Then, as time passed, some among the speculative theologians, including the Mu‘tazilah and others, came to deny this love. Some Sufis, meanwhile, sought to stir it through listening to various kinds of vocal performance, such as taghyīr, and to whistling and clapping. They listen to sayings and poems that arouse love in general, stirring whatever love each heart contains. Such material appeals to those who love idols, crosses, brethren, homelands, beardless youths, or women just as it appeals to those who love the Most Merciful. However, the spiritual masters who attended these gatherings stipulated a suitable place, suitable circumstances, and close companions. Sometimes they also stipulated the presence of a shaykh who would guard against Satan.

Others then took this further, falling into various sins and even flagrant wickedness. Indeed, some groups went as far as outright disbelief, inducing ecstatic states in themselves through poems containing disbelief and heresy—among the gravest forms of corruption. This produces spiritual states in them corresponding to its nature, just as the worship of devotees among the polytheists and the People of the Book produces states corresponding to its nature.

The position of the discerning spiritual masters is expressed in the words of al-Junayd—may Allah have mercy on him:

“Whoever deliberately seeks out such listening is put to trial by it; whoever happens upon it finds relief in it.”

This means that gathering for this newly introduced form of listening is neither prescribed nor enjoined, nor is it to be adopted as a religious practice or a means of drawing near to Allah. Acts of devotion and worship are learned only from the messengers—may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon them. Just as nothing is forbidden except what Allah has forbidden, so no religion is valid except what Allah has prescribed.

Allah Most High says:

“Or