Someone then said to her, “That was the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him.” She replied, “Then I must have been even more unfortunate than that.”

As for the prohibition that arises from the very act of petitioning, it is sometimes because the supplication is directed to someone other than Allah—such as the magicians who address and worship the planets and the like. If no countervailing force, such as the prayers and acts of worship of the believers, opposes these appeals, they can be followed by certain decrees. For that reason such practices gain traction during the lulls between messengers and in lands of unbelief and hypocrisy in a way they do not in the abode—or era—of faith.

To illustrate, I know men who, when calamity befalls them, cry out to certain living individuals for help; their distress is then lifted, and they sometimes witness remarkable events—yet the person to whom they appealed feels nothing of it and knows absolutely nothing about it. Some of them invoke harm upon others or set out to injure them, and they see a living—or even a dead—person interposing himself between them and their intended victims; indeed, they may see him striking the aggressor with a sword, though the one acting as a shield is completely unaware of it. All of this is in fact the work of Allah, exalted is He, owing to a connection between the protected party and the person through whom the harm is averted, such as the latter’s loyalty to him and obedience to him in matters that constitute obedience to Allah. This is close at hand and easy to grasp.

At times idol-worshippers also experience phenomena of this same forbidden kind—a trial from Allah—through what the devils do for their allies. So if an effect can occur after appealing to one who is certainly unable to hear the supplication, how could anyone imagine that it was that invoked being who brought it about or that it had any power in the matter at all?