their deeds and said, ‘No one among mankind can overcome you today, and I will protect you,’” up to His words:

“And Allah is severe in punishment.”

Likewise, it is reported that he appeared in the form of an elderly man from Najd when they gathered at Dār al-Nadwah to consider whether to kill the Messenger, imprison him, or expel him. As He, blessed and exalted, says:

“And when those who disbelieved plotted against you to imprison you or kill you or expel you. They plot, and Allah plots; and Allah is the best of planners.”

Since snakes found in houses may be jinn, they are to be warned three times. If they leave, well and good; otherwise, they are killed. If it is a snake, it is killed; if it is a jinn, it has persisted in aggression by appearing to human beings in the form of a snake and frightening them. An aggressor is an assailant who may be repelled by whatever will avert his harm, even if that means killing him. Killing them without grounds that permit it, however, is impermissible.

Practitioners of adjurations and oaths adjure some jinn to help them against others. Sometimes they honour the practitioner’s oath, but often they do not. This may be because the jinn in question is highly esteemed among them, while neither the practitioner nor his adjuration commands enough reverence to induce them to provide such help. For the practitioner may be like someone who makes another swear an oath and adjures him by someone he reveres. Circumstances differ in such matters: if someone adjures people to harm a person whom they hold in high esteem, they pay him no heed. That person may also be well protected. Thus their circumstances resemble those of