He said, “So I embraced Islam and pledged my allegiance to him. We then informed him of what we had heard, and he replied,
‘That is speech from the jinn.’
He went on to declare:
‘O assembly of Arabs! I am the Messenger of Allah to you and to all humankind. I call them to worship Allah alone, to acknowledge that I am His servant and Messenger, to perform the pilgrimage to the Sacred House, and to fast one month out of every twelve—the month of Ramadan. Whoever responds to me shall have Paradise as an honoured welcome; whoever disobeys me shall have the Fire as his destination.’
He continued, “We therefore accepted Islam, and he appointed a banner for us. He also wrote us a document whose text read:
‘In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. From Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, to Zaml ibn ʿAmr and those who have embraced Islam with him in particular. I have dispatched him deliberately to his people. Whoever submits is in the party of Allah and His Messenger; whoever refuses is granted safe conduct for two months. Witnesses: ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib and Muḥammad ibn Maslamah al-Anṣārī.’
Ibn ʿAsākir commented, ‘This report is very unusual.’
Saʿīd ibn Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd al-Umawī, in his Maghāzī, said: Muḥammad ibn Saʿīd—meaning his uncle—narrated to me, and Muḥammad ibn al-Munkadir said: It reached me from Ibn ʿAbbās that a herald from the jinn called out atop Mount Abū Qubays, reciting:
“May Allah disgrace your judgment, O House of Fihr—
how lacking your minds and understanding—
When you yield to the one who reproaches
the faith of your noble, valiant fathers.
The jinn of Boṣra have sworn against you,
as have the men of palm-groves and fortresses.
Before long you will see, in broad daylight,
cavalry slaying people in the sacred land of Tihāmah.
Is there a noble among you, of a free-born soul,
honoured in parents and uncles,
Who will strike a blow that serves as a warning
and bring relief from trial and distress?”
Ibn ʿAbbās said, “By morning these verses were the talk of Mecca; the people were reciting them among themselves.” The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, remarked:
‘That is a devil who addresses people through the idols; he is called Misʿar, and Allah will humiliate him.’
They waited three days, when suddenly a voice cried out from the mountain, chanting:
‘Within three days we slew Misʿar,
for he misled the jinn and inaugurated evil;
I struck him down with a keen, unsheathed sword
because he reviled our purified Prophet.’
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, ‘That was a powerful jinn; his name is Samaj. He has believed in me, and I named him ʿAbd Allah. He informed me that …’