—such as the newly-contrived samāʿ known as taghyīr, or the whistling-and-clapping sessions—where they listen to speeches and poetic verses whose only purpose is to rouse the generic impulse of love, stirring whatever love lies in every heart. It thus works equally for the one who loves stringed instruments, crosses, comrades, homelands, beardless youths, or women, as it does for the one who loves the All-Merciful. The early shaykhs who attended such gatherings therefore set strict conditions: the proper venue, the practical means, trusted companions, and sometimes the presence of a shaykh to guard them from Satan. Others later relaxed these restraints and slipped into all manner of sin, indeed into sheer depravity; some groups even slid into blatant unbelief, entering states of ecstasy over lines of poetry laced with kufr and atheism—among the gravest forms of corruption. In proportion to the content, these gatherings generate spiritual states for them, just as the devotions of idol-worshippers and the People of the Book yield effects in keeping with their own acts.

The view of the verifying masters among the shaykhs is, as al-Junayd (may Allah have mercy on him) said: “Whoever forces samāʿ upon himself is tried by it, whereas whoever happens upon it finds repose in it.” In other words, convening assemblies for this innovated samāʿ is not legislated: one is neither commanded to hold them nor to adopt them as religion or as acts of devotion. Nearness to Allah and forms of worship are to be taken only from the messengers—peace and blessings be upon them. Just as nothing is unlawful except what Allah has forbidden, there is no religion except what Allah has prescribed. The Exalted says (Q 42:21): “Or do they have partners who have laid down for them a religion that Allah has not allowed?” And He says (Q 3:31): “Say: If you truly love Allah, then follow me; Allah will love you and forgive you your sins.” Thus He made their love for Allah dependent upon following His Messenger, and made following His Messenger a cause for Allah’s love for them.

Ubayy ibn Kaʿb (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “Hold fast to the path and the sunnah. No servant who is upon the path and the sunnah remembers Allah and his skin shivers out of fear of Allah but that his sins fall away from him like dry leaves from a tree; and no servant who is upon the path and the sunnah remembers Allah in private and his eyes overflow with tears out of fear of Allah but that the Fire will never touch him. A modest deed upon the path and the sunnah is better than strenuous effort carried out in opposition to the path and the sunnah. So make sure that your deeds—whether moderate or intense—conform to the method of the prophets and to their sunnah.” A fuller discussion appears elsewhere.

Had these innovated samāʿ gatherings been something commanded, recommended, and beneficial for hearts seeking the Beloved who is worshipped, the legal proofs would certainly have pointed to them. It is well known, however, that in the first three preferred generations—about which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “The best of generations is my generation, then those that follow them, then those that follow them”—there was not, in the Hijaz, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Egypt, or Khurasan, a single person of piety and religion who assembled for this invented samāʿ as a means of rectifying the heart. For that reason the leading imams, such as Imām Ahmad and others, detested it, and al-Shāfiʿī counted it among the innovations of the heretics.