the truth—unlike the leaders of misguidance and advocates of falsehood, who call people to themselves and bind them to their own persons. You therefore see them devising litanies and supplications for people themselves, magnifying their importance and extolling their worth in the hope of increasing their followers and attracting disciples. As the eminent Companion Muʿādh ibn Jabal—may Allah be pleased with him—said: “Ahead of you lie tribulations in which wealth will abound and the Quran will become widely accessible, until it is taken up by the believer and the hypocrite, the man and the woman, the young and the old, the slave and the free. Soon someone will say, ‘Why do people not follow me when I have recited the Quran? They will not follow me until I introduce something else for them.’ Beware of what he introduces, for whatever he introduces is misguidance.” This was narrated by Imam Abū Dāwūd in his Sunan and by al-Ājurrī in al-Sharīʿa, and its chain of transmission is authentic1.

The Muslim must therefore be exceedingly wary of such people and take the utmost care to adhere to the sunnah, for therein lie safety and elevation. Success rests with Allah alone.