and wilderness. They are also found in places of filth, such as bathhouses, latrines, refuse heaps, qamāmīn, and graveyards. The shaykhs whom devils accompany, and whose spiritual states are satanic rather than from the Most Merciful, often frequent these places where devils dwell. Reports have prohibited prayer in them because they are dwellings of devils. Some jurists explain the prohibition by the likelihood of impurities being present.

Others say that it is a devotional injunction whose rationale cannot be understood. The correct view is that bathhouses, camel resting places, and similar locations are prohibited because they are dwellings of devils, whereas prayer in graveyards is prohibited because it is a means leading to associating partners with Allah—although graveyards, too, are dwellings of devils.

The point is that people of misguidance and religious innovation who practise asceticism and worship in ways not prescribed by Islamic law, and who sometimes experience unveilings and exert influence, often frequent the places of devils in which prayer has been prohibited. This is because devils descend upon them there and speak to them about certain matters, just as they speak to soothsayers, and just as they used to enter idols and speak to their worshippers. They help them achieve some of their aims, just as they help sorcerers and worshippers of idols, the sun, the moon, and the heavenly bodies when they worship these things through practices they believe appropriate to them, such as glorifying them, wearing particular clothing, burning incense, and other practices. Devils whom they call the spirits of the heavenly bodies may descend upon them and fulfil some of their needs, whether by killing some of their enemies or