should a Muslim sell food, clothing, or incense that Muslims use to imitate them in their festivals, for this assists in wrongdoing.

The Shaykh—may Allah be pleased with him—said:

We shall mention some reprehensible practices of the Christian religion, because I have seen groups of Muslims afflicted with some of them. Many Muslims are unaware that these practices belong to the Christians’ religion, which is accursed, as are its adherents. I have been told that they go out to the graves on the contemptible Thursday preceding that, or on Saturday, or at other such times.

They also burn incense at these times, believing that it brings blessings and wards off harm. They regard it as an offering, like sacrificial animals. They perform incantations over it using a copper object which they strike like a small bell, together with composed formulas. They mark crosses on the doors of their homes and engage in other reprehensible practices. The markets even remain filled with the sounds of little bells and the recitations of astrologers and other incantation-reciters—words that are mostly false, some of which are forbidden or constitute unbelief.

It has been impressed upon the great majority of the common people—or all of them, except those whom Allah wills—and I mean