of Allah and obedient to Him in doing so; they would therefore be praised for it, not condemned. This is the height of ignorance and disbelief.

Likewise, among those who go to extremes concerning themselves and their shaykhs, one finds people who resemble the Christians and the Rāfidah: they make the most extravagant claims while displaying the utmost impotence. As the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said in an authentic hadith:

“There are three to whom Allah will not speak or look on the Day of Resurrection (1), nor will He purify them, and they will suffer a painful punishment: an elderly adulterer, a lying king, and a conceited pauper.”

Another wording has, “a destitute man (2) puffed up with pride,” while another has, “and an arrogant destitute man.” (3) This is what some common people mean when they say, “Poverty and swagger.” (4)

The same is true of shaykhs given to grandiose claims and extravagant utterances: one of them claims divinity and a status above prophethood, strips the Lord of His lordship and the Prophet of his mission, then (5) ends up a beggar asking for enough to keep himself alive (6), or a frightened man who seeks the aid of an oppressor to ward off an injustice committed against him. He is thus in need (7) of a morsel of food and fears a mere word. How utterly incompatible are such poverty and humiliation with a claim to lordship, which entails self-sufficiency and might!

Such is the condition (8) of the polytheists of whom Allah says:

“Whoever associates partners with Allah is as though he had fallen from the sky and been snatched away by birds, or swept by the wind into a distant place.”

[Surah al-Hajj: 31].