The Shaykh's explanation of what Sayyid Qutb fell into regarding the claim of the unity of existence.

The Shaykh : And I said to the man, "This is our position." He said, "Okay, what did Sayyid Qutb say?" We said, "Bring us the *Tafsir al-Dhala'il*." So we brought two volumes, one of which I think was on the interpretation of Surat al-Hadid, and the other on *Qul Huwa Allahu Ahad*. We read it; one of those present read it. There, we must be aware of what he said. The apparent meaning of his words is that there is no existence except the existence of the Truth, and this is exactly the claim of those who assert the unity of existence. Everything you see with your eye is Allah, and these creatures that the people of the apparent meaning call creatures are not anything other than Allah. And on this basis come some reports that explain this great misguidance, from what is narrated from some of the early Sufis, such as the one who used to say, "My praise, my praise, how great is my affair!" and the other who used to say, "There is nothing in the jacket except Allah!" All this talk is in these two places in the tafsir. I say that perhaps Sayyid Qutb (may Allah have mercy on him) read some of these Sufi writings and was influenced by them. He was a man of literature, so he wove them into the tafsir, and this talk came out of it. Because in reality, in other places, the majority of Muslims, meaning the people of the Sunnah and the correct creed, affirm the distinction between the Creator and the created, contrary to the creed of the unity of existence. So I said to the man, "My brother, this talk is disbelief. It is not permissible to approve of it, and it is not permissible to leave it as is. And in my belief, and since religion is sincere advice, if this book is printed by the group themselves, the Muslim Brothers, then it is obligatory for them—not that I say they must change the phrase itself—but that they add a commentary to it so that some people who have no knowledge of the correct Islamic creed do not get entangled in it. As for remaining silent on it, that is not permissible, as is well known in the science of jurisprudence."
In summary, the man investigated and went back and forth, but he could not find a meaning for those phrases other than this apparent meaning. However, he moved to other well-known places where he explicitly states that there is a Creator, there is a created being, and the created being is other than the Creator. These things, praise be to Allah, are from the innate disposition of all Muslims. The point is that they established that unjust decision based on a mere word in their language, and the least that can be said about it is what is said in the old saying: "The defect of news lies only in its narrators".
So finally, when I settled here, strange and very odd rumors began, and we do not know where they actually originate, but unfortunately, we think that some of the enthusiastic individuals among the Muslim Brothers are the ones spreading these words. All these things are rumors, and I give them no weight. To the extent that I was surprised by your magazine, "Al-Mujtama'", which was being published and still is, and which used to honor us by sending us what I can say sometimes, because it used to come to us sometimes, or perhaps regularly, but there it is stolen or its entry is prevented, or for whatever reason. At the time when the magazine seemed to have a spiritual, moral connection existing between me and it, indicated by the fact that they presented this magazine to us as a gift in a continuous manner, we were surprised to find a discussion they conducted with a brother of ours from the supporters of the Sunnah in Sudan, whose name might be Abd al-Qadir, Abd al-Qadir Hasan, yes. And there this magazine printed what we hear here, that Shaykh Al-Albani is against the Muslim Brothers, and perhaps they also made a mistake in mentioning that I declare someone a disbeliever or misguide them, or similar words. I said, "Glory be to Allah, we were living in unrecorded news, and then it is recorded, and in a circulating magazine..." I say, in summary of what has preceded and briefly, I do not oppose the Muslim Brothers; rather, I consider them to be the ones who paved the way for the Salafi call and prepared individuals to accept this call. And I feel this throughout my life in the call, which is not less than fifty years. I know this truth.