Djinn 

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For other uses, see Genie (disambiguation).

In Islam and pre-Islamic Arabian folklore, a genie (also jinn, djinn, from Arabic جني jinn) is a supernatural fiery creature which possesses free will. Genies are mentioned in the Qur'an, wherein a whole Sura is named after them (Al-Jinn). They can be both good and evil. In some cases, Evil genies are said to lead humans astray. In Islam, Satan, known in Arabic as Iblees, is the iconic genie that refused to bow down to Adam when ordered to by Allah.1

Contents

Etymology and definitions

Genie is the English translation of the Arabic term jinn. The first recorded use of the word Genie in the English language was in 1655 as geny, with the Latin meaning (see Genius (mythology)). The French translators of The Book of One Thousand and One Nights later used the word génie as a translation of jinni because it was similar to the Arabic word both in sound and in meaning; this meaning was also picked up in English and has since become dominant. The plural, according to Sir Richard Francis Burton, is Jann. The French génie, in turn, came from the Latin genius, which meant a sort of tutelary or guardian spirit thought to be assigned to each person at birth. The Latin word predates the Arabic word jinni in this context, and may have been introduced in the Arabian civilization through the Nabataeanscitation needed. The root however, and its concept of being "hidden" or "concealed" still comes from the Semitic root "JNN" and from which the Arabic Jannah (garden or paradise) is derived.23

Arabic lexicons, such as William Lane's lexicon provide the rendered meaning of Jinn not only for spirits, but also for anything concealed through time, status and even physical darkness.4 A classical Arabic use of the term Jinn is as follows:

And there is no concealment with vehement hatred as well as the averting look.

Jinn in pre-Islamic era

Amongst archaeologists dealing with ancient Middle Eastern cultures, any spirit lesser than Angels is often referred to as a “Djinn”, especially when describing stone carvings or other forms of art. This practice draws on the original meaning of the term genie as simply a spirit of any sort.

Inscriptions found in Northwestern Arabia seem to indicate the worship of Djinn, or at least their tributary status. For instance, an inscription from Beth Fasi'el near Palmyra pays tribute to the "Ginnaye", the "good and rewarding gods"5 providing a sharp resemblance to the Latin Genius and Juno: The Guardian Spirits.

Types of Djinn include the ghul (“night shade”, which can change shape), the sila (which cannot change shape), the Ifrit IPA: [iˈfɾɪt], and Marid [mʌˈɾɪd]. According to the information in The Arabian Nights, Marid seem to be the strongest form of Djinn, followed by Ifrit, and then the rest of the Djinn forms.

Jinn in the Bible

In several verses in Old Arabic and Old Persian Bible translations, the words: Jinn(جن) Jaann(الجان) Majnoon(مجنون) and Iblees(ابلیس) are mentioned as translations of familiar spirit or אוב(obe) for Jaann and the devil or δαιμόνιον daimonion for Iblees. In Cornelius Van Allen Van Dyck's Arabic translation of the Bible these words are mentioned in Lev 19:31, Lev 20:6, 1Sa 28:3, 1Sa 28:9, 1Sa 28:7, 1Ch 10:13, Mat 4:1, Mat 12:22, Luk 4:5, Luk 8:12, Joh 8:44 and other verses as well. Also, in the book of Testament of Solomon, Solomon describes particular demons whom he enslaved to help build the temple, the questions he put to them about their deeds and how they could be thwarted, and their answers, which provide a kind of self-help manual against demonic activity.

Jinn in Islam

In Islamic theology jinn are said to be creatures with free will, made from 'smokeless fire' by Allah in the same way humans were made of earth.6 According to the Qur'an, Djinn have free will, and Iblees used this freedom in front of Allah by refusing to bow to Adam when Allah told Iblees to do so. By disobeying Allah, he was thrown out of Paradise and called “Shaitan”. Djinn are frequently mentioned in the Qur'an, Sura 72 of the Qur'an (named Al-Jinn) is entirely about them. Another Sura (Al-Nas) mentions Djinn in the last verse.7 The Qur’an also mentions that Muhammad was sent as a prophet to both “humanity and the Djinn”.89

