The Shayṭān Tied to a Pillar

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was praying, and he started making movements in his ṣalāh. So the Companions asked the Messenger of Allah: what were you doing? The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: a shayṭān came in front of my face, and he wanted to distract me from my ṣalāh — yulabbisu ʿalayya al-Qurʾān — the shayṭān was trying to confuse the Messenger of Allah in his recitation.

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) pushed him; he came back. He pushed him a second time; he came back. He pushed him a third time; the shayṭān came back. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) grabbed him and choked him. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: I felt his saliva dripping on my hand — he choked him so hard. And then the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: and I was about to bring him forward and tie him to a pillar in the masjid, so that the kids could play with him and throw things at him while he is tied to a pillar. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: but I did not do so, because I remembered the duʿāʾ of my brother Sulaymān, when he said: O Allah, give me a kingdom that will occur to no one else.

What does this mean? The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was about to take control of this jinn, this shayṭān, and tie him in the masjid; but the reason he did not do so is that he remembered that this is something that was unique to Sulaymān. The control over jinn was something unique given to Sulaymān; nobody else had control over the jinn. And that is why the Messenger of Allah released the jinn: because he knew that this belongs to the uniqueness of the kingdom of Sulaymān. The control of the wind, the control of the jinn, the ability to speak the language of the bird and the ant — these are some things that were unique to Sulaymān (peace be upon him). He made a duʿāʾ to Allah, and Allah promised him that your kingdom will be unique; and that is the uniqueness of the kingdom of Sulaymān (peace be upon him).