The Shaykh’s mention of a story that happened to him with some of these false prophets in the past.

The Shaykh : As for this, I will tell you about a case that happened to me personally. I was in Dayr 'Atiyyah, a village on the road to Aleppo, thirty or forty years ago. I was there staying awake, and we heard a knock on the window, not the door. So the host, the owner of the house, went out to see who was knocking. We heard him showing great enthusiasm and exaggeration in welcoming the man who had come, though we had not seen him yet. "Welcome, welcome, Abu So-and-so." Myself and the gathering, of course, wanted to see this noble guest. It was a surprise to me from him and to him from me, because we were two opposites who had met. I knew the man, and perhaps some of those present now can share in that knowledge. He was from the 'Amara district. This guest who entered used to sit always and forever next to the southwest corner of the al-Jawsi Grand Mosque, in the square in front of my shop. In Ramadan, he would smoke openly. His clothes were tattered, his eyes were bulging and red. Allah knows, from smoking hashish and tobacco. This man, if the owner of the house believed in his sainthood, and therefore he welcomed him with extreme enthusiasm. When the man entered and was surprised to see me, he pretended to be a fool, or a madman, or possessed, as they say. He started bowing and prostrating without consciousness, and he recited words, as the grammarians say, an incomplete sentence, but strange words: eggs and eggplants, and such words. Eggs and eggplants, but what did we eat...? He did not mention anything, but he just mixed up his words. At that time, I began my speech by saying, "Allah the Exalted said: Who are they? Those who believed and used to fear Allah." I commented on the words of faith and piety, and you do not need such a comment. The point is that the wali (close friend of Allah) by Allah the Mighty and Majestic is the one who believes in Allah with firm belief, according to what came in the Book and the authentic Sunnah, and acts according to the rulings of the Shari'ah, in obedience and avoidance. And without a doubt, I did not begin speaking like this except to arrive at our guest, to say that there are people who pretend to be awliya (close friends of Allah), and they may bring about matters that are extraordinary, and some people think them to be karamah (a miracle granted to a righteous person), but they are actually insults. I spoke at length on this matter, then I was silent. Then I was surprised by the words of the host, a rational man, who said, "By Allah, Professor, we used to believe, just as you say, that karamah and sainthood are acting according to the Book and the Sunnah. The point is not here; the point is in what this man says about how he developed his correct belief into a false belief by the coming of a man who was from the people of the village and lived in al-Azhar al-Sharif for twenty years or so. He returns to them and teaches them the opposite of Islam, and that the 'muhabbil'—these, these—are the awliya (close friends of Allah), and "The stone, if it does not please you, it will break you". He said, "We used to believe that this is faith and this is Islam, as we mentioned, until this Shaykh came to us and started telling us stories and tales that summarize to the fact that Allah the Mighty and Majestic has people in whom He has a secret. If you look at them, you will not be pleased with their deeds, nor their words, nor their actions. But these are among the great awliya (close friends of Allah). You will see them here, leaving off the prayer, but the five prayers they perform in the Sacred Mosque. This is a karamah for them. You will see them breaking their fast, eating in Ramadan, but the truth is they are fasting. You see them breaking their fast like this."
These are among the absurdities and lies. But the important thing is the following story, which the Azhari Shaykh told the group, and it turned the people of the village to believe in such things, believing in superstitions and falsehoods that contradict the Shari'ah. What is the story? The Azhari Shaykh said to the people of the village in his gatherings: "There was, in the past, a man who was a noble scholar, and he was one who enjoined good and forbade evil. He was sincere. He would go down to the market and enjoin good and forbid evil. Until one day he stopped at a perfumer who was selling forbidden, intoxicating hashish. He rebuked him, as was his habit in forbidding evil. The Azhari Shaykh said to his companions: 'Barely had the Shaykh rebuked the seller of hashish when his mind was stripped from him, and he returned as if he were a beast, understanding nothing. His followers and students were around him, so they took him to his house, and he was not aware of anything, like an animal. But they were concerned about the matter, so they started asking: How is the treatment? Whom do we ask? Whom do we seek for his treatment? Etc. So they pointed to a man called 'Dhu al-Janayhain' (The One with Two Wings), and this is equal to two catastrophes. 'Dhu al-Janayhain' means he knows the Shari'ah and the Haqiqah, meaning the knowledge of the apparent and the knowledge of the hidden."
