I marvel at the jinn in their bewildered despair
and at the way they cinch their white camels with saddle-cloths;
They rush toward Mecca in search of guidance—
believing jinn are nothing like the defiled among them.

Al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū Yaʿlā al-Mawṣilī related: Yḥyā ibn Ḥujr ibn al-Nuʿmān al-Sāmī told us, ʿAlī ibn Manṣūr al-Abnāwī told us, from ʿUthmān ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Waqāṣī, from Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb al-Quraẓī, who said:

While ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb was seated one day, a man passed by. Someone said, “Commander of the Believers, do you recognize that passer-by?” He asked, “Who is he?” They replied, “That is Sawad ibn Qārib—the man whose familiar spirit informed him of the appearance of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.”

ʿUmar sent for him and asked, “Are you Sawad ibn Qārib?” He answered, “Yes.” ʿUmar continued, “And are you still upon the soothsaying you used to practice?”

Sawad grew angry and said, “No one has addressed me like that since I accepted Islam, O Commander of the Believers!”

ʿUmar replied, “Glory be to Allah! The idolatry we once practiced was far worse than the soothsaying you engaged in. Tell me, then, what your familiar spirit told you about the advent of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.”

He said, “Certainly, O Commander of the Believers. One night, while I hovered between sleep and wakefulness, my spirit-companion came and struck me with his foot, saying: ‘Rise, Sawad ibn Qārib; listen to my words and grasp them if you have any sense. A Messenger from Luʾayy ibn Ghalib has been sent; he calls people to Allah and to His worship.’ Then he recited:

I am amazed at the jinn and their seeking—
at how they tighten the girths on their light mounts;
They hasten toward Mecca in quest of guidance;
the truthful among the jinn are not like the liars.
So set out for the Elect One of Hāshim;
the vanguard of his people is nothing like the stragglers behind.

“I said to him, ‘Leave me to sleep; I have grown drowsy.’

“When the second night came, he visited me again and struck me with his foot…"