inward conformity in one’s inner way of life, as is attested by revelation, sound reason, and plain observation⦗1⦘. For that very reason the Sacred Law forbade imitating the unbelievers, animals, devils, women, Bedouins, and anyone whose state is deficient.

It even prohibited, within the prayer itself⦗2⦘, copying six⦗3⦘ animal-like motions that the ignorant—or many of them—perform: pecking like a rooster or a crow⦗4⦘ (the so-called “Turkish prayer”); turning the head about like a fox; squatting like a dog; sprawling on the ground like a beast of prey; dropping to the knees like a camel; and waving the hands right and left at the salām like horses swishing their tails.

It likewise forbade resemblance to devils by eating or drinking with the left hand, or by adopting any of their other traits.

It also prohibited imitating the unbelievers in their dress⦗5⦘, their speech, and their conduct, even to the extent of banning prayer after the ʿAṣr and after the dawn prayer, for the unbelievers prostrate to the sun at those two times.

And it forbade copying the Bedouins—people of rough manners and desert life—when he said: “Do not let the Bedouins overtake you in calling your night prayer al-ʿatamah, for in the Book of Allah it is the ʿishāʾ prayer.”