This is why those who prostrate to the sun, moon, and stars intend to prostrate to them, but the devil draws alongside these objects when they prostrate, so that their prostration is directed to him. This is also why the devil assumes the likeness of those whom the polytheists call upon for help. If someone is a Christian and calls upon George or someone else for help, the devil appears in the likeness of George or whoever he calls upon. If someone professes Islam and calls upon a Muslim shaykh of whom he thinks well, the devil appears in that shaykh’s likeness. If someone is among the polytheists of India, he appears in the likeness of whoever that polytheist reveres. Now, if the shaykh being called upon is knowledgeable about the Sharia, the devil does not inform him that he has appeared in his likeness to his companions who call upon him for help. If, however, the shaykh has no knowledge of what they have said, the devil conveys their words to him. They then imagine that the shaykh has heard their voices from afar and answered them, whereas this happens only through the devil’s mediation.

One shaykh who had experienced something like this in the form of disclosures of hidden matters and communication related what had happened. He said:

“The jinn show me something gleaming, like water and glass.” In it they depict for him whatever he is asked to report. He said: “I then inform people of it. They also convey to me the words of my companions who call upon me for help. I answer, and they deliver my reply to them.”

Many of the shaykhs who had experienced numerous such extraordinary feats, when someone unfamiliar with these feats denied them and said, “You do this through trickery, just as