Jinn - WikiHQ

Jinn (), also romanized as djinn or anglicized as genies, are supernatural beings in ancient Arabian religion and Islam. Like humans, they are accountable for their deeds and can be either believers (Mu'minun) or unbelievers (kuffar), depending on whether they accept God's guidance.

Since jinn are neither innately evil nor innately good, Islam acknowledged spirits from other religions and could adapt them during its expansion. Likewise, jinn are not a strictly Islamic concept; they may represent several pagan beliefs integrated into Islam.

Cognates include the Arabic ' (, 'possessed' or, generally, 'insane'), ' (, 'garden', 'eden' or 'heaven'), and ' (, 'embryo').

Jinn is properly treated as a plural (however in Classical Arabic, may also appear as jānn, ), with the singular being jinnī (), from which the English word "genie" is derived.

The origin of the word jinn remains uncertain. Aramaic ginnaya () with the meaning of 'tutelary deity' Wensick advocates a purely Arabic origin of the term, asserting that according to the common Semitic view psychic and bodily affections are caused by spirits. An object reacting upon such an effect would be an incarnation of said spirit. Since these spirits are covered from the sight of humans, they would have been called jinn. It first appeared in 18th century translations of the Thousand and One Nights from the 1706 French edition,

where it had been used owing to its rough similarity in sound and sense and its application to benevolent intermediary spirits, in contrast to the malevolent spirits called 'demon' and mostly-benevolent 'heavenly angels', in literature.

In Assyrian art, the modern term used for creatures ontologically between humans and divinities is also genie.

Though not a precise fit, descriptive analogies that have been used for these beings in Western thought include demon, spirit, sprite, and fairy, depending on the source.

In turn, the Arabic translation for the Greek nymph (arūsa) is also used for jinn by Middle Eastern sources.

Pre-Islamic era

thumb|The [[winged genie in the bucket and cone motif, depicting a demi-divine entity,

probably a forerunner of the pre-Islamic tutelary deities, who became the jinn in Islam. Relief from the north wall of the Palace of king Sargon II at Dur Sharrukin, 713–716 BCE.]]The exact origins of belief in jinn are not entirely clear. Belief in jinn in pre-Islamic Arab religion is attested not only by the Quran, but also by pre-Islamic Arabic poetry. Some scholars of the Middle East hold that they originated as malevolent spirits residing in deserts and unclean places, who often took the forms of animals;

Joseph Chelhod connects the jinn to ancient Middle Eastern dualistic beliefs, according to which heaven and earth represent the polar opposites of order and chaos respectively. For that reason, they were held responsible for various diseases and mental illnesses. In the regions north to the Hejaz, Palmyra and Baalbek, the terms jinni and ilah (deity) were often used interchangeably. Julius Wellhausen likewise agrees that in pre-Islamic Arabia it was assumed there are at least some friendly and helpful beings among the jinn. He distinguishes between a god and a jinni, not on the basis of morality, but on the basis of worship; the jinn are worshipped in private while the gods are worshipped in public.</blockquote>Al-Jahiz credits the pre-Islamic Arabs with believing that the society of jinn constitutes several tribes and groups, analogous to pre-Islamic Arabian culture. Jinn could also protect, marry, kidnap, possess, and kill people. Jinn are further known as shapeshifters, often assuming the form of an animal, favouring the form of a snake. Other chthonic animals regarded as forms of jinn include scorpions and lizards. Both scorpions and serpents have been venerated in the ancient Near East.

When they shift into a human form however, they are said to stay partly animal and are not fully human. Some sources even speak of killed jinn leaving behind a carcass similar to either a serpent or a scorpion.

Poetry and soothsaying

Even though they were often feared or inspired awe, the jinn were also pictured to befriend humans or have romantic feelings for them. According to common Arabian belief, pre-Islamic soothsayers, philosophers, and poets were inspired by the jinn.

The Arabian poet al-A'sha (d. after 3/625) claimed that his inspiration for his poetry came from a befriended jinni named Misḥal ("daʿawtu khalīlī Misḥalan") whom he called his jinni-brother ("akhī ʾl-jinnī"). Similarly, the poet Thābit (d. 54/674) who later converted to Islam and became known as "the poet of the prophet", referred to his jinni-friend as his "sharp-sighted brother from the jinn" ("wa-akhī min al-jinn al-baṣīr").

