, who prays and may himself be prayed to. One of their leaders—I believe it was Ibn ‘Arabī—expressed this explicitly when he said:

The Lord is a servant, and the servant a lord;
Would that I knew who is bound by religious duties!

This is the station that every Sufi shaykh strives to attain, as anyone acquainted with these people knows. Can such a notion possibly fall within the meaning of calling people to Islam?

As for the third verse, it was composed by al-Kawlakhī of Africa, who calls people to venerate him and exaggerate his status to the point of worship, claiming that loving him and seeing him necessarily guarantee a person admission to Paradise. He says:

Whoever loves me, and whoever sees me,
Will dwell in everlasting Paradise—this is no lie.

I shall content myself with this sample of their words as testimony and evidence of their characteristics. Whoever wishes to know more should consult their books, which circulate in their regions. Allah is the One whose help is sought.

From this brief account, we can see that Islam first entered the continent in its correct sense: its joy permeated people’s hearts, and they tasted its sweetness. Then, after a considerable period, it began to spread through a group who loved Islam and desired goodness and guidance for Muslims, but who had neither fully absorbed Islam nor understood it properly: the merchants.

When the Sufi shaykhs saw that the field was empty and that those calling to the truth were neglecting their duty, they entered it, assuming the deceptive titles we have already heard. They entered the field of calling people to Islam in order to profit from religion and make Islam a façade for their idolatrous—or sometimes atheistic—message, as explained above. They corrupted this call until their followers and disciples came to fear them as they feared Allah, or even more