341 – ʿAbdullāh narrated to us; he said: my father narrated to us; he said: Rawḥ ibn ʿUbādah informed us, from Hishām ibn Abī ʿAbd Allah, from Jaʿfar ibn Maymūn, from Abū al-ʿĀliyah, who said: ⦗217⦘

“People will surely live through a time when their chests are laid waste of the Quran; it will wear away inside them just as their clothes wear out, crumbling so that they taste none of its sweetness or delight. If they neglect what they have been commanded, they say, ‘Allah is All-Forgiving, All-Merciful,’ and if they commit what they have been forbidden, they say, ‘We shall be forgiven; we do not associate anything with Allah.’ Their whole attitude is wishful thinking, devoid of fear. They have donned the skins of sheep while their hearts are those of wolves, and the one they regard as the best among them is the consummate flatterer.”