The mutual relationship between jinn and humans is different from that of a jinni and a soothsayer (kāhin). The soothsayer is presented as someone who is totally controlled by the jinni entering them. The soothsayer was consulted to reveal hidden information or settle disputes, as it was believed that the jinn speaking through them revealed hidden knowledge. Muhammad's opponents believed that the Quran was also inspired by a jinni, whereupon the Quran criticizes them for not distinguishing between jinn and God.

Islam

Jinn have been called an integral part of the Muslim tradition or faith, completely accepted in official Islam, Medieval and modern scholars have studied the consequences implied by their existence, legal status, and the possible relations between them and mankind, especially in questions of marriage and property.

Medieval sources describe the jinn inhabiting the earth before the creation of mankind. They serve as a pattern for later human disobedience: they were first created by God, then rebelled against God's messengers, shed blood and exploited the environment, and were eventually punished by God's angels. Muslims raised the question of whether some jinn may have survived from primordial times. Some Quran exegetes such as ibn Kathir hold this to be the case. According to the , Muhammad was sent as a prophet to both human and jinn communities, and prophets and messengers were sent to both communities.

Throughout the Quran, humans and jinn (al-ins wa-l-jinn) appear frequently as a pair, designating their equal status in regards to their creation and rejecting that jinn share divinity with the Creator. Some were Jewish jinn () while others were pagans () who aided fortune tellers and soothsayers.]]

thumb|The Singer Ibrahim and the jinn. Ibrahim has been imprisoned by his master Muhammad al-Amin and visited by a jinn in guise of an old man. The jinn offers him food and drink and is so impressed by Ibrahim's voice that he convinces al-Amin to free him.

The term jinn is polysemic and can refer to (genuine) jinn, angels, and devils. In Islamic exegesis, the verse uses the term jinn to refer to both angels and devils simultaneously, but for different meanings:<blockquote>

هو أنهم قالوا: الـملائكة بنات الله، وقالوا: الـجِنَّة: هي الـملائكة. ذكر من قال

They said: The angels are the daughters of God, and they said: These jinn are the angels. </blockquote>

and

(الماوردي: وهو قول الزنادقة والذين يقولون: الخير مِنَ الله، والشَّرُّ من إِبليس) و أنهم قالوا أعداء الله: إن الله وإبلـيس أخوان

It is about what the enemies of God said: God and the Devil are brothers. (Al-Mawardi: This is the saying of the heretics and those who say: Good comes from God, and evil comes from the Devil.)</blockquote>

In Quranic interpretation and Muslim texts, the term jinn is thus used for any object hidden from sight, such as angels, devils, and the (spiritual) interior of human beings (psyche), as well as to a specific being, separate from both angels and devils. An example of jinn referred to in the former sense can be found in al-Ghazali's Alchemy of Bliss, in which the author describes jinn as the internal angelic and demoniacal qualities of the human mind. The latter, separate type are believed to be the offspring of al-Jānn, created out of "smokeless fire" (, mārijin min nār) – whereas the angels are created from light and the devils from "pure fire" or "fire of poison" – and considered to be, along with humans, thaqalān (lit. 'weighty ones', meaning, they are 'accountable for their deeds', or 'honoured on earth by God'). Muqatil ibn Sulayman describes the creation of these jinn as follows:

وذلك أن الله عز وجل خلق الملائكة والجن قبل خلق الشياطين والإنس، وهو آدم، عليه السلام، فجعلهم سكان الأرض، وجعل الملائكة سكان السماوات، فوقع فى الجن الفتن والحسد، فاقتتلوا، فبعث الله جنداً من أهل سماء الدنيا، يقال لهم الجن، إبليس عدو الله منهم، خلقوا جميعاً من نار، وهم خزان الجنة رأسهم إبليس، فهبطوا إلى الأرض</blockquote>

This is because God Almighty created the angels and the jinn before He created the devils and mankind, namely Adam, peace be upon him. He made them [the jinn] inhabitants of the earth, and He made the angels inhabitants of the heavens. Then temptations and envy overcame the jinn and so they began to fight. Whereupon God sent an army from the people of the lowest heaven, called al-jinn [the angelic tribe], with Iblis, the enemy of God, among them. They were all created from fire, and they are the keepers of Paradise, with Iblis as their leader.

