Know that the secret of sincerity is the secret of destiny, the knowledge of which God has hidden from the world, nay, from most of the world, so He distinguished things according to their limits. This is the meaning of the secret of destiny, for it is the same determination, and by it things are distinguished, and by it the Creator is distinguished from the created, and the innovator is distinguished from the ancient, so the innovator is distinguished by a fixed adjective that knows and bears witness, and what is distinguished. The ancient is from the hadith by means of an established attribute of knowing. Rather, he is distinguished by negating what the hadith has distinguished from him and nothing else. He is the known, Glory be to Him, the unknown, and no one knows except Him and no one is ignorant except Him. Glory be to Him whose knowledge is the same as ignorance of Him, and ignorance of Him is the same as knowledge of Him, and greater than this distinction cannot be nor cl