The devils may also fulfil some of their needs and ward off some of the things they dislike. One of them then imagines that the shaykh himself has come from the unseen to do this, or that Allah Most High has fashioned an angel—in the shaykh’s likeness—who has done it. One of them says: “This is the shaykh’s secret and spiritual state.” In reality, it is only a devil assuming his form to mislead the person who associates him as a partner with Allah and seeks deliverance from him. Likewise, devils enter idols, speak to their worshippers, and fulfil some of their needs. This happened with the idols of the Arab polytheists, and it still occurs today among polytheists from the Turks, Indians, and others.

I know of many such incidents involving people who sought deliverance from me and from others while we were absent from them. They saw me, or the other person whose aid they had sought, come through the air and protect them. When they told me about this, I explained to them that it was only a devil assuming my form or that of another shaykh whose aid they had sought. Its purpose was to make them think that these were miraculous favours granted to the shaykh, thereby strengthening their resolve to seek deliverance from absent and deceased shaykhs. This is one of the chief causes that have led polytheists and idol worshippers to associate partners with Allah.

Likewise, Christians who seek deliverance from their shaykhs, whom they call al-‘alāmis, also see someone coming in the form of the Christian shaykh whose aid they have sought and fulfilling some of their needs.

As for those who seek deliverance from deceased prophets, righteous people, shaykhs, and members of the Prophet’s household—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—the most that happens to any one of them is that some of these things occur for him, or accounts of such things are related to them. He then imagines that this is a miraculous favour and a departure from the ordinary course of events brought about by this practice. Among these people are those who come to the grave of the shaykh