and His Messenger, and directs his aspirations toward extraordinary feats, may be joined by one of the jinn and devils (1) through whom he gains some information about certain events, or who carries him through the air or enables him to walk on water. He then supposes that these are miraculous gifts granted to Allah’s friends and that he is a friend of Allah, yet this becomes the cause of his associating partners with Allah, his unbelief, his religious innovation, or his sinful conduct.

Such things may happen to some unbelievers, including People of the Book and others. They may also happen to some heretics who identify as Muslims, such as those who do not consider the prayers obligatory, do not even acknowledge that Muhammad is Allah’s Messenger, and indeed hate him and hate the Quran, or hold similar attitudes that entail unbelief. Nevertheless, the devils lead them astray through certain extraordinary feats, just as they lead polytheists astray and used to associate with soothsayers and idols. Today they likewise operate among the polytheists of India, the Turks, and Abyssinia, and among many well-known figures in lands where Islam is present who are unbelievers, sinners, or ignorant adherents of religious innovation, as has been explained at length elsewhere.

[Section Twelve: The Rāfidī’s discussion of the virtues of ‘Alī, may Allah be pleased with him, and the response to him]

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The Rāfidī said (2): “Twelfth: Virtues are either virtues of the soul, bodily virtues, or external virtues. In the first two cases, they relate either to the person himself or to others. The Commander of the Faithful, ‘Alī, combined (3)