anyone—it is, in fact, a devil who has led him astray.

He may further see figures while fully awake, some mounted and others on foot, and people will tell him: “This is such-and-such a prophet—perhaps Abraham, or the Messiah, or Muhammad; and this is such-and-such a ṣiddīq—perhaps Abu Bakr, or ʿUmar, or one of the disciples; and this is so-and-so among those he considers righteous—maybe George or someone else revered by the Christians, or one of the Muslim shaykhs.” Yet the apparition is nothing but a devil posing as that prophet, that shaykh, that ṣiddīq, or that saint.

Occurrences of this sort are frequent among many idolaters, Christians, and even a large number of Muslims. One of them will see a shaykh he holds in high esteem, and the figure says, “I am Shaykh so-and-so,” while in reality it is a devil. I know many such cases, and I know more than one person who calls upon absent or deceased shaykhs for relief and then sees the shaykh appear to him while he is awake and aid him.

The same thing has happened to me and to others I know; more than one person has related that