The shaykh—may Allah have mercy on him—was asked about someone who says:

“Unless the true essence of the jinn and the full reality of their attributes become clear to me, I will not follow the scholars in anything.”

He replied:

As for his not understanding the nature and essence of the jinn, this is merely an admission of his lack of knowledge; he has not denied their existence. Their existence is established in many ways besides the evidence of the Quran and Sunnah. Some people have seen them; others have seen people who have seen them, and their existence has been established for them through reports and certain knowledge.

Some people have spoken to them, and they have spoken in return. Others command them, forbid them, and exercise control over them. This occurs among both the righteous and those who are not righteous. Were I to recount what my companions and I have experienced with them, the discussion would be lengthy. The same is true of what others have experienced.

However, scholarly answers rest on knowledge that people share, not on knowledge possessed exclusively by the person giving the answer—unless the answer is addressed to someone who believes what he reports.