Al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū Nuʿaym transmitted—through the chain of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAqīl—from Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh, who said: “The very first report that reached Madinah of the mission of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was that a woman in the city had a familiar spirit from among the jinn. He came to her in the form of a white bird and perched on their wall. She said to him, ‘Why do you not come down to us so that we may talk with you and you talk with us, we tell you and you tell us?’ He replied, ‘A Prophet has been sent in Mecca. He has forbidden fornication, and we are no longer allowed to remain among you.’

Al-Wāqidī said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz narrated to me, from al-Zuhrī, from ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn, who said: “The first item of news that flowed into Madinah concerning the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was that a woman named Fāṭimah had a jinn-companion. One day he came, stood upon the wall, and she said, ‘Will you not come down?’ He replied, ‘No. The Messenger has been sent who has forbidden fornication.’

One of the Successors likewise reported the account, naming the spirit Ibn Lawdhān. He added that the spirit had been absent for a time; when he finally returned she reproached him, whereupon he said, ‘I went to the Messenger and heard him pronounce fornication unlawful. Peace be upon you.’

Al-Wāqidī further related: Muḥammad ibn Ṣāliḥ told me, from ʿĀṣim ibn ʿUmar ibn Qatādah, that ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān said: “We set out with a caravan to Syria before the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was commissioned. When we reached the approaches of Syria there was a soothsayer who confronted us and said, ‘My familiar came to me and stood at my door.’ I asked, ‘Will you not enter?’ He replied, ‘There is no longer any way; Aḥmad has appeared and a decree has come that cannot be resisted.’ I then turned back, and on returning to Mecca found that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had indeed arisen there, calling people to Allah, Exalted and Majestic.”

Al-Wāqidī also said: Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Zuhrī narrated to me: “Revelation used to be audible, but once Islam arrived they were prevented from listening. There was a woman of Banū Asad named Saʿīrah who had a jinn-companion. When he realised that revelation had become inaccessible, he came to her, entered into her chest, and cried out from within so loudly that she lost her senses, repeating: ‘Embraces have been cast aside, companions have been barred, a decree has come that cannot be borne, and Aḥmad has forbidden fornication.’”