and to defile him, thereby rendering his worship invalid. Since the Prophet ﷺ—who was divinely shielded from error—feared evil and those who promote it, our fear should be even greater.

3 – Impure and filthy locations are the very haunts of the devils; they flock to them and reside there.

4 – Turning to Allah Most High and seeking refuge in Him from the devils and their evils is the only means of deliverance and protection from their harm.

5 – It is obligatory to avoid impurities and to adopt the means that protect against them. Authentic hadiths state that one cause of the torment of the grave is failing to cleanse oneself from urine.

6 – This supplication and remembrance possess special virtue in this setting, for every time and place has its own prescribed remembrance. Whoever perseveres in them will be numbered among the men and women who remember Allah much.

7 – Al-Hasan al-Basri said, “Allahumma is the sum of all supplication; saying Allahumma means ‘O Allah!’—it is an appeal to Allah by all His Names and Attributes, a prayer through the Most Beautiful Names and the Loftiest Attributes.”

8 – There is unanimous agreement on the desirability of seeking refuge (istiʿādhah), whether one is inside buildings or in the open desert.

9 – At wholesome places such as mosques, remembrances and prayers are prescribed that suit the mercy and grace hoped for there; at foul places such as privies, the appropriate remembrance upon entering seeks distance from the filth of the jinn and the rebellious devils.

10 – Wholesome places are the abode of the noble, dutiful angels, whereas foul places are the abode of the devils. The Almighty says, “Evil women are for evil men and evil men for evil women, and good women are for good men and good men for good women” (Qur’an 24:26); everyone settles where he belongs.

11 – This hadith affirms the existence of the jinn and devils. Denying them is misguidance and disbelief, for it rejects clear, authentic texts and betrays a deficiency of intellect and narrowness of thought. A person only denies what has reached his knowledge; otherwise—if he does not believe in revelation—he should suspend judgment, for new discoveries of the unknown confront us continually: “And you have been given …”