this news?” They replied, “A man with such-and-such characteristics told us.” Umar said, “That was Abū al-Haytham, the courier of the jinn. The human courier will arrive several days later.”

A king may give a man an order and require him to keep it secret, yet when the man goes out, he finds people discussing it: the jinn hear it and tell people about it. Those who employ the jinn for permissible purposes resemble Solomon in his employment of them. He, however, was granted a dominion that no one after him was to have, and humans and jinn were subjected to him. This was granted to no one else. When a powerful jinn lunged at the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, to interrupt his prayer, he said:

“I seized him and throttled him until his saliva flowed onto my hand. I wanted to tie him to one of the mosque’s pillars, but then I remembered the supplication of my brother Solomon, so I released him.”

He did not employ the jinn at all. Rather, he called them to faith in Allah, recited the Quran to them, conveyed the message to them, and received their pledge of allegiance, just as he did with humans. What he was granted, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was greater than what Solomon was granted: he directed jinn and humans to worship Allah alone and to attain happiness in this world and the Hereafter, seeking no personal benefit other than Allah’s Face and His pleasure.

He chose to be a servant-messenger rather than a prophet-king. David, Solomon, and Joseph were prophet-kings, while Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad were servant-messengers. The latter station is superior, just as the foremost, those brought near to Allah, are superior to the righteous, the people of the right hand.

Many who witness these extraordinary wonders believe them to be miracles granted to the friends of Allah, and many of the people of