“Allah has sent down the finest discourse: a Book harmonious and oft-repeated; the skins of those who fear their Lord tremble at it, then their skins and hearts soften to the remembrance of Allah.”
And He also said:
“True believers are only those who, when Allah is mentioned, their hearts quake; and when His revelations are recited to them, their faith increases, and upon their Lord they rely. Those who establish the prayer and spend out of what We have provided them—these are the believers in truth; for them are degrees with their Lord, forgiveness, and a generous provision.”
Listening with Clapping and the Tambourine
As for the recently-invented form of listening—accompanied by hand-clapping, the tambourine, and the reed pipe—the Companions, the Successors who followed them with excellence, and all the leading imams of the religion never regarded this as a path to Allah, nor did they consider it an act of devotion or a means of drawing near to Him. On the contrary, they deemed it a blameworthy innovation.
Imam al-Shāfiʿī even said, “I left behind in Baghdad something the heretics have introduced; they call it taghbīr, and by it they distract people from the Qur’an.”
The God-fearing friends of Allah who possess true insight know this, and they realize that Satan has a substantial stake in such gatherings. For that reason, the best of those who once attended them repented.
The farther a person is from knowledge and from the perfection of friendship with Allah, the larger Satan’s share in him becomes. Such assemblies are like wine—indeed, they influence the soul even more powerfully than wine. When the intoxication of their devotees intensifies, devils descend upon them, speak through the tongues of some, carry others into the air, and enmity can break out