They used to say: "Indeed, Muhammad is a soothsayer, and what is revealed to him is of the same kind as what is revealed to the devils upon the soothsayers." So they lied, for that is something that is not easy for the devils nor can they achieve it, because they are stoned with meteors and isolated from hearing the words of the inhabitants of the heavens. Al-Hasan read: "the shayaton." He justified it by saying that he saw its ending like the ending of Yabrin and Palestine. He chose between making the grammatical case on the noon and making it on what precedes it, so he would say: "the shayatin" and "the shayaton," just as the Arabs chose between saying: "these are Yabrin" and "Yabrin" and "Palestun" and "Palestine." Its rightful derivation is from "shaytuta," which means destruction, as it is said to him, "the falsehood." Al-Farra said: "The sheikh erred in his reading of 'the shayaton,' thinking it was the noon that is on two syllables." An-Nadr ibn Shumayl said: "If it is permissible to argue with the saying of Al-Ajaj and Ru'bah, then why would it not be permissible to argue with the saying of Al-Hasan and his companion - referring to Muhammad ibn As-Samiq - while we know that they did not read it except after they had heard it."