Al-Ṭabarī relates—from Dāwūd, who said: ʿĀṣim ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿĀṣim narrated to us, from ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās—who said:

“The jinn used to have seats in the heavens from which they would eavesdrop on the revelation. Whenever revelation was being sent down, the angels would hear a sound like an iron chain hurled onto a smooth stone. The moment the angels heard the ringing of that revelation, everyone in the heavens would fall upon his forehead.”