as he was passing to one side of me. I said to him, ‘Come here! What is the matter with you?’ He replied, ‘I still have a subtle means of reaching you: listening and keeping company with youths.’”

Although those who engage in these practices may possess such friendship with Allah, piety, love of Him and nearness to Him that they surpass others who have not attained their station, they are no greater in these respects than the eminent early Muslims who fought one another during the civil strife, or those early Muslims who considered certain intoxicating drinks permissible, or who permitted usury through unequal exchange, temporary marriage or anal intercourse. As ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak said: “Many a man with an honourable record in Islam and worthy deeds to his credit has nevertheless committed a lapse or an error. He is not to be followed in his lapse or error.”

Error sometimes occurs when interpretation is used to deem something forbidden permissible, to abandon an obligation, or to turn something forbidden into an act of worship. Such was the case with those who fought one another during the civil strife, considering this obligatory or recommended; likewise, the statement made by a group, including ʿAbd Allāh ibn Dāwūd