imagine that they have seen Allah with their own eyes. Some of them recount His addresses to them (4) and His admonitions (5). All of that arises solely within their hearts from the