His words, “those who take him as an ally and those who, through him, associate others with Allah,” describe one and the same group. Everyone who takes him as an ally associates others with Allah through him, and everyone who associates others with Allah through him has taken him as an ally. Allah Most High says:

“Did I not enjoin upon you, O children of Adam, that you should not worship Satan—for he is your clear enemy—and that you should worship Me? This is a straight path.”

Everyone who worships anything other than Allah is in fact worshipping Satan, even if he thinks he is worshipping angels or prophets. Allah Most High says:

“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.’”

This is why devils appear to those who worship angels, prophets and the righteous, and speak to them. They then imagine that the one who addressed them was an angel, a prophet or a friend of Allah, when he is merely a devil posing as an angel. This also happens to star-worshippers and practitioners of incantations and talismans. They invoke names which they claim are the names of angels, such as Mantatrūn and others, whereas they are only the names of jinn.

Likewise, those who invoke created beings—prophets, friends of Allah and angels—may have someone appear to them and address them. They imagine him to be the prophet or righteous person whom they invoked. Yet in reality