—namely, to alert them and remind them—and they appreciate that, as more than one of them has candidly told me. Even so, the enemies of monotheism seize on such matters and try to incite the rulers there against us. “Allah is predominant over His affair, yet most people do not know.”

So what exactly does Abū Ghuddah want by rousing the rulers against us? If, like him, I were on their payroll, one might say he means to harm me by having me dismissed and thus cutting off my livelihood. But I live in Syria and earn my living by the sweat of my own brow, so what can Abū Ghuddah hope to gain from this incitement? Nothing remains but to say that he seeks to bar me from the Hajj and the ʿUmrah, which I have managed to perform almost every year for some time. Let the reader ponder the behaviour of this hanger-on who had the audacity to boast in his “Remarks,” “My conduct is plain to see, and my character is well known!”

Before that, he even allowed some of his associates to publish a testimonial about him which declared: “Alongside his vast knowledge he combines god-fearing devotion, both in private and in public (!); he stops at the limits set by Allah and never oversteps them, steering clear of doubtful and disliked matters (!). It has never been known that he commanded a good deed without first applying it to himself (!) and those under his care (!), nor that he forbade an evil without first shunning it himself and those under his care (!).” (1)

Can it be that someone praised with even a portion of such accolades would still resort to that kind of incitement, or is it the hypocrisy that dominates the shaykh himself—and some of his students?!