or making him forget what he has learned, or other such wrongs—or in sexual immorality, such as having someone brought to him for illicit relations—has sought their assistance in sin and aggression. If he seeks their assistance in disbelief, he is a disbeliever; if he seeks their assistance in sins, he is sinful, whether his sin amounts to unrighteousness or falls short of it.

If, however, his knowledge of the Sharia is incomplete and he seeks their assistance in things he supposes to be miraculous gifts—for example, having them assist him in performing Hajj, fly him through the air during innovated devotional listening sessions, carry him to Arafat without his performing the lawful Hajj commanded by Allah and His Messenger, or transport him from one city to another, and the like—then he is deluded, and they have deceived him.

Many such people may not know that these things come from the jinn. They have merely heard that Allah’s allies receive miraculous gifts and perform extraordinary feats. Yet they lack sufficient understanding of the realities of faith and knowledge of the Quran to distinguish miraculous gifts from the Most Merciful from satanic deceptions. The jinn therefore deceive each person according to his beliefs. If he is a polytheist who worships celestial bodies and idols, they lead him to imagine that he benefits from that worship. His intention is to seek the intercession and mediation of the king, prophet, or righteous shaykh in whose likeness the idol was fashioned. He thus considers himself righteous, whereas his worship is, in reality, directed to Satan. Allah Most High says:

“And on the Day He gathers them all together, He will say to the angels, ‘Was it you that these people used to worship?’

They will say, ‘Glory be to You! You are our Protector, not they. Rather, they used to worship the jinn; most of them believed in them.’”