with the prophets and messengers. Some even claim superiority over the prophets and messengers, embracing forms of disbelief that this is not the place to discuss.

In sum, these listening sessions and the practices associated with them—in their means and ends, their actual substance and intended purpose, their character and outcome—have become the opposite of listening and worship prescribed by the Sharia in all these respects. The latter foster knowledge and faith, whereas the former foster disbelief and hypocrisy. This is why nomadic peoples—desert dwellers among the Arabs, Turks, Kurds, and others—engage in them more frequently than settled communities. For they are as Allah Most High says:

“The Bedouins are stronger in disbelief and hypocrisy and more likely not to know the limits of what Allah has revealed to His Messenger.”
[Surah al-Tawbah 97]

This is also why devils attend these sessions, just as angels attend the listening sessions of the people of faith. During them, devils descend upon the participants and inspire them, just as angels descend upon the believers and place in their hearts what Allah has commanded them to convey. Indeed, angels descend when the Quran is heard and when Allah is remembered, as stated in an authentic hadith:

“No people gather in one of the houses of Allah, reciting the Book of Allah and studying it together, without mercy enveloping them, tranquillity descending upon them, the angels surrounding them, and Allah mentioning them among those who are with Him.”