As for their ordinary followers who do not know their secrets or their true nature, they retain the Islam of ordinary Muslims, which they learned from other Muslims, not from these people. Their inner circle, however—such as Shaykh Salūl, Jahlān, al-Sahbānī, and others—did not regard prayer as obligatory; indeed, they did not even acknowledge the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, as a Messenger.

Their poetry, such as that of al-Kūjlī and others, contains abuse of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and of the Quran and Islam that neither Jews nor Christians would approve of. Some attribute this poetry to Yūnus, while others say that it has been falsely attributed to him. Yet it is known and witnessed that they recite verses of disbelief and work themselves into ecstatic states over them. One of them urinates into the food and says, “Yūnus soothes my heart,” or, “Yūnus’s rosewater.” They consider food containing urine lawful and regard this as a blessing.

Among their statements of disbelief are such verses as:

“And I guarded the sanctuary, and I dwelt within it;
I left creation along the paths of bewilderment.
Moses, on Mount Sinai, when he fell down before me, spoke to me in secret.
Wa-sāhib aqrab anā jannabūh, until the Day of Resurrection came;
he sees creation going in throngs to his prophet Jesus,
who attends to their needs.”

They also say:

“Come, let us destroy the congregational mosque and turn it into a jamāra;
let us break the wood of the pulpit and make a non-Muslim’s girdle from it;
let us burn sheets of paper and make a lute from them;
let us pluck out the judge’s beard and make its strings from it.
I charged against the Throne until it rang out;
I shouted at Muhammad until he hajja;
the seven seas tremble in awe of me.”