The Existence Of The
Jinn
Praise be to
Allah!
He has created man from dry clay and created the jinn from smokeless fire
and made them invisible to the eyes of men.
He has made some of them righteous and some he has led astray and he has
not given them any power over man other than in whispering and the allurements
of Shaytan.
Blessings and
peace be upon Muhammad! Allah
has sent him as a mercy to all the worlds and has sent him to all peoples. Passing jinn were drawn by his recitation of the Qur’an and
they stopped to listen and when he had finished they went back and conveyed the
message to their people
Allah – glory be to Him revealed to the Prophet:
“A company of the
jinn gave ear, then they said, we have heard a wonderful Qur’an, guiding to
right action. We believe in it and
we will not associate anyone with our Lord.”(72:1-2)
Confirmation
of the Existence of the world of the Jinn
Many
people, past and present, have disagreed about the existence of the jinn.
Some completely reject their existence, where as some claim that what is
meant by the jinn are the evil inclinations and tendencies of the corrupt human
soul and likewise that what is meant by angels are good inclinations.
Spiritualists,
while they recognise the existence of the jinn, call them lower spirits.
They claim that these lower spirits.
They claim that these lower spirits are quick to respond but that their
response is weak whereas the celestial spirits are very slow to respond although
their response is more powerful.
Some
idol worshippers claim that what is meant by jinn are the spirits of the
planets. So it can be seen that
most people believe in the existence of the jinn in one form or another.
There
are empirical proofs of the existence of the jinn as well as Qur’anic ayats,
Prophetic Hadiths and direct testimony by eyewitnesses.
As for the Qur’anic ayats which indicate the existence of the jinn;
they are numerous and we will only quote a few of them:
Allah says:
“I only created the
jinn and men to worship Me? (51:56)
“There were certain
men of mankind ‘ who would take refuge with certain men of the jinn and they
increased them in ill nature.”(72:6)
“Say: It has been
revealed to me that a company of the jinn listened…”(72:1)
“We created the jinn
before from the fire of hot wind.”(15:27)
There
are also a number of Hadiths from the Prophet.
For instance, the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him
peace, said, ‘There are three types of jinn.
One type flies through the air. Another
type consists of snakes and dogs. A third type is based in one place but travels about.’
(This Hadith is related by al-Hakam,
at-Tabarani and al-Bayhaqi.)
Who Are The
Jinn?
The
jinn are part of Allah’s creation, separate from man and the angels, but they
share with man certain qualities like intellect, discrimination, freedom and the
power to choose between true and false, right and wrong, the good and bad.
They are distinct from man in certain essentials, the most important of
which is their origin since the basic substance of jinn is not the same as the
basic substance of man.
From What Are the Jinn Created?
Allah informs us in many ayats that He has created the
jinn from fire. The Almighty says:
“We
created the jinn before from the fire of hot wind.” (15:27)
Almighty
says:
“He
created the jinn from smokeless fire.”(55:15)
Smokeless fire means the tips of flames as Ibn
‘Abbas, Mujahid and others have reported.
One version says it means the purest and best of the fire.
An-Nawawi says that smokeless fire is the flames mixed with the blackness
of fire.
The Messenger of Allah, (pbuh) has said:
“The
jinn were created from fire when he said, ‘The angels were created from light
and the jinn were created from smokeless fire and Adam was created from what has
been described to you.”(Muslim transmits it.)
When were the jinn created?
The jinn were created before man was created.
Allah says,
“We
created man from dried clay from black mud and We created the jinn before from
the fire of hot wind.”(15:26-27)
Allah makes it clear in this ayat that the jinn were
created before man.
The Types Of Jinn
There are three types of jinn as stated in the Hadith
of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, in which he says,
‘There are three types of jinn. One
type flies through the air. Another
type consists of snakes and dogs. A
third is based in one place but travels about.’ (Al-Hakam
and at-Tabarani transmit it and al-Bayhaqi also transmits it in Names and Attributes with
a sound isnad.)
Abu’d-Darda’
said that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said
‘Allah created three types of jinn. One
type are snakes and scorpions and creeping things of the earth.
One type is like the wind in the air.
Another type are subject to reckoning and punishment.’
Do The Jinn Have The Power To Take on Forms?
