Shaykh Tabarsi and other tradition scholars have narrated from Zuhri that after the death of His Eminence, Abu Talib, when troubles increased, and the people of Mecca united to harass the Messenger of Allah (S) he moved to Taif, hoping its inhabitants would be more tractable than Quraish. He met three person who were the chiefs there and were blood brothers of each other: they were Abdul Lail, Masud and Habib, sons of Amr.
The Holy Prophet (S) invited them to Islam but one of them said: “I must have stolen the covering of Kaaba; that is why God sent you to me.” Another remarked: “Was God not able to send anyone better than you for prophethood?”
The third said: “By Allah, I will not speak to you after this as you are the Prophet of Allah and you command a great position for me to speak to you. If you lie you are not worthy to be spoken to.” Thus all of them began to make fun of him. The common people seeing this cast stones at the Prophet, and wounded his feet.
From there he fled to one of their orchards to rest for sometime. He saw Atba and Shaibah there and was more aggrieved because the Prophet was aware of their enmity. When they saw the Prophet, they sent to him some grapes through their Christian slave. The Holy Prophet (S) asked him of his native place and he said that he was from Nainawa. The Holy Prophet (S) asked: “Are you from the place of a righteous man like Yunus bin Mata?” He said: “What do you know who Yunus was?”
The Messenger of Allah (S) said: “I am the Prophet of Allah and God has informed me about Yunus.” Adas immediately fell down in prostration and kissed his feet although they were bleeding. When Atba and Shaibah learnt of this, they were shocked. When the slave returned to them they asked: “Why did you prostrate to Muhammad and kiss his feet? You have never done this for us even though we are your masters.”
He replied: “This person is deserving and he told me about Prophet Yunus.” Upon this the duo laughed and warned him from his deceit because (we seek refuge of Allah) he was a great cheater! They said: “Don’t forgo your faith.” The Prophet despaired of making them Muslims and came back to Mecca. When he reached Nakhla, the night fell and he began to offer his prayers. A caravan of Jinns was passing from there to Nasibain which was an area of Yemen. The Prophet prayed there the whole night and after the Morning Prayer was reciting the Qur’an.
When those Jinns heard the verses of Qur’an, they accepted faith and returned to their community and invited their people to Islam. According to another report, the Prophet was now commanded to proclaim his mission to the Jinns, summon them to embrace Islam, and to recite the Qur’an to them. The Almighty Allah having sent a party of Jinns of the family of Nasibain to the Prophet, he said to his companions, “I am commanded to read the Qur’an tonight to the Jinns, who of you will go with me?”
Abdullah bin Masud accepted the invitation, and he reports: When we arrived at the heights beyond Mecca, the Prophet entered the defile of Hajoon, and drew a circle round me, ordering me not to leave it till his return. He then went and engaged in prayer, and began to recite the Qur’an. Presently I saw a great number of black creatures crowding around him, quite intercepting my sight of him and the sound of his voice. After a time, most of them dispersed like fragments of cloud, but a company still remained.
When he had performed the Morning Prayer, he came back to me, and inquired if I saw anything. I replied that I saw black people clothed in white garments. He said, “These were Jinns of Nasibain.” According to the report of Ibn Abbas, they were 70 in all. The Holy Prophet (S) appointed them as his ambassadors to their people. Some say that they were nine. It is narrated from Jabir that the Messenger of Allah (S) said: “I recited Surah Rahman before them. Whatever they replied is better than your replies.” That is when I recited:
فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ
“Which then of the bounties of your Lord will you deny?”163
They said: “No, our Lord, we do not deny any of Your bounties.” It is narrated from Ibn Abbas that when the Prophet was given the office of prophethood and angels prevented the satans from climbing to the heavens and they drove them away with shooting stars, they said: “Definitely something extraordinary has occurred on the earth and we must find out what it is.
That is why we are prevented from scaling the heavens.” All dispersed to the east and west of the earth. A group of them which descended in Mecca passed the Prophet when he was praying the Morning Prayer in Nakhla with his companions. The satans were going to the Ukaz market. When they heard the Prophet reciting Qur’an they remarked: “This is why we are prevented to scale the heavens.”
They returned to their community and conveyed the information: “We have heard a strange Qur’an which guides to truth, so we accepted faith and we don’t associate anyone with our Lord.” So the Almighty Allah revealed Surah Jinn. It is narrated from Abu Hamza Thumali that they were from Bani Shaiban (Jinns).
Ali bin Ibrahim has narrated that the Messenger of Allah (S) came out of Mecca with Zaid bin Haritha and reached the Ukaz market to call the people to Islam. No one accepted his invitation and he returned to Mecca. When he reached the Majna valley, he began to pray the Midnight Prayer and after that he began to recite the Qur’an.
A party of Jinns was passing by and when they heard the verses of Qur’an, they said among themselves: “Silence!” and they began to listen attentively to the Prophet’s recitation. When the Messenger of Allah (S) concluded, the Jinns came to their folks and said: “We have heard such a book that was revealed after the scriptures of Musa (a.s.) and it testifies the past matters and guides to truth and the straight path.
O folks, harken to the caller to the Almighty Allah so that He may forgive your sins and save you from a painful chastisement. Then they returned to the Prophet and embraced faith. The Holy Prophet (S) conveyed the teachings of Islam to them and the Almighty Allah revealed Surah Jinn. The Messenger of Allah (S) appointed one of them as their leader.
They were constantly present with the Prophet and the Messenger of Allah (S) commanded Amirul Momineen (a.s.) to teach them the rules of religion. Among them are believers, infidels, Ahlul Bayt haters, Jews, Magians and Christians.