established Himself above the Throne - the Most Merciful, so ask about Him one well-informed»¹. Make known to me: if a questioner asked you about a path you did not know, did not experience, did not witness, and did not tread, yet you pointed him to it and guided him to it while you were ignorant in knowing it—were you correct in that or mistaken?" I said to him: "Nay, not correct." He said: "Were you truthful or a liar?" I said to him: "Nay, a liar." He asked: "Rewarded or a sinner?" I said: "Nay, a sinner." He asked: "Well-informed or ignorant?" I said: "Ignorant." He asked: "And why is that?" I said: "Because I guided him to a path I did not know, did not witness, and did not experience." He said to me: "And even if you hit upon the [correct] opinion by your guidance and the truth was in what you said, you would still be a sinner and an evildoer." I asked: "And why is that?" He said: "Because of His saying, Exalted Glory: «That He may ask the truthful about their truth. And He has prepared for the disbelievers a painful punishment»²."

He said: "Another question." I said: "What is it?" He asked: "What do you say regarding a man who testifies to what he does not know and has not recognized?" I said to him: "Allah — Exalted Glory — has forbidden that." He said: "The Master — Exalted Glory — said, among those who speak: «And do not pursue that of which you have no knowledge. Indeed, the hearing, the sight and the heart - about all those [one] will be questioned»³. So, He forbade us that a human should testify to what he does not know and has not heard of except from a gnostic, well-informed scholar. He forbade that a human should inform of what he has not seen nor realized. He mentioned that the hearing, the sight, and the heart are questioned regarding testifying without knowledge. He said, narrating of the brothers of Joseph: «Return to your father and say, "O our father, indeed your son has stolen, and we did not testify except to what we knew, and we were