expertise in magic and sīmiyāʾ (illusion magic), so the Muslims put him to death for heresy at Aleppo in the time of Saladin.

Likewise, Ibn Sabʿīn, who came from the Maghreb to Mecca, sought to become a prophet. He restored the Cave of Hirāʾ, where revelation first descended upon the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace. It is related that he used to say, “The son of Āmina was indeed foul-tongued (1) when he said, ‘There is no prophet after me.’”

B

He was also highly accomplished in philosophy, the Sufism of the philosophers, and related subjects.

Ultimately, he, Ibn ʿArabī, and others like them—such as Sadr al-Qūnawī, Ibn al-Fārid, and al-Tilimsānī—upheld the doctrine of the oneness of existence. They maintained that necessary existence (2)—the beginningless Creator—is the very same as contingent existence—the originated creature. There is nothing there—no other (3) and none besides. Yet when they observed the multiplicity of creatures, they sometimes resorted to saying, “Manifestations and loci of disclosure.”

When they are told, “If these manifestations constitute something existent, existence would be multiple (4); otherwise, they would then have no reality,” or are presented with similar arguments demonstrating that existence falls into two categories—the Creator and the created—they say, “Through our mystical unveiling, we affirm what contradicts plain reason, and anyone who