Similar to humans, jinns have free will allowing them to follow any religion they choose. Jinns have significantly lower intelligence than humans but are physically stronger.citation needed They are usually invisible to humans and humans do not appear clear to them. However, non-Muslim jinn often harass and even possess humans (Muslim jinn are forbidden from doing so)citation needed, for various reasons, such as infatuation (with a girl), revenge, or because of a deal made with a practitioner of black magic. Jinns have the power to travel large distances extremely quickly and live in remote areas, mountains, seas, trees, and the air, in their own communities. Like humans, jinns will also be judged on The Day of Judgment and will be sent to Heaven or Hell according to their deeds.10 Since humans usually cannot see them and humans do not appear clear to them, the human "world" and that of the jinn is considered separate, and only practitioners of "black magic" contact them deliberately. Ibn Taymiyyah's Essay on the Jinn describes Jinn in detail.11

Every person is assigned a special jinn to them, also called a qareen, the jinns that whisper into your soul and tell you to give into your evil desires. The Prophet Muhammad's jinn turned into a Muslim jinn, on the recitation of the Qur'an, as the jinn found it most beautiful.121314 However, the notion of a qareen is not universally accepted amongst all Muslims.15

Classifications and Characteristics

The social organization of the jinn community resembles that of humans - such as they have kings, courts of law, weddings, and mourning rituals.16 The Prophet Muhammad reportedly divided jinn into three classes: those who have wings and fly in the air, those who resemble snakes and dogs, and those who travel about ceaselessly.17 Abd Allah ibn Mas'ud (d. 652), who was accompanying the prophet when the jinn came to hear his recitation of the Quran, described them as creatures of different forms; some resembling vultures and snakes, others tall black men in white garbs.18 They may even appear as dragons, onagers, or a number of other animals.19 In addition to their animal forms, the jinn occasionally assume human form to mislead and destroy their human victims. One such jinni who had assumed the form of a beautiful woman was identified because of her beastly feet by her human victim, who killed her by throwing a rope around her neck and dragging her behind his camel.20 This type of jinn is called mardāzmā, (tester of men) among the Baluch people.21 The prophet is also said to have told the jinn that they may subsist on bones, which will grow flesh again as soon as they touch them, and that their animals may live on dung, which will revert back to grain or grass for the use of the jinn flocks.22

Islamic Concept of King Solomon and Djinn

Main article Islamic view of Solomon
See also Biblical narratives and the Qur'an

The Quran states that King Solomon (Sulayman) is said to have compelled the jinn into his service and given them dominion over 25 parasangs of his realm.23 In his court, the jinn stood behind the learned humans, who in turn, sat behind the prophets. Solomon’s wife, the Queen of Sheba, was reportedly born of the marriage between a jinni and a human. However, it is not clear whether it was her mother or father who was a jinni. Those authorities who believe that her mother was a jinni further tell us that her name was Rayḥāna. It was this connection of her with the jinn that made people apprehensive about Solomon’s marriage to her. They feared that if their master Solomon married a half-jinni, they would be forced to remain in the service of the offspring of that marriage forever. Thus, to make Solomon fall out of love with her, they told him that she was insane, and that her feet were hairy and resembled those of an ass.24 The jinn remained in the service of Solomon, who had placed them in bondage, and had ordered their king, Zūba’a, to perform a number of tasks throughout his life. Upon Solomon’s death, however, Zūbaa went to the places where his subjects were toiling, and called out to them to stop working. They happily obeyed, and one of them carved a message in stone, enumerating what they had built during their servitude.25

Shiite View

Some of the Muslim jinn are considered to be Shiites; they are said to come to the Imams for religious instructions and to render them a variety of services.26 These jinn may on occasion help their Shiite brethren.27 By contrast, the impious jinn form the hosts of Satan.28 According to Shiite theologians, in spite of their great and varied skills, the jinn lie in claiming that they know the future.29

Jinn in post-Islamic Arabic fiction

The evil "Ifrit" are called “the seed of Iblees” in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights.

The Spirit of the Lamp in the story of Aladdin, a familiar djinn to the Western world (see next section), was such a jinni, having been bound to an oil lamp. Ways of summoning jinn were told in The Thousand and One Nights: by writing the name of God in Hebrew characters on a knife (whether the Hebrew name for God, Yahweh, or the Arabic Allah is used is not specified), and drawing a diagram, with strange symbols and incantations around it.

