Allah, Glorified be He, has informed us in His Book that He addresses the jinn, commands them, and forbids them, as in His words:

“O company of jinn and humankind, did there not come to you messengers from among yourselves…?” (Q 6:130)

And His saying:

“O company of jinn and humankind, if you can pass beyond the confines of the heavens and the earth, then pass; you will not pass except by an authority.” (Q 55:33)

And His words:

“And [remember] when We directed a group of the jinn toward you…”—to the end of the sūrah, where He says, “…and He will deliver you from a painful punishment.” (Q 46:29-31)

And His statement:

“Say, ‘It has been revealed to me that a company of the jinn listened…’ ”—to the end of the sūrah. (Q 72:1-end)

Were we to recount all that we have seen and heard of the jinn—their dealings with righteous believers and their dealings with those given to lying and debauchery—this discourse would grow very lengthy. Allah, Exalted is He, says:

“Shall I inform you upon whom the devils descend? They descend upon every sinful liar. They lend an ear, and most of them are liars.” (Q 26:221-223)

These people have restricted existence and its causes to what they themselves know, yet they possess no knowledge that what they do not know is impossible. The utmost any one of them can do is to deny a thing because a particular proof is absent—and that is the height of ignorance. They are ignorant in two respects: first, they are unaware of many kinds of created beings and their states; second, they are ignorant of the causes of events. For when they failed to affirm the Lord’s power to alter the universe and denied His will by which occurrences take place, they ended up rejecting the possibility of miracles that break ordinary norms, and thus they were driven to