with a created being? More serious still is making light of this in one’s heart until one considers it insignificant. Allah Most High has said:

‘You think it insignificant, but in the sight of Allah it is tremendous.’
[Surah al-Nūr 15]

Here is al-Wāsitī, may Allah have mercy on him, saying: ‘When Allah intends to humiliate a servant, He casts him among these stinking creatures and carcasses.’

He also said: ‘I heard Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Sūfī say: I heard Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Najjār say: I heard Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Husrī say: I heard Fath al-Mawsilī say: I kept company with thirty spiritual masters who were counted among the abdāl. Whenever I parted from them, every one of them counselled me, saying: Beware of keeping company and mingling with youths.’

As for those who rise above the level of sinful conduct in this matter and suggest that it is one of the trials of the spirit and does no harm, what they say is nothing but the whisperings of those who advocate