Shayṭān's Appearance

The door was opened, and Shayṭān appeared before them as an old man, cross-eyed — or, according to one account, blind in one eye — with a scant beard of only six or seven long hairs, like horse hair, hanging from his chin, a kind of goatee. He had a very large head, like an elephant's, his crossed eyes set close together high on his forehead, and thick, hanging lips like a buffalo's. He gave the salām to the Messenger of Allah and to the companions, to which the Messenger of Allah replied: O accursed one, the salām and its salutations belong to Allah — then told him, uskut: be silent.

The Messenger of Allah then said he had heard Shayṭān had business with him, and asked what it was. Shayṭān answered that he had not wished to come; he had been compelled. An angel had come to him from his Lord, who honours whomever He wishes, with the command to go to Muḥammad (peace be upon him) — but in humility and abasement, submissive and tractable, to tell him how he seduces and misleads mankind, and to answer every question truthfully, without a single lie, for Allah had said that if he lied he would be turned to ashes and blown away in the wind, and his enemies would laugh at him. With such orders, he said, he had come.