the polytheists. Such fabrications are invented only by those who have departed from the command of Allah and His Messenger, and are accepted by groups ignorant of the circumstances of the Messenger and his Companions—indeed, of the very foundations of Islam.

As for “dancing,” neither Allah nor His Messenger nor any of the imams commanded it. Rather, Allah says in His Book:

“Be moderate in your pace.”

He also says in His Book:

“The servants of the Most Merciful are those who walk upon the earth humbly.”

That is, with tranquillity and dignity. The worship of Muslims consists instead of bowing and prostrating. Nor did Allah, His Messenger, or any of the early generations of this community command beating the frame drum and dancing in the tābaq. Rather, they commanded recitation of the Quran in prayer and tranquillity.

If a person is overcome by a spiritual state that carries him beyond what is prescribed, and that state arises from a prescribed cause, such as listening to the Quran or the like, he is excused for that state, as explained earlier. But it is otherwise if he deliberately resorts to means he has not been commanded to pursue, knowing that they will lead him into something improper for him—as when someone drinks wine knowing that it will intoxicate him. If he says, “The state came over me while I was drunk,” he is told, “When the cause is prohibited, the intoxicated person is not excused.”

Thus, anyone who genuinely experiences these corrupt states is a misguided innovator, akin to the enemy’s guards and the helpers of oppressors among those possessing corrupt states, who resemble Christian, polytheist, and Sabian worshippers in some of their states,