partner. They obey their masters and leaders in making the unlawful lawful and the lawful unlawful. Some of them speak of Allah’s union with certain creatures and His indwelling in them in terms resembling what the Christians have said about the Messiah, peace and blessings be upon him.

Thus, much of their listening that stirs their fervor and love actually stirs these feelings toward others besides Allah, like those who take rivals besides Allah and love them as they love Allah.

As for the religious law—what Allah has commanded and forbidden, permitted and prohibited—the extent to which they violate it, and even disdain those who adhere to it, is known to Allah. Their hearts have even lost reverence for many of Allah’s obligations and regard for the prohibition of many things He has forbidden. Thus, they frequently neglect His obligations, regard His prohibitions as lawful, and transgress His limits, sometimes in belief and sometimes in practice.

Even many of the better people among them, who are believers, fall into numerous subsidiary forms of these transgressions, although they hold fast to the foundations of Islam.

As for the others, they openly declare that obligations such as the five daily prayers and others no longer apply to them, and that foul things—wine, indecencies, injustice, aggression and the like—are lawful for them. Their hearts lose love for much of what Allah and His Messenger love, including the complete love that constitutes the perfection of faith. Indeed, there must inevitably be a decline in