"An Issue for the Exotericists (Ahl al-Zahir)"

It is said to the Exotericists [or: The Exotericists say]:

This Messenger inevitably falls into one of two categories: either he is of the same kind as those to whom he was sent, or he is of the same kind as the One who sent him.

If you say: "He is of the same kind as those to whom he was sent," then he is a human like them, a created being (muhdath). How, then, did he understand the command and prohibition from the Eternal (al-Qadim)? We observe that a created being does not understand another created being—even when they are not disparate [in essence]—just as an Arab does not understand a non-Arab, a non-Arab does not understand a Roman, and a Roman does not understand a Berber, despite there being no difference between them in kind or in form.

Yet the Eternal is disparate (mubayin) from the created; so how did he understand from Him?

And if you say: "He is of the same kind as the One who sent him," then he has shared with Him in eternity, and that is impossible.