“On the authority of Abd al-Rahman bin Abi Najran, who said: 'I asked Abu Ja‘far, glorified is his glory, concerning monotheism, and I said to him: "I conceptualize in my mind an entity that is neither limited nor graspable by intellect."' He, glorified is his glory, replied:

'Whatever thing your conceptualization settles upon, He is completely contrary to it; nothing resembles Him, concepts cannot grasp Him, and He cannot be pictured within a conscience. He is entirely contrary to whatever is pictured within conceptualizations, for you cannot conceptualize an entity that is neither subject to sensory perception nor to limitation.'”

And Sheikh Mahmud Sulayman al-Khatib stated in his commentary on the verse of the scribe al-Baghdadi:

“And purify the heart from the filth of doubts and from

The worship of conceptual illusion and Satan.”

He, Allah sanctified his secret, stated:

“He warns against corrupt doctrines such as the worship of conceptual illusion (‘ibādat al-wahm)—which is the absolute unseen realm and the negation of outward manifestation—and the worship of Satan,