mistakes and forgetfulness. Allah may also pardon the sin of any one of them for various reasons.

One cause of this deviation is that some people’s personal inclinations are dominated by “the ascetic path,” so they renounce what desire and anger prompt them to do. This is also practiced by some devotees among the polytheists and the People of the Book, such as monks and others like them. They regard jihad as a failing because it involves killing people, taking their offspring captive, and seizing property. They also hold that Allah did not entrust the building of the Temple in Jerusalem to David because blood had been shed at his hands.

Some of them consider the slaughter of any animal impermissible, as is the position of the Brahmins. Others do not consider it forbidden, but personally seek nearness to Allah by refraining from slaughtering animals, eating their meat, and marrying women. Someone praising such a man says: “So-and-so has neither married nor slaughtered an animal.”

The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, rebuked such people, as reported in the two Sahīh collections from Anas:

“A group of the Prophet’s Companions asked the wives of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, about what he did in private. One of them said, ‘I will not marry women.’ Another said, ‘I will not eat meat.’ Another said, ‘I will not sleep on a bed.’ When word of this reached the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, he praised and extolled Allah, then said: ‘What is the matter with people who say such-and-such? But I pray and sleep