—a smooth stone. When the dread is lifted from their hearts they say, “What has your Lord said?” They reply to the one who asked,

“The truth, and He is the Most High, the All-Great.” (Sabaʾ 23)

The demons who steal a hearing then catch those words. The eavesdroppers stand one above another in layers; the uppermost hears a single word and passes it down to the tongue of the sorcerer or the soothsayer. At times a shooting-star overtakes him before he can drop it, and at other times he casts it down before it overtakes him—yet he mixes with it a hundred lies. People will say, “On such-and-such a day he told us that such-and-such would happen!”—that very word which had been heard from heaven—so they credit him because of the one true word that reached them from heaven.

Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq also transmitted this report from al-Zuhrī, adding at its conclusion: “Then Allah, Mighty and Majestic, screened the devils from overhearing with these stars, so divination came to an end; there is no longer any soothsaying.”

Maʿmar likewise related it from al-Zuhrī. I said to al-Zuhrī, “Were they pelted with them in the pre-Islamic era as well?” He answered, “Yes.” I said, “But Allah says, ‘We used to take up positions therein to listen in’ (al-Jinn 9).” He replied, “The matter grew harsher and more intense when the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—was sent.”