to grow lax in rooting out whatever contradicts its monotheistic creed—which is its very lifeblood—while the shaykhs and the members of the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue are little more than a façade, Allah excepting whom He wills.’ End of their words.

Now consider, dear reader, how this Kawtharī hanger-on—truly the worst loser—turns realities upside-down, making right appear wrong and wrong appear right. Instead of joining his voice to mine and endorsing my reminder that the burgeoning forms of shirk and pagan practice must be fought, he brands that reminder a denunciation of the Saudi rulers and scholars!

What I actually said—exactly as he quoted—was a comment on one of the innovations I listed at the end of Ḥujjat al-Nabī ﷺ, namely:

123 – Tying scraps of cloth to the maqam or the pulpit in order to have one’s needs met.

I wrote in response:

‘This phenomenon has, in recent times, swelled to a degree unseen before, which shows that the State of Tawḥīd…’ and so forth.

Notice how al-Kawtharī deleted this very sentence, the one that would have shown the reader why I reminded the State of its negligence—hoping it would address the matter with firmness and resolve. He then portrayed that reminder and my counsel to the State and its scholars as an attack on them!

Does not Abū Ghuddah’s behaviour reveal that, outwardly at least, his zeal for the Saudi Kingdom and its scholars outweighs his zeal for the law of Allah—assuming his zeal for them is even sincere? And why might that be? The answer is plain to the readers. Still, I am content to believe that the wise, devoted scholars and shaykhs among them do not share Abū Ghuddah in this stab; rather, they hold that I have merely carried out part of the duty.