the saying of the speaker: "My house was far (shaṭanat) from your house"—meaning by that: was distant. From that is the saying of al-Nābigha of Banū Dhubyān:

A distant destination drove Suʿād far from you, ... so she departed, while the heart is pledged to her (1)

And al-navā is the direction she intended and headed toward, and al-shaṭūn means distant. Thus, according to this interpretation, the Devil is of the form fayʿāl from shaṭana. And among what points to that being so is the statement of Umayya ibn Abī al-Ṣalt:

Whichever rebellious devil (shāṭin) disobeyed him, he bound him, ... then he is thrown into prison and shackles (2)

If it were of the pattern faʿlān from shāṭa yashīṭu, he would have said: "whichever shāʾiṭ", but he said: "whichever shāṭin", because it is from shaṭana yashṭunu, so he is shāṭin.

Interpretation of His statement: (al-Rajīm).

As for al-rajīm, it is faʿīl with the meaning of mafʿūl, like the saying: a dyed hand (kaffun khaḍīb), an oiled beard (liḥyatun dahīn), and a cursed man (rajulun laʿīn), meaning: dyed, oiled, and cursed. The interpretation of al-rajīm is: the cursed, reviled one. Everyone reviled with bad speech or insult is marjūm. The root of al-rajm is pelting, whether by word or action. An example of pelting by word is the statement of Abū Ibrāhīm to Ibrāhīm, may Allah's blessings be upon him: ﴿If you do not desist, I will surely stone you﴾ [Surah Maryam: 46].

And it may be permissible that the Devil was called rajīm because Allah, exalted be His praise, expelled him from His heavens and pelted him with piercing meteorites (3)