And this is among the deceptions that were introduced into Islam to allow the enemies of Islam to destroy Islam in the name of Islam.
What is this, my brother? This is Haqiqah. Haqiqah is one thing, and Shari'ah is another.
What is this? This is from the knowledge of the hidden. The knowledge of the hidden is one thing, and the knowledge of the apparent is another. So they pointed to a man called 'Dhu al-Janayhain' (The One with Two Wings), they claimed, and they came to him and told him the story of their scholar. He quickly said to them, and here is the lesson: "That seller of hashish is a man among the great awliya (close friends of Allah), and therefore your scholar was afflicted because of his objection to that wali (close friend of Allah). So I will combine the two opposites in his description: the wali (close friend of Allah) who is a hashish seller. This is the truth of his matter. He is a wali (close friend of Allah), he is a seller of hashish. This wali (close friend of Allah) who is a hashish seller is among the great awliya (close friends of Allah) according to these people. Therefore, 'Dhu al-Janayhain' advised the students of the scholar to take him, to lead him, while he is still like a beast, to that wali (close friend of Allah), to that wali (close friend of Allah) who is a hashish seller, yes, and to ask him for pardon and forgiveness for their scholar, and to apologize on his behalf, until... himself. So they did this. Barely had the heart of the wali (close friend of Allah) who is a hashish seller become pleased with the scholar who acted according to his knowledge, and it was like a person who was sleeping and woke up. Then the scholar, of course, realized his affliction, so he also apologized, in his turn, to the wali (close friend of Allah) who is a hashish seller. This story was told to me by the owner of the house about his Shaykh, the Shaykh of the village, and that such stories made the village believe in such catastrophes and such absurdities. So, in summary, believing in such catastrophes and misguidances comes from people who do evil, but this is in the apparent. This opens the door for such people that if a Dajjal (the false messiah) is sent among them, they will believe in him. Why?
Because he will bring them, in their claim, karamah (a miracle granted to a righteous person) like what they narrated about one of their awliya (close friends of Allah). He says to the sky, "Rain," and it rains. What do you want, a greater karamah (a miracle granted to a righteous person) than this? We do not call it karamah (a miracle granted to a righteous person); this is a matter that is extraordinary. But when we saw this man claiming lordship, what came from him that was among the extraordinary matters was proof that these are not karamah (a miracle granted to a righteous person), but rather absurdities and deception by him upon the people. So the decisive ruling between karamah (a miracle granted to a righteous person) and the extraordinary matter... for the people is that we look at the source. If the source is a righteous wali (close friend of Allah), then we believe in his karamah (a miracle granted to a righteous person). And there are authentic and established karamah (a miracle granted to a righteous person) from some of the Companions and from some of the Salaf (the earliest generations), and we do not deny them at all. But we deny such karamah (a miracle granted to a righteous person) which are in reality insults. As for the origin of karamah (a miracle granted to a righteous person), we believe in it.
And it is a chapter of the extraordinary matters, the extraordinary matters of the habits. The righteous and the wicked share in the extraordinary matters, and the distinguishing factor is the righteous deed. So if one has a righteous deed, then what comes from him of extraordinary matters is karamah (a miracle granted to a righteous person). And if his deed is wicked, then what comes from him of extraordinary matters is not karamah (a miracle granted to a righteous person), but it is an insult. And sufficient for you as proof of this is what we mentioned to you of the extraordinary matters that Allah Blessed and Exalted is He performs through the hands of the Dajjal (the false messiah).