in forbidding prayer toward graves and in prohibiting anyone from praying inside them? What harm is there in beginning Ramadan a day or two early, or in reviling the idols of the polytheists to their very faces?—and in countless other things the Lawgiver has banned as a preventive safeguard, because they open the road to what He hates and detests. Is all this not the very expression of His wisdom, His mercy, His care for His servants, and His zeal to shield them from corruption, its causes, and its avenues?

A rational observer of real life knows that what this sort of listening leads to—if it does not exceed the effects of lustful staring—is certainly no less, and very often its influence surpasses that of wine. The stupor induced by wine wears off quickly, whereas the intoxication of such listening does not leave its victim until he finds himself among the ranks of the doomed.

I say: Ibn al-Qayyim—may Allah have mercy on him—spoke the truth, for the impact of this listening on those afflicted by it is plain for all to see, as I have already indicated. It is enough for me to relate one incident I personally witnessed, which vividly illustrates the true meaning of the Almighty’s words, “idle talk.”

One Friday I was in the mosque listening to the khutbah. Next to me sat a young man of about thirty, cross-legged, tapping his fingers on the floor as though he were listening to a song, drumming them in rhythm. I signaled to him to stop and to pay attention to the sermon.

This episode—one among many—proves conclusively that such listening diverts its devotees from the remembrance of Allah, just as wine does, and from listening to His words. Allah, Exalted is He, says: “So when the Qur’an is recited, listen to it and pay heed so that you may receive mercy” (7:204). It is well known that the verse includes the Friday khutbah, as some reports state and as Ibn Kathir preferred. Amusement, therefore, has turned them away from remembrance and from listening to it. Allah’s help is sought.