The Devils Deception by Imam Ibn AL-Jawzi

T H E D E V I L ' S
D E C E P T I O N S
advice, then story telling should be praised. AQ.mad Ibn f:lanbal used
to say: People are in great need of a truthful storyteller.
[ 7:4 ]
The Devil's Deception of Preachers (al-wu'dzh) and
Storytellers (al-qufd!)
In the days gone by, those who preached were also scholars.
'Abdullah Ibn 1Umar (rat/ryAlldhu 'anhu) used to attend the gathering
of 1Ubayd Ibn 1Umayr. And 1Umar Ibn 1Abdu'l-1Aziz attend the lectures
of some storytellers.
Then ignorant people began practicing this trade (storytelling), so
its quality (and purpose) diminished and only women and laypeople
began attending these sessions. Preachers stopped focusing on knowledge
and focused on stories that appeal to ignorant people.
We have mentioned some of the problems of storytellers in our
book "Storytellers and Admonishers''. And we will mention a few here
as well:
Some of them used to fabricate lµ.diths that brought fear and hope
to the listeners. Iblis convinced them that this was a good act because
it aimed at encouraging people to do good deeds and stay
away from evil.
This is a form of transgression against Islam because it is an implicit
claim that religion is deficient and in need of these fabricated
narrations to amend it. They also forgot the Prophetic saying:
"Whomsoever lies about me intentionally, then let them assume their
position in the Hellfire."120
120
Bukhari 1/202/10, and Muslim 1/10/3.
216