“Whoever seeks wealth through alchemy becomes bankrupt; whoever seeks knowledge through speculative theology falls into heresy; and whoever seeks out rare hadith reports falls into lying.”

How much money they have spent on it! How many men they have associated with in its pursuit! How much idle talk they have indulged in, how many hopes and ambitions they have pinned upon it, and how many nights they have stayed awake over it! Yet they have gained nothing but worldly and religious ruin, diminished reason and knowledge, exposure of their honour to attack, abasement and humiliation, need and poverty, abundant worries and sorrows, and the company of the worst companions. They have been distracted from what benefits them in their livelihood and their ultimate return, and have turned away from gathering provisions that would benefit them in the Hereafter.

This is especially so because it so often leads its practitioners into various kinds of disobedience and wickedness: its seeker pursues it as a lover pursues the beloved. Indeed, it may even lead to disbelief in the Most Merciful, turning away from faith and the Quran, and embracing the errors of those who associate partners with Allah and worship idols. This is worldly and religious ruin: he has gained nothing but a false hope, like lightning that promises rain but brings none, or the mirage that

“the thirsty person mistakes for water, until, when he reaches it, he finds nothing there, but finds Allah there, who pays him his account in full. And Allah is swift in reckoning.”

In this, they are like someone who imagines that disbelieving priests and monks are among Allah’s believing servants, or someone who imagines that people of innovation, falsehood, and deception are among the friends of Allah, those who

“will have no fear, nor will they grieve,”

“who believe and are mindful of Allah,”

“for whom there are glad tidings in the life of this world