Section: Accounts of the voices of the jinn and the sayings of the soothsayers

Ibn Wahb said: ʿUmar ibn Muḥammad informed us, saying: Sālim ibn ʿAbd Allāh narrated to me from his father who said: “I never heard ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with him) say about anything, ‘I think it is such-and-such,’ without events unfolding exactly as he had thought.

While ʿUmar was seated one day, a strikingly handsome man passed by. ʿUmar remarked, ‘Either my guess has failed me, or this man is still upon his pre-Islamic religion—or else he used to be their soothsayer.’ The man was summoned and brought before him. ʿUmar said, ‘Either my guess has failed me, or you are still on your former creed, or you used to be their soothsayer.’

The man replied, ‘Never have I seen a Muslim confronted the way I have been today!’ ʿUmar insisted, ‘I place you under oath—tell me the truth!’ He said, ‘I was indeed their soothsayer in the Days of Ignorance.’

ʿUmar asked him, ‘What is the most astonishing thing your familiar spirit ever conveyed to you?’ He answered, ‘I was sitting when she came to me—panic showed in her—and she recited:

Have you not seen the jinn, how despair has overwhelmed them—
their hopelessness compounding their despair?
They cling to the swift she-camels and the saddle-pads upon them,
having lost all hope of returning to their human companions.’

ʿUmar said, ‘She has spoken the truth. While I was asleep beside their idols, a man brought a calf and slaughtered it. Suddenly a voice sounded from within the carcass—never have I heard a louder cry—proclaiming, “There is no god but Allah.” The people jumped up, but I said, “I will not leave until I know what lies behind this.” Then the voice called out: “O Jalīḥ, a decisive matter, an eloquent man, proclaiming: There is no god but Allah.” I said, “I will not leave until I find out what lies behind…’”