the soothsayers used to relate something to us and it would prove true.’ He replied, ‘That word of truth is snatched by a jinni, who casts it into the ear of his confidant; he then tacks onto it more than a hundred lies.’

Al-Bukhārī also records in his Ṣaḥīḥ, on the authority of ʿĀʾishah, that she heard the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—say:
‘The angels descend into the firmament, that is, the cloud-layer, and mention the matter that has been decreed in heaven. The devils steal a hearing, catch hold of it, and convey it to the soothsayers, who then add to it a hundred lies of their own making.’

Al-Bukhārī likewise transmits in his Ṣaḥīḥ from Abū Hurayrah that the Prophet of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—said, ‘When Allah decrees a command in heaven, the angels beat their wings in humble submission to His word, producing a sound like a chain striking on…’