wrestled Ibn ‘Abd Yazīd and raced ‘Ā’ishah, may Allah be pleased with her.” He also permitted Salamah ibn al-Akwa‘ to compete in a footrace. According to the second view, however, the contest must involve a permissible activity, which these contests do not. This becomes clear from “the second consideration”: these verses contain descriptions of beardless youths, expressions of passionate love for them, and preludes to sexual immorality with them that encourage such desires and inflame them in people’s hearts.

Anything that facilitates indecency or encourages it is forbidden. The prohibition of this is more emphatic than the prohibition of lamentation and wailing: those arouse grief, whereas this arouses wickedness. Grief may sometimes be permitted, but no wickedness is permitted. This is a form of “pandering.”

It is established in the Sahīh that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“A woman must not describe another woman to her husband so vividly that it is as though he were looking at her.”

The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, thus forbade describing a woman lest her image take shape in the man’s mind. What, then, of someone who describes beardless youths in these terms and pursues indecency through such reprehensible words—words that unsettle a sound heart, blind a diseased heart, and drive a person towards painful punishment?

‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, ordered that a woman who wailed over the dead be beaten. She was beaten until her hair became exposed. He was asked, “Commander of the Faithful, her hair has become exposed!”

He replied, “She has no claim to inviolability. She urges people to give way to anguish, which Allah has forbidden, and discourages patience, which Allah has commanded. She stirs up the living and harms the dead. She sells her tears and weeps over another’s grief. She is not weeping over your deceased; she is only weeping to get your dirhams.”

‘Umar also learned that a young man named “Nasr