</blockquote>

Belief in jinn is not included among the six articles of Islamic faith, as belief in angels is. Nonetheless, many Muslim scholars, including the Hanbalī scholar ibn Taymiyya and the Ẓāhirī scholar ibn Hazm, believe they are essential to the Islamic faith since they are mentioned in the Quran. They feature in poetic anecdotes but, because of their similarities to humans, function neither as a model to follow (like angels) nor tempters of the lower self (like Satan).</blockquote>

Abu Hatim Muhammad ibn Idris al-Razi on Surah 72:1-6: <blockquote>حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو سَعِيدٍ يَحْيَى بْنُ سَعِيدٍ الْقَطَّانُ، حَدَّثَنَا وَهْبُ بْنُ جَرِيرٍ، حدثنا أبى، حدثنا الزبير ابن الْخِرِّيتِ عَنْ عِكْرَمَةَ قَالَ: كَانَ الْجِنُّ يَفْرَقُونَ مِنَ الْإِنْسِ كَمَا يَفْرَقُ الْإِنْسُ مِنْهُمْ أَوْ أَشَدُّ، وَكَانَ الْإِنْسُ إِذَا نَزَلُوا وَادِيًا هَرَبَ الْجِنُّ، فَيَقُولُ سَيِّدُ الْقَوْمِ: نَعُوذُ بِسَيِّدِ أَهْلِ هَذَا الْوَادِي. فَقَالَ الْجِنُّ: نَرَاهُمْ يَفْرَقُونَ مِنَّا كَمَا نَفْرَقُ مِنْهُمْ، فَدَنَوْا مِنَ الْإِنْسِ فَأَصَابُوهُمْ بِالْخَبَلِ وَالْجُنُونِ، فَذَلِكَ قَوْلُ اللَّهِ: وَأَنَّهُ كَانَ رِجَالٌ مِنَ الإِنْسِ يَعُوذُونَ بِرِجَالٍ مِنَ الْجِنِّ فَزَادُوهُمْ رَهَقًا.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Abu Saeed Yahya bin Saeed Al-Qattan told us, Wahb bin Jarir told us, my father told us, Al-Zubayr bin Al-Khirrit told us, on the authority of Ikrimah, who said: The jinn used to be afraid of humans as much as humans were afraid of them, or even more so. And when humans went down to a valley, the jinn would flee, and the leader of the people would say: We seek refuge with the leader of the people of this valley. The jinn said: We see them afraid of us as we are afraid of them. So they approached the humans and afflicted them with madness and insanity. That is what God said: “And that there were men from among mankind who sought refuge with men from among the jinn, so they increased them in burden.”</blockquote> Even though jinn are mostly impotent, they are able to possess people. The majority of Muslim scholars hold the opinion that jinn can at least possess individuals. This is considered to be part of the doctrines (aqidah) of the "people of the Sunnah" (ahl as-sunnah wal-jammah'a) in the tradition of Ash'ari. The Atharī scholars ibn Taimiyya and ibn Qayyim agree on this matter. Abu al-Yusr al-Bazdawi (c.1030-c.1100) asserts that jinn, like devils, can whisper to the people. He refers to Surah an-Nas stating "that whispers into the heart of men from the jinn and humans" (Original: الْذى يُوَسُوس فى صدور النّاس من الْجنّة والناس). In the story about the burial of Nasir Khusraw, two jinn mourn the death of Nasir Khusraw and help his disciple Abū Sa'īd to prepare a rock as a tomb and wash the body of the dead master.</blockquote> Rather than focusing on possession, Al-Māturīdī focuses on the dynamics between jinn and humans based on their role as semi-divinities in pre-Islamic Arabia alluded to in , and discusses how to properly handle interactions with jinn and what to avoid:<blockquote>وقيل بأن هذا الفعل من الإنس - وهو الاستجارة بهم - شرك؛ لأن الله تعالى هو المجير؛ فكان الحق عليهم أن يستجيروا بالله تعالى؛ ليدفع عنهم مكايد الجن، وألا يروا لأنفسهم ناصرا غير الله تعالى، فإذا فزعوا في الاستجارة إلى الجن، فقد رأوا غير الله تعالى يقوم عنهم بالذب والنصر؛ فكان ذلك منهم شركا.</blockquote>

It has been said that this act by humans—seeking refuge with them—is shirk, because God Almighty is the only true protector. Therefore, they should have sought refuge with God Almighty to ward off the plots of the jinn, and they should not have seen any protector other than God Almighty. So, when they resort to seeking refuge with the jinn, they have seen someone other than God Almighty defend and support them, and this is shirk on their part.

Since both creations must perform the required prayers (salah), Muslim jurists debated if one is allowed to perform the prayer behind a jinni. Shibli cites two Hanbalite scholars who regard this as permissible without hesitation. Since Muhammad was sent to jinn and humans, both are mukallāf and subject to the command to pray.