all sorts of beardless youths attend these gatherings, and their presence may be among the foremost aims of those who engage in these listening sessions. Sometimes they dress them in fine, colourful clothes and have them dance and whirl on the dance floor, making watching them—and even embracing them—an attraction for the dignitaries attending. When satanic ecstasy overwhelms them, they raise their voices in sounds hateful to the Most Merciful.

They have likewise introduced further innovations into the recitation of odes. They frequently recite the poetry of immoral and wicked people, and many of them recite the poetry of unbelievers. Indeed, they recite things that even most deniers of the truth would not countenance—things uttered only by those most extreme in their disbelief in the Lord of all worlds and furthest removed from Allah, His Messenger, and the believers.

They have also multiplied the instruments used to produce sounds by mouth and hand, such as Jewish horns and Christian bells, introducing gross abominations: various kinds of flutes and whistles, rattling instruments, and resonant strings. The resulting temptation has become so great that the young have grown up amid it and the old have grown decrepit amid it. They have even made it a religion and a habitual pursuit, establishing it as a regular observance morning and evening, like the dawn and afternoon prayers, and at especially virtuous times and places. They have substituted it for the Quran and the prayers.

His words have proved true of them:

“But they were succeeded by generations who neglected prayer.”