by which they distinguish themselves from others—even in the words chanted, the melodies sung, the spiritual tastes experienced, the movements stirred up, and the people who gather together. Those among them whose knowledge and faith restrain them from manifestly forbidden forms of disbelief, wrongdoing, and indecency seek to set limits for these innovated listening sessions, distinguishing what is permissible from what is not. Yet scarcely any consistent limits can be maintained, either in theory or in practice. Even if someone comes close to defining and regulating them in theory, he cannot keep them within those bounds in practice, since those conditions are rarely met. Indeed, once, when Baghdad was flourishing and was still the seat of the caliphate, the leading shaykhs who attended these listening sessions fraught with temptation gathered together. They could find only a handful of people in Baghdad and its surrounding countryside suited to such sessions—three, four, or thereabouts.

The reason for this departure is that it is not from Allah; whatever is from other than Allah contains much inconsistency.

“So devote yourself to the religion, inclining to truth—the natural disposition upon which Allah created mankind. There is no altering Allah’s creation. That is the upright religion, but most people do not know. Turn to Him in repentance, fear Him, establish prayer, and do not be among those who associate partners with Him—those who divided their religion and became sects, each faction rejoicing in what it has.”
[Surah al-Rūm 30–32]

Yet despite these sessions encompassing all or some of these forbidden things, they regard them as among the greatest acts of drawing near to Allah—indeed, as the greatest and most exalted of them. They regard their participants as the elect, Allah’s allies and His chosen ones among His creation. They are not content to be considered equal to the earliest forerunners among the Emigrants and the Helpers and the early generations of this community; rather, they claim superiority over them. Among them are those who place themselves on a par