I say: I have already established this point: beauty of appearance and voice is nothing but blameworthy unless accompanied by fear of Allah. Religious devotion requires that a beautiful voice be used for what Allah has commanded.

Abū al-Qāsim related that Dhū al-Nūn al-Misrī was asked about a beautiful voice. He replied: “It conveys addresses and intimations that Allah has placed in every pleasant thing.” On another occasion, he was asked about listening and replied: “It is an impulse of truth that stirs hearts towards the Truth. Whoever listens to it in truth attains truth, while whoever listens to it out of his own desire falls into heresy.”

I say: He did not provide a chain of transmission tracing these words to Dhū al-Nūn; he merely related them without one. Much of what he relates without chains in this treatise has been found to be falsely attributed to those named. Perhaps Abū al-Qāsim heard it from someone and believed him, or someone before him did likewise, or he found it written in a book and believed it to be authentic. When someone who relates accounts of earlier and later generations without chains bases those accounts on sound transmission and narration from trustworthy transmitters, his reports without chains may be relied upon on the basis of sound transmission and narration from trustworthy transmitters; thus, his reports without chains may be relied upon. But when someone is known to relate many falsehoods in his reports without chains, such reports cannot be trusted.

This distinction applies to authors who transmit accounts about people without chains of transmission. Among the most prevalent falsehoods are those attributed to renowned shaykhs. We have seen and heard so many of these that Allah alone can count them. Here is Abū al-Qāsim, despite his learning and his narration