their hearts’ love for what Allah and His Messenger love. Thus, the Quran, prayer and similar acts no longer hold for their hearts the love, sweetness, delight and solace known to those whose faith is complete. Indeed, they may dislike some of these things and find them burdensome, as is characteristic of the hypocrites, of whom Allah says:

“When they stand up for prayer, they stand reluctantly.”
[Surah al-Nisāʾ 142]

They may abandon the Quran, although nothing by which servants draw near to Allah is more beloved to Him than it. Indeed, they may find listening to it and reciting it burdensome because of the listening they have substituted for it. They may perform some of these prescribed acts of worship merely in outward form, as the hypocrites do, rather than with love, sincerity and heartfelt devotion, as the believers do.

As for striving in Allah’s cause, they are generally further removed from it than others. Among ordinary believers, we even find a love of enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong, love and reverence for Allah’s commands, anger and protective zeal when His prohibitions are violated, strong love and allegiance toward Allah’s allies, and strong hatred and enmity toward Allah’s enemies that are not found among them. Rather, the opposite is found among them.

It is well known that those among them who possess faith and righteousness do not lack these qualities entirely. Nevertheless, this innovated listening and its accompanying practices cause, and are conducive to, the opposite of striving in Allah’s cause. Indeed, many of them regard such striving as a deficiency on the path to Allah, a fault incompatible with travelling that path to perfection.

Among the reasons these people have gone astray and fallen into error is what they have found in many who profess adherence