people who, in both earlier and later times, have been among the foremost in heresy and hypocrisy: the Bātinī Qarmatians, the philosophizing proponents of union, and others.

Likewise, regarding his statement, “It is a true spiritual influx that stirs hearts toward the truth,” he should be told: even if it sometimes stirs some hearts toward the truth, it most often stirs them toward falsehood, and rarely toward truth alone.

Indeed, it may be said that it never does so at all: some falsehood must inevitably mingle with it, so that it stirs hearts toward overt or hidden association of partners with Allah. For what this listening stirs people toward is something shared between Allah and His creation. It thus stirs them only toward that shared element, and this is precisely the association of partners with Allah.

For this reason, Allah mentions this listening in the Quran only in connection with the polytheists, of whom He says:

“Their prayer at the House was nothing but whistling and clapping.”
[Surah al-Anfāl 8:35]

Thus, it does not stir hearts to desire Allah alone, without partner. Rather, it sometimes stirs them toward falsehood, and sometimes toward truth mingled with falsehood.

If it stirred hearts toward the truth that Allah loves, either exclusively or predominantly, it would be among the good things that are commanded and prescribed in religion. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, would have prescribed it through his words or deeds; it would have been part of the practice of his rightly guided caliphs; and the believers of the first three generations would have engaged in it. They would not have abandoned what Allah and His Messenger loved, nor what moved hearts toward Allah in a manner beloved to Allah and His Messenger.