The jinn posses a great power to take on forms and
change shape. They can take on the
form of snakes and scorpions, the form of horses, cattle, camels and sheep, and
the form of birds. Indeed, they
have the power to appear in human for. Reports
have come which confirm this.
It is reported that Shaytan took on the form of an old
man of Najd when the Quraysh gathered in the Dar-al-Nadwa to discuss the
Messenger, (pbuh) and whether they should kill him, imprison him or expel him.
Shaytan suggested to them that they should kill him.
Muslims related from Abu Sa’id al-khudri said the
Messenger of Allah, may allah bless him and grant him peace, said, ‘A group of
jinn in Madina has become Muslim. If
one of you sees any of these resident jinn, he should issue it a warning for
three days. Then if it appears to
you after that kill it, for it is a shaytan.’
The capabilities and powers of the jinn
The jinn have powers and capabilities that are beyond
man. One of them is their
extraordinary power of movement. Perhaps
the example of this which first comes to mind is the promise of the ‘ifrit’
of the jinn to Suleyman to bring the throne of the Queen to Yemen to Jerusalem
in less time than it took Suleyman to rise from his assembly.
“An
‘ifrit of the jinn said, ‘I will bring it to you before you rise from your
place. I have the strength for it
and I am trusty.” (27:39)
They
also have the power to take on the form of human beings, animals, birds and
other things. They have the power
to rise up to high places in the heaven and to eavesdrop on the reports of
heaven. That was before Muhammad, (pbuh)
was sent.
Do the Jinn
die?
There
is no doubt that the jinn do die since they fall under what Allah says:
“All that dwells
upon the earth perishes, yet still abides the Face of Your Lord, majestic,
splendid. So which of your Lord’s
bounties will you two deny?”(55:26-28)
The
Prophet, (pbuh) said in his prayer, ‘I seek refuge in Your might.
There is no god but You, O You who do not die!
The jinn and men die.’ (Al-Bukhari
relates it.)
As
for how long they live, our only knowledge about that is what Allah tells us
concerning Iblis, that he will be watching and waiting until the Day of Rising.
“He said, ‘Respite
me until the day they shall be raised.’ He
said, ‘You are among those who are respited.” (7:14-15)
This
ayat indicates that there are others who are respited in addition to Iblis.
The Qur’an does not indicate, however, that all the jinn are respited,
so while it is possible that some of the jinn will be respited, there is no
indication that all of them are.
There
are reports which indicate that they do die.
One of them is Khalid ibn al-Walids killing of the shaytan, al-Uzza (the
tree which the Arabs worshipped in the Time of Ignorance).
There is also the Companion who killed a jinn that had taken the form of
a viper and other such reports.
There
is a clear statement about that by Ibn ‘Abbas saying that it is Iblis alone
who has been given the respite.
When
is Shaytan most frequently present?
Shaytan is most frequently present at nightfall.
It is established that the Messenger of Allah, (pbuh) said,
“As night comes in and it is dusk, then keep your children in for
shaytans gather at that time. When
an hour of the time goes by, then let them out.
Close the doors and mention the name of Allah. Shaytan does not open a closed door.’ (Al-Bukhari relates
it from Jabir b. ‘Abdullah.)
Where is the throne of iblis?
The throne of Iblis is on the sea.
Imam Ahmad b. Hanbal relates that Jabir said that the Messenger of
Allah,(pbuh) said, ‘Iblis places his throne on the sea.
Then he sends forth his armies. The
nearest of them to him in rank is the greatest in sedition.
One of them comes and says, “I did such-and-such.” He says, “You
did not do anything.” Then
another comes and says, “I did not leave him until I had split him from his
wife.” He brings him near – or clasps him – and says, “You did
well.”’
What
is the greatest goal of shaytan?
The
greatest goal of Shaytan in which he expends all his efforts is to make the
children of Adam enter the punishment of the Blaze. Allah says:
“He calls his party
only they may be among the inhabitants of the Blaze.” (35:6)
The
things to which shaytan calls man
The
first thing which Shaytan desires from the slave of disbelief and associating
things with Allah and antagonism to Allah and His Messenger.
