Yusuf bin Ali, Sheikh al-Islam: I am fasting throughout life, and I break my fast.

Al-Ghazali was born in 1056 CE / 448 AH, while al-Ma'arri died in 450 AH. How could he recite it for himself when he was not yet born? This book, even if it is attributed to al-Ghazali, does not lose its validity as a document from another perspective. This is what we will explain later.

And if we then move on to the testimonies of eyewitnesses contemporary to the two men, we find the testimony of Ibn al-Arabi, who made a journey to the East at the end of the fifth century. When Abd al-Mu'min bin Ali asked him, upon his arrival with the delegation of Seville to pledge allegiance to him, if he had seen him. He said to him: "What did Abu Hamid say about him?" He said: "He said that this Berber must appear." However, this testimony's validity is weak, because Ibn al-Arabi had returned to Andalusia from his journey to the East a few years before the beginning of the Mahdi's movement, and it seems to be the fabrication of some Almohads in the context of their propaganda.

We find another testimony from a man from Fez named Abdullah al-Iraqi, which has been transmitted by some sources, and its text, as mentioned by Ibn al-Khatib, is as follows: Ibn Sahib al-Salat narrated from Abdullah bin Abd al-Rahman al-Iraqi, an old sheikh from the residents of Fez, who said: "I was in Baghdad at the school of Sheikh al-Imam Abu Hamid al-Ghazali. A man with a thick beard, wearing a wool turban on his head, came. He entered the school. Al-Ghazali said: 'The secrets of the universe.'" (49) See: Al-Ghazali's Fatwas: (49) Al-Salawi, Al-Istiqsa: (51) Ibn Abi al-Dinar, Al-Mu'nis: 112. Also see: Ibn al-Khatib, Al-Hulal: 147. (50) See: Ammar Talbi, Opinions of Abu Bakr bin al-Arabi on Theology: (52) and beyond. 16