His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿And that there were men from among mankind who sought refuge with men from among the jinn, so they increased them in oppression﴾ ﴿And that they thought as you thought that Allah would not send anyone﴾ ﴿And we had touched the heaven, and found it filled with strong guards and shooting stars﴾ ﴿And we used to sit in positions for listening, so whoever listens now will find for him a shooting star in wait﴾ ﴿And we do not know whether evil is intended for those on earth or whether their Lord intends for them guidance﴾

This 'alif' in 'that there were' has differing opinions regarding its opening and breaking, and the breaking is more appropriate. The meaning in the verse is what the Arabs used to do in their travels and their wandering in herding and others. The majority of the interpreters narrated that when a man wanted to spend the night and settle in a valley, he would call out with a loud voice: 'O Mighty one of this valley, I seek refuge with You from the foolish ones who are under Your command.' He believes by this that the jinn in the valley will protect him and guard him. It has been narrated that the jinn said at that time: 'We do not possess for you or for ourselves anything from Allah.' Muqatil said: The first to seek refuge with the jinn were a people from the people of Yemen, then the Banu Hanifah, and then this spread among the Arabs. It has been narrated from Qatadah that the jinn at that time looked down upon the children of Adam and despised them due to what is narrated of their ignorance. They would increase them in fear and expose them to illusions to the utmost of their abilities, and they would tempt them in their desires when they saw the weakness of their minds. This is the oppression that the jinn increased upon the children of Adam. Mujahid, al-Nakha'i, and Ubaid ibn Umayr said: The children of Adam increased the jinn in oppression, which is the audacity and the arrogance against them, and the transgression and the violation of the sacred things, and the admiration because they said: 'We have dominated the jinn and mankind.' Some people interpreted oppression as sin, and al-Tabari recited in this regard the verse of al-A'sha:

؎ Nothing benefits me apart from seeing her ∗∗∗ Does a lover find healing unless he has suffered oppression?

And he meant by it: unless he has not violated a prohibition. The meaning is: The jinn increased mankind in sin because they magnified them, thus increasing them in the permissibility of Allah's prohibitions.

And His saying, exalted is He: 'And that they thought' refers to the disbelieving children of Adam, 'as you thought' is addressing their kind among the jinn. And their saying: 'that Allah would not send anyone' can be understood in two ways: One of them is the resurrection from the graves, and the other is the sending of a human messenger. And 'that' in His saying, exalted is He: ﴿that Allah would not send﴾ is a lighter form of the heavy, and it suffices as two objects. Al-Mahdawi mentioned an interpretation that the meaning is: 'And the jinn thought as you thought, O mankind,' so it is an address from Allah, exalted is He.

And their saying: 'And we had touched the heaven' means: we sought it out. It appears from the context of the speech of the Arabs that it is a metaphor for their experimentation with it and their exposure to it, and that is called touching since touching was the ultimate goal of them. This is similar to the saying of al-Mutanabbi:

He expressed the shock of the army with the army and his war with the touch. This is as you say: "Touch so-and-so in such a matter," meaning: test his opinion in it. And "filled" may either be in the position of the second object for "we found," or the action may be limited to one object and "filled" may be in the position of the state. And the one-legged man used to read "I was filled" without a hamzah. And "the shooting stars" are the stars of stoning, and "the guard" may imply the throwing with the shooting stars, and he repeated the meaning with a different wording. It is also possible that he meant the angels.

And "seats" is the plural of "seat." The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, explained the image of the sitting of the jinn that they were one above another. Whenever the upper one was burned, the one beneath it took its place. They would steal the word and convey it to the soothsayers, adding to it, and the soothsayers would add a hundred lies to the word. And His saying, the Exalted, "So whoever listens now..." indicates that whoever listens now will be burned by a shooting star. There is no listening after this; rather, the burning occurs at the time of listening. This implies that stoning was in the pre-Islamic era, but it was not thorough. There was guarding, but it was not strict. When Islam came, the matter intensified to the point that there was no leniency or allowance in it. This is indicated by the Prophet's, blessings and peace be upon him, saying to his companions when they saw a shooting star: "What did you use to say about this in the pre-Islamic era?" They said: "We used to say: A son of a king has died, a king has died." He, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "The matter is not as such," and then he described the ascent of the jinn.

And 'Awf ibn al-Khar' was a pre-Islamic poet who said:

So it swooped down like a pearl, followed by A dust cloud that stirs, you would think it was a drum.

And this is much in their poetry. And "watching" is an adjective for the shooting star, and he described it with the source.

And His saying, the Exalted, "And we do not know whether evil is intended by those on earth..." means: We do not know whether the people will believe in this Prophet and be guided, or whether they will disbelieve in him and evil will descend upon them.