and smoking, an infatuation with corruptive sports, decadent art and musical entertainment, and other practices that are familiar in every Muslim land.

These people also possess distinctive looks, clothing, vehicles, and social gatherings that are recognizable in each society according to its customs. Accordingly, every Muslim is obliged to avoid whatever is unique to those immoral and criminal elements, to preserve a personality distinguished by adherence to the Sharīʿah’s manners, and not to mix with such circles except when necessity dictates—such as inviting them to the truth, denouncing their wrongdoing, enjoining what is right, reforming their conduct, or when livelihood demands transactions of buying and selling—provided he does not maintain close companionship or affection with them and is confident that his creed, character, and honour are safe from their influence.

The author also calls attention to another category whose traits the Sunnah has cautioned against: the Bedouins whose practice of religion is incomplete. Bedouins are generally known for roughness, harshness, and ignorance of God’s rulings and limits; for that reason, disbelief and hypocrisy tend to be more pronounced among them than among others. Among their signs of ignorance—for example—is their calling the ‘Ishā’ prayer “al-‘Atamah,” as mentioned in the Sunnah (1), and the practice of muʿāqarah: slaughtering or hamstringing animals out of arrogance and vainglory. They are quicker than others to revert to pre-Islamic tribal partisanship, to boast of lineage, and to disparage the ancestry of others, and they are more negligent of Friday and congregational prayers, and the like—matters well known about them.

All these qualities, commonly found among the Bedouins in the past and still observed among many of them today, a Muslim must avoid and caution others against, for most of them are hallmarks of the Age of Ignorance. Whatever belongs to those pre-Islamic traits that Islam has eradicated is likewise forbidden.