(22) Istiʿadha (seeking refuge) is to turn for protection to one who can shield you from a feared harm so that he may ward it off. Because it entails humble reliance, istiʿadha is an act of worship and may not be directed to anyone but Allah. Whoever seeks refuge in a grave, an idol, or any created being commits major shirk. Allah says: “Certain men from mankind used to seek refuge with men from the jinn, but they only increased them in oppression” (Surah al-Jinn 6). In pre-Islamic Arabia, when travellers encamped, one of them would declare, “I seek refuge with the lord of this valley,” meaning the chief of its jinn, hoping for protection from the mischief of the lesser spirits. The Prophet, peace be upon him, annulled this practice and prescribed its lawful alternative: “Whoever stops at a place and says, ‘I seek refuge in the perfect words of Allah from the evil of what He has created,’ nothing will harm him until he departs from that place.”