and listening to women and boys as acts of devotion and obedience.

This is among the gravest forms of altering the religion. If a man were to make looking at his wife during prayer, fasting, or devotional retreat part of his worship, he would be an innovator; indeed, this would be disbelief. What, then, if he made looking at a non-mahram woman or a beardless youth during prayer part of his worship? Some of them do this, lighting a candle to illuminate the youth’s face so that they can gaze at him during prayer, counting this among their acts of worship. This is among the gravest forms of altering the religion and following the devils.

This is the case when the act itself is worship, such as prayer or fasting. What, then, if the act is itself a grave innovation—namely, listening to whistling and clapping—and looking at beautiful forms is added to it, with listening to these sounds and viewing these forms made into acts of worship? This is of the same kind as the religion of the polytheists.

One of the shaykhs told me that a Persian king said to a shaykh whom he saw gathering people for such an assembly: “Shaykh, if this is the road to Paradise, then where is the road to Hell?”

The second point is that using musical instruments to stir delight is forbidden during the listening that Allah loves and has prescribed, namely, listening to the Quran. How, then, could it be an act of devotion during listening that Allah has not prescribed? And does combining what Allah prescribes with what He condemns make the resulting whole, some of whose parts lend support