He then spoke of the listener who falls into heresy: one who listens with a desire for supremacy and corruption on earth, regards love of the Creator as being of the same kind as love of created beings, and regards the connection sought with the Lord of Majesty as being of the same kind as the connection sought with created beings. This leads to heresy in beliefs and intentions, making such a person a hypocrite and a heretic. ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd said: “Singing causes hypocrisy to grow in the heart just as water causes plants to grow.” Thus, many groups have fallen into heresy through listening, as we pointed out earlier.

Here it may be said: It is well known that whether the self means the human being himself, the soul that governs his body, or the attributes of either—such as desire, aversion, anger, inclination, and so forth—a human being is never entirely free of these. Even if his heart were assumed to be free of the activity of these faculties and desires, their absence is one thing and their being at rest is another. They cannot cease to exist, though they may become still. But if they are still, and listening by its nature stirs them, how can a person keep something still while engaging in what necessarily sets it in motion?

This is a demand to separate two inseparable things and to combine two contradictions. It is like telling someone: “Keep gazing at a woman, a boy, or a beardless youth, or maintain physical contact through kissing, touching, and the like, without your self or your sexual organs being aroused to seek pleasure with that person.” Could anyone but the most foolish of people command such a thing?