, your enemies were sent to bring grief to your faces, to enter the sanctuary as they had entered it the first time, and to destroy utterly whatever they conquered. Perhaps your Lord will have mercy on you; but if you return, We shall return. And We have made Hell a prison for the unbelievers.”

Some shaykhs used to say that Hulagu—the ruler of the Tatar Turks who overpowered the caliph in Iraq and carried out an immense massacre in Baghdad, reportedly killing a million people, and likewise perpetrated killings in Aleppo, then the royal capital—was, as some shaykhs put it, to the Muslims what Nebuchadnezzar had been to the Children of Israel.

Among the reasons these people invaded Muslim lands was the spread of heresy, hypocrisy, and religious innovations. Matters reached the point that al-Rāzī composed a book on worshipping celestial bodies and idols and practising magic, which he entitled al-Sirr al-maktūm fī al-sihr wa-mukhātabat al-nujūm (The Hidden Secret of Magic and Addressing the Stars). It is said that he composed it for the mother of Sultan ‘Alā’ al-Dīn Muhammad ibn Laksh ibn Jalāl al-Dīn Khwārazm Shāh, who was among the mightiest kings on earth. Al-Rāzī had such close ties with him that he entrusted him with the guardianship of his children. He also composed a book for him entitled al-Risāla al-‘Alā’iyya fī al-ikhtiyārāt al-samāwiyya (The Treatise for ‘Alā’ al-Dīn on Astrological Choices).

For the misguided, these astrological choices replace seeking Allah’s guidance, which the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, taught the Muslims. As Jābir said in the authentic hadith related by al-Bukhārī and others: “The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, used to teach us