The jinn’s power of possession was also addressed in the fictional Nights. It is said that by taking seven hairs out of the tail of a cat that was all black except for a white spot on the end of its tail, and then burning the hairs in a small closed room with the possessed filling their nose with the scent, this would release them from the spell of the jinn inside them.citation needed

Genies in Western culture

The Western interpretation of the genie is based on the story of Aladdin in the Western version of The Book of One Thousand and One Nights, which told of a genie that lived in an oil lamp and would grant wishes to the owner of the lamp, as well as the genie in the tale of The Fisherman and the Jinni

Many western stories about genies tend to follow the same vein as the famous short story The Monkey's Paw by W. W. Jacobs, with the overriding theme of “be careful what you wish for”. In these stories, wishes can have disastrous, horrific, and sometimes fatal consequences. Often, the genie causes harm to the loved ones or innocent people surrounding the wisher, making others pay for its master’s greed or ignorance. This also forms the basis of numerous three wishes jokes.

Exploiting loopholes or twisting interpretations of wishes is a classic trait amongst genies in Western fiction, with the genies either deliberately or unintentionally misinterpreting the wishes to grant the wisher exactly what they had asked for while in fact giving them the opposite of what they wanted. For example, in “The Man in the Bottle” episode of The Twilight Zone, a poor shopkeeper who finds a genie and wishes to become a leader of a great nation is transformed into Adolf Hitler at the very end of World War II. Often, these stories end with the genie’s master wishing to have never found the genie, all his previous wishes never to have happened, or a similar wish to cancel all the fouled wishes that had come before.

See also

Compare

Notes

  1. ^ Qur'an 7:11–12
  2. ^ Ancient Hebrew Lexicon
  3. ^ :: 19.org Article :: | Arnold Yasin Mol | Jinn As Found In The Quran
  4. ^ Edward William Lane’s Arabic Lexicon
  5. ^ Hoyland, R. G., Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam.
  6. ^ Qur'an 55:14–14
  7. ^ Qur'an 116:4–4
  8. ^ Qur'an 51:56–56
  9. ^ Ṭabarī, Toḥfat al-ḡārāeb, I, pp. 68; Abu’l-Fotūḥ Rāzī, Rawż al-jenān wa rawḥ al-janān. pp. 193, 341
  10. ^ Tafsīr; Baḵš-ī az tafsīr-ī kohan, p. 181; Loeffler, p. 46
  11. ^ Ibn Taymiyah,Al-Furqaan Bayna Awliyaa ar-Rahmaan wa Awliyaa ash-Shaytaan
  12. ^ Qur'an 72:1–2
  13. ^ Qur'an 15:18–18
  14. ^ Sahih Muslim, No. 2714
  15. ^ Is it permissible to pray that my qareen becomes Muslim
  16. ^ Ṭūsī, p. 484; Fozūnī, p. 527
  17. ^ Fozūnī, p. 526
  18. ^ Fozūnī, pp. 525-26
  19. ^ Kolaynī, I, p. 396; Solṭān-Moḥammad, p. 62
  20. ^ Fozūnī, p. 527
  21. ^ Mīhandūst, p. 44
  22. ^ Abu’l-Fotūḥ, XVII, pp. 280-81
  23. ^ Qur'an 27:17–17
  24. ^ Abu’l-Fotūḥ, 15, 21-22, 29-32, 40-42, 45, 47-50, XVI; Ṭūsī, pp. 486, 495
  25. ^ Qur'an 34:14–14
  26. ^ Kolaynī. Ketāb al-kāfī, pp. 395-96, II, p. 167; Solṭān-Moḥammad, pp. 175, 199
  27. ^ Kolaynī, II, p. 167
  28. ^ Abu’l-Fotūḥ, XIV, p. 335
  29. ^ Abu’l-Fotūḥ Rāzī, Rawż al-jenān wa rawḥ al-janān, XV, p. 52

References

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  • Barnhart, Robert K. The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology. 1995.
  • “Genie”. The Oxford English Dictionary. Second edition, 1989.
  • Abu’l-Fotūḥ Rāzī, Rawż al-jenān wa rawḥ al-janān IX-XVII (pub. so far), Tehran, 1988.
  • Moḥammad Ayyūb Ṭabarī, Toḥfat al-ḡārāeb, ed. J. Matīnī, Tehran, 1971.
  • A. Aarne and S. Thompson, The Types of the Folktale, 2nd rev. ed., Folklore Fellows Communications 184, Helsinky, 1973.
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  • U. Marzolph, Typologie des persischen Volksmärchens, Beirut, 1984. Massé, Croyances.
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  • Solṭān-Moḥammad b. Tāj-al-Dīn Ḥasan Esterābādī, Toḥfat al-majāles, Tehran,
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