Allah cannot escape Him on earth and has no protectors besides Him. Such people are clearly astray.’”

Allah Most High subsequently revealed:

“Say: It has been revealed to me that a group of jinn listened and said, ‘We have heard a wondrous Quran, which guides to right conduct, so we have believed in it, and we will never associate anyone with our Lord. Exalted is the majesty of our Lord! He has taken neither a wife nor a child. The foolish one among us used to utter outrageous claims about Allah. We had thought that humans and jinn would never speak lies about Allah. Some men among humankind used to seek refuge with men among the jinn, thus increasing them in transgression.’”

That is, “the foolish one among us,” according to the more evident of the two scholarly views.

More than one of the early Muslims stated that when a man came to a valley, he would say, “I seek refuge with the mighty one of this valley from the evil of the foolish among his people.” When humans sought help from the jinn, the jinn grew in rebellion and disbelief, as Allah Most High said:

“Some men among humankind used to seek refuge with men among the jinn, thus increasing them in transgression.”

“They thought, just as you thought, that Allah would never raise anyone up.”

“We sought to reach heaven, but found it filled with mighty guards and shooting stars.”

The devils were being pelted with shooting stars even before the Quran was revealed. However, they would sometimes steal a hearing before a shooting star reached one of them. When Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was sent, heaven was filled with mighty guards and shooting stars, and the shooting stars lay in wait for them before they could hear anything, as they said:

“We used to take up positions there to listen, but whoever listens now finds a shooting star lying in wait for him.”