were unbelievers.”

He thus makes clear that the messengers recited Allah’s verses to both communities, jinn and humans. Hence, when the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, recited a surah to the Companions, he said, “The jinn were indeed…”—and the rest of the hadith. He called them to obey Allah through its commands and prohibitions, not merely to discourse unaccompanied by obedience. Such assent was possessed by Iblīs, yet it availed him nothing against Allah.

The evidence establishing this principle is abundant, as are the hadiths and reports describing how the jinn perform Hajj, pray, engage in jihad, and are punished for sin. Allah Most High says, reporting their words:

“Some of us are righteous, and some are otherwise; we have followed divergent paths.”

They explained this as meaning different religious persuasions: Muslims, Jews, Christians, Shiites, and Sunnis.

He thus states that some of them are righteous and others fall short of righteousness. One would therefore either be obedient in that respect and thus a believer, or disobedient in that respect and thus an unbeliever; believers would not be divided into righteous and unrighteous. Someone who is unrighteous is not regarded as righteous, owing to his neglect of acts of obedience. The righteous person is one who fulfils what is obligatory upon him. Someone who falls short of righteousness must disobey some of what he has been commanded to do, yet belongs to a category distinct from unbelievers, for an unbeliever is not described in such terms. This shows that some of them neglect certain obligations. And Allah knows best.