Qatadah said: “We were told that when Ibn Mas‘ud arrived in Kufa, he saw some gray-haired elders from a people known as the Zutt, and their appearance alarmed him. He said, ‘Come forth!’ Then he was told, ‘These are people from the Zutt.’ He said, ‘How much they resemble the group who were directed to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him!’—meaning the jinn.” (1)

Isma‘il ibn Abd al-Qahir informed us; Abd al-Ghaffar ibn Muhammad informed us; Muhammad ibn ‘Isa al-Juludi related to us; Ibrahim ibn Muhammad ibn Sufyan related to us; Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj related to us; Muhammad ibn al-Muthanna related to us; Abd al-A‘la related to us; Dawud—who was Ibn Abi Hind—related to us, from ‘Amir, who said: “I asked Alqamah, ‘Did Ibn Mas‘ud accompany the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, on the Night of the Jinn?’”

Alqamah replied: “I asked Ibn Mas‘ud, saying, ‘Did any of you accompany the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, on the Night of the Jinn?’ He said, ‘No. But one night we were with the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, when we lost him. We searched for him in the valleys and mountain passes, and said, “He has either been snatched away or assassinated.” We spent the worst night that any people could spend. Then, when morning came, there he was, arriving from the direction of Hira. We said, “O Messenger of Allah, we lost you and searched for you but could not find you, and so we spent the worst night that any people could spend.” He said, “A caller from the jinn came to me, so I went with him and recited the Quran to them.”

“He then took us and showed us their tracks and the remains of their fires.

“They asked him for provisions, and he said, ‘Every bone over which the name of Allah has been pronounced will come into your hands with the greatest amount of meat it could have, and every dung pellet will be fodder for your animals.’ The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, then said, ‘Do not use these two for cleansing yourselves after relieving yourselves, for they are the food of your brethren among the jinn.’” (2)

Muslim also narrated it from ‘Ali ibn Hujr: Isma‘il ibn Ibrahim related to us, from Dawud, with this chain of transmission, up to the words: “and the remains of their fires.” (3)

Al-Sha‘bi said: “They asked him for provisions, and they were from the jinn of al-Jazirah,” continuing to the end of the hadith. This is al-Sha‘bi’s detailed account from the hadith of Abdullah. (4)

His saying, exalted is He: “And [mention] when We directed toward you a group of jinn, listening to the Quran.” They differed over its number.