If he can obtain that from the son of Adam, his sighs abate and he can
rest from his toil with him. Allah
says:
“Like Shaytan when
he said to man, ‘Disbelieve’, then, when he disbelieved, he said, ‘Surely
I am quit of you.”’(59:16)
The
Prophet, (pbuh) said,
“O people! Allah the Mighty has commanded me to teach you that of
which you are ignorant. Part of
what He has taught me on this day is: “All that My slave disregards in lawful
for him. I created My slaves all
rightly inclined. Then the shaytans
came to them and made them unsteady and turned them from their deen.
They command them to associate with Me that from which I have not sent
down any authority.” (Muslim related the like of it.)
If
shaytan is unable to make people fall into associating things with Allah and
into disbelief, he does not despair and is content with less than that.
He makes them fall into innovation which he loves better than deviation
and acts of rebellion because it contains greater harm for the deen.
Sufyan
ath-Thawri said, ‘Iblis prefers innovation to rebellion because one can repent
from rebellion, but one cannot repent from innovation.
When
shaytan cannot succeed in the ways already mentioned, he calls the sons of Adam
to wrong actions and acts of rebellion, whether they are major or minor ones, as
he does it planting enmity and hatred in the ranks of the Muslims.
The
Almighty says:
“He only commands
you to evil and outrage and that you should say things against Allah that you do
not know.”(2:169)
Allah
also says:
“Shaytan only
desires to cause enmity and hatred between you in regard to wine and
arrow-shuffling, and to bar you from the remembrance of Allah and from the
prayer. Will you then desist? (5:91)
The
Prophet, (pbuh) said:
“Shaytan has despaired of ever being worshipped in this land of yours.
But he is content to be obeyed in some of your actions which you think
little of.” (At- Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah relate it with a good isnad.)
The
Prophet, (pbuh) said:
“Shaytan has despaired of being worshipped by those who pray in the
Arabian penisula, but he causes enmity and hatred between you.”(Muslim related
it.)
What
we have already mentioned is not enough for Shaytan. He also discourages the believers from acts of obedience.
The following Hadith makes this clear:
The
Messenger of Allah, (pbuh) said:
”Shaytan lies in ambush for the son of Adam on his paths.
He sits in ambush for him on the path of Islam and says, “Are you going
to become Muslim and leave your deen and the deen of your fathers and the
fathers of your fathers?”
‘He
disobeys him and becomes Muslim. Then
Shaytan sits in ambush for him on the path of hijra and says, “Are you going
out on jihad when it is troublesome for the self and property?
You will fight and be killed and your wife will marry someone else and
your property will be divided!” ‘He disobeys him and goes on jihad.’
The
Messenger of Allah, (pbuh) said:
“Whoever does that, it is a duty for Allah to let him enter the
Garden. Whoever is killed, it is a
duty for Allah to let him enter the Garden.
If he drowns, it is a duty for Allah to let him enter the Garden.
If his beast throws him and breaks his neck, it is a duty for Allah to
let him enter the Garden.’(An-Nasa’I transmits it from Sabra b. Abi Fakih.)
The
evidence for this exists in the Noble Qur’an when Allah says:
“Now, because You
have sent me astray, I will surely sit in ambush for them on Your straight path.
Then I shall come on them from before them and from behind them, from
their right hands and their left hands. You
will not find most of them thankful.”
(7:16-17)
Shaytan
is not content with discouraging the slaves of Allah from performing acts of
obedience, he also strives to corrupt their acts of obedience and worship.
The Messenger of Allah, (pbuh)
said:
“When Shaytan hears the call to prayer, he turns his back and breaks
wind so as not to bear the sound of it. When
it is finished, he returns and whispers. When he hears the iqama, he leaves so that he does not hear
its sound. When the iqama is finished, he advances so that he can whisper
between a man and his soul. He
says, “Remember such-and-such, remember such-and-such” which the man had not
in mind before until he does not know how much he has prayed.’ (Muslim relates
the like of it."
One
of the Compaions came to the Messenger (pbuh) and said:
"Shaytan comes between me and my prayer and my recitation and makes
it confused for me.’ The
Prophet, (pbuh) said, seek refuge in Allah from him and spit to your left side
three times.’ He said, ‘I did
that and Allah removed him from me.’ (Muslim transmits the Hadith in the
Sahih.)
