the Shari'a, said that it was "baseless." However, you may refer to the Fourth Premise for the well-known ascriptions to Ibn 'Abbas. [^33] Its relevance will become clear to you. Nevertheless, just as everything Ibn 'Abbas said did not have to be a Hadith, so everything he related did not have to be acceptable. For in his youth, he used some israiliyat in order to disclose certain truths by means of stories.

[^33]:For Ibn 'Abbas, see page 31 fn 11, above.

If you ask: "The Sufi verifiers of reality depicted Qāf [Mountain] in many ways, didn't they?"

I say in reply: The renowned World of Similitudes is where they make their peregrinations. They slip out of their bodies as we take off our clothes, and journeying in the spirit gaze on its strange wonders. As for Qāf, it is represented in that world as they describe it. Like the heavens and its stars may be displayed in a small piece of glass, even tiny things in this Manifest World — for instance seeds become huge trees in the World of Similitudes through the embodiment of meanings and its effects. The laws of the two realms should not be confused. Those familiar with the gist of Muhyi al-Din 'Arabi's [^34] ideas will affirm this. So if you want to learn the worth of what has gained currency among the common people or those who resemble them: that Qāf encompasses the earth and is numerous; that between the two is a five-hundred-year distance; and that its peak touches the skies; go and light the lamp of the Third Premise, then come back here and enter the darkness. Perhaps you'll espy it's eloquence, like the water of life.

[^34]:Muḥyī al-Dīn ibn al-'Arabī (d. 638/1240). Known as al-Shaykh al-Akbar, he was one of the most influential Sufis of all time. The most famous of his numerous works are al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya fi asrār al-mālikiyya wa'l- mulkiyya and Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam wa khuṣūṣ al-kilam. He was born in Murcia in Andalucia, and died in Damascus.

If you want to understand my conviction concerning this matter, know that I have decided that Qāf [Mountain] exists, but I'll pass over what it is in reality. If there is a sound, unanimously reported Hadith explaining this, I'll believe that what the Prophet (UWBP) meant is right and true and real. But what he intended, not what