so-and-so. They may say, “It is his essence taking form,” or call it “his spiritual being.”

Some of these people say, “When I die, do not let anyone wash me, nor let so-and-so attend me, for I shall wash myself.” When he dies, they see him come and wash that body. This is actually a jinn who had told the deceased, “You will return after death,” and he believed this to be true, for it had told him things during his lifetime. The devil’s purpose is to mislead his followers.

In lands inhabited by polytheists, such as India, people very often see a deceased person return after his death, open his shop, return things entrusted to him, settle debts, enter his home and then leave. They have no doubt that it is the very same person, whereas it is only a devil that has assumed his appearance.

Some of these people attend the funeral of their father or someone else. While the deceased lies on his bier, the person sees him walking among the people, holding his son and his father by the hand, having been appointed shaykh in succession to his father. His son has no doubt that it was his father himself who walked with him—the figure that he alone, and no one else, saw. Yet it was only a devil. Such a devil may call himself Khālid, or some other name, and tell them that he is one of the men of the unseen. They believe him to be a righteous human being and call him Khālid al-Ghaybī. They associate the shaykh with him, calling him Muhammad al-Khālidī, or something similar.

The jinn, like human beings, are subject to commands and prohibitions. Allah sent human messengers to both them and humankind, and commanded them all to obey the messengers, as He says: