The Quran

قالوا سُبحانَكَ أَنتَ وَلِيُّنا مِن دونِهِم ۖ بَل كانوا يَعبُدونَ الجِنَّ ۖ أَكثَرُهُم بِهِم مُؤمِنونَ

Ali Unal

They will answer: “All-Glorified You are (in that You are absolutely above having partners). You alone are our Guardian (Whom We worship,) having no such relation with them! Rather, they were worshipping jinn; most of them believed in them (jinn as beings deserving worship).”¹

Most of the pagans worshipped angels they regarded as good spirits from whom benefit was expected, and jinn as evil spirits against whom protection was sought. However, since in many cases these people went astray under the influence of jinn, they were actually worshipping jinn while they thought they were worshipping angels; they were being led by jinn. Most of them also attributed divinity to jinn, as they regarded them as beings that were capable of causing harm and, therefore, were to be worshipped in order to be protected from their evil.