These drums and trumpets, which resemble the Jewish horn and the Christian bell, were unknown in the time of the Rightly Guided Caliphs or the Muslim rulers who succeeded them. They were introduced, I believe, by certain eastern kings from Persia. They introduced many practices into government and warfare, which spread throughout the lands as their dominion expanded. The young grew up with these practices, and the old grew aged amid them, knowing nothing else. Indeed, they would object to anyone speaking against them. Some people even thought that these practices had been introduced by ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān. This is not so; indeed, most of the caliphs and rulers after ʿUthmān—may Allah be pleased with him—did not practise them either.

Yet there appeared within the Muslim community what the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, had foretold when he said:

“You will surely follow the course of the nations before you, span by span and cubit by cubit.”

They asked, “Persia and Byzantium?”

He replied, “Who else could it be?”

Likewise, he said in the other hadith:

“You will surely follow the ways of those before you, as closely as one arrow feather matches another, so that even if they entered a lizard’s burrow, you would enter it too.”

They asked, “O Messenger of Allah, the Jews and Christians?”

He replied, “Who else?”

Both hadiths are recorded in the authentic collections. He foretold that among the Muslim community there would be those who imitated the Jews and Christians, and those who imitated Persia and Byzantium.