Jinn

The Jinn are the creations of Allah, created withfree will, living on earth in a world parallel tomankind. The Arabic word Jinn is from the verb'Janna' which means to hide or conceal, that’s

why they are called Jinn, because they are concealedfrom the human eye. Allah tests us byconcealing the Jinn from us. Jinn can be seen byanimals. They cannot be seen in their trueform.

There are things you cannot imagine but youcan comprehend. Things we can comprehendbut cannot imagine are things like energy orgravity. You all know that humans can see inthree dimensions. The fourth dimension can betime. But how do we know there are not morethan 4 dimensions. There could be 5 th or 6 th dimensions.So for all we know, the Jinn could beliving in the 5 th dimension. Just as we now knowabout bacteria, that it multiplies and lives in itsown system. Similarly Jinn live in their ownworld. The origins of the Jinn can be tracedfrom the Qur'an and the Sunnah. Allah says:

"Indeed We created man from dried clay of black smooth mud. And We created the Jinn before that from the smokeless flame of fire" (Surah Al-Hijr 15:26-27(

In Riyad as-Salihin Ayesha RA reports that Prophet SAW said: "The Angels were created from light, the Jinn from a smokeless flame of fire and Adam was created from that which you have been told"

The Jinns were created before mankind. AllahSWT fashioned Jinn from the finest mouldingsof fire. They are created of smokeless flame orthe edge of the flame. They are not fire. Just asAdam AS was created from clay but humans donot look like clay. Same are Jinns, they don’tlook like fire. Jinns are very similar to us. Theyhave genders. Before Islam the pagans thoughtthat Jinns were all men and considered thembrothers of Allah and angels as women andwere considered as daughters of Allah. The JudaeaChristian thought is that the Devil and hiscompanions are fallen Angels.

The Jinns eat and drink. Abdullah Ibn-e-Masood narrates that once Jinns complained toProphet SAW that people clean themselveswith bone, dung and charcoal after they go andrelieve themselves, thus making it impossiblefor them to use the bones.

Prophet SAW said that: “When you are clean-

ing yourself you can use sand or stone but never use bones or dung as they are the provisions of your brothers that is Jinns.” (Jami-at-Tirmidhi #350(

Every bone on which the name of Allah is mentioned is Halal for them. So when we leave the bones for them from our food, we are actually doing Sadqa.

In Jami at-Tirmidhi narrated by Ash-Sha’bi Prophet SAW said: “Every bone on which Allah’s name has been mentioned, that falls into your hands, and every dropping of dung is fodder for your beasts.”

We should always eat with our right hands because Shayateen eat with their left hand.

The Jinns marry, have children and they die. They have Janazah. They have cultures and different languages. Jinns have animals too. The droppings of our animals are the food for their animals. Allah SWT bestowed us with clothes. Jinns do not have clothes. Like humans, they too are required to worship Allah and follow Islam. It has been established that Jinns are more evil than humans. They have more abilities than humans. Like us, they will also be subject to a Final Reckoning by Allah SWT. They will be present with mankind on the Day of Judgement and will either go to Paradise or Hell. There will be greater portion of Jinns on the Day of Judgement who will be punished.

Now you’ll have a question about how Jinns will be punished from hell fire if they are created from fire. My answer to that is if you try hitting someone with a stone you will hurt that person. So if we are made of clay then we shouldn’t get hurt by the stone, but we do get hurt if hit by a stone. Same with Jinns they will

also be punished in hell fire.

Their purpose in life is exactly the same asours, as Allah says:

"I did not create the Jinn and mankind except to worship Me" (Surah Ad-Dhariyat 51:56(

Jinns can thus be Muslims or non-Muslims.However, due to their fiery nature the majorityof them are non-Muslims. The non-MuslimJinns are called Shaiyateen. They are not niceto look at. In the Quran when Allah SWT mentionsthe tree Zaqqoom in hell fire, He describesthe fruits of the tree resembling theheads of Shayateen.

Some Jinns who are evil and are called Shayateencan really harm you. If somehow a humancrosses the path of a jinn, their retaliation isvery bad. So we have to be very careful. Jinnsas a species have a right over us just like theanimals have a right over us and Angels have aright over us. We associate evil with Jinnsmany times , but there are belivers amongstthe Jinns. The Jinns fast , they do iftaar. Onlythe evil Jinns are put away in Ramadan. Whendoing Dawa jinns can accept Islam too. Someof the first believers were Jinns. In Taif whenProphet SAW went to do Dawa, the humansrejected his dawa. A group of Jewish Jinnswere there from Yemen . They accepted Islamthen and there and went back to their peopleand invited them to Islam. One night, ProphetSaw was nowhere to be found. He was recitingthe Quran to the Jinns. Prophet later told hiscompanions that the Jinns response was betterthan the humans. Prophet Saw recited SurahRahman to them. In Surah Rahman Allah SWT

mentions two gardens, one for humans one for Jinns. In Jennah, Jinns will be in a different form and we will be able to see them.

Jinns from the area of Tigris came to Prophet SAW and complained that people in the desert area urinate in random holes. Holes in the ground are habitats of Jinns.

In Sunan Abi Dawud Abdullah ibn Sarjis narrates that: Prophet SAW prohibited to urinate in a hole, Qatadah (a narrator) was asked about the reason for the disapproval of urinating in a hole. He replied: It is said that these holes are the Habitat of the Jinn

Also, when throwing a stone always say Bismillah as it might hit a Jinn. Not a good idea to cross a Jinn!

Jinns are more fluid creations. They can assume many different shapes, animal or human. Prophet Saw and Abu Hurera, one of his companions encountered Shaytaan as a human. The shaytaan also came as a human to stop Hazrath Ibrahim at the place of Jamaraat to stop him doing the sacrifice Prophet SAW in one of his Khutbah said that if you see a harmless snake or Al-Awamer in your house do not kill it right away. Arabs lived in the desert and snakes and scorpions were usually found in the yards. So if you see a snake, ask it three times that if you are jinn leave the house after that then you can kill it. Jinns cannot take the form of a Cobra, rattle snake or a bald snake with two dots. Treat them as snakes.

The Jinns live all over the earth, although they are found mostly in deserts, ruins, and places of impurity like, bathrooms and graveyards.

They are frequently found in places where they

can cause a lot of mischief and corruption, like in markets. That is why the Prophet, (saws) gave advice to one of the companions, saying: "If possible, do not be the first to enter the market nor the last to leave it. It is the battleground of Shaytan and he raised his barrier there.”

Types of Jinns There are several types of Jinns

Amar ul Bayut: These Jinns live in our houses. Sometimes we can hear the sounds made by them. We are not supposed to interact with them and we should avoid their realm. We shouldn’t be afraid of them they will never cross our paths. They live in their own world. The only advantage they have over us is we cannot see them but they can see us. That is why when we are changing clothes we must always say Bismillah so the Jinns cannot see us naked. Saying Bismillah creates a wall in front of us. Also when entering our houses we should say Bismillah so the Shaiyateen cannot enter with us. Also when eating we should say Bismillah so the Shaiyateen do not share our food.

In Al-Adab Al-Mufrad Jabir reports that Prophet SAW said: 'When a man mentions the name of Allah on entering his house and when he eats, Shaytan says to his troops "you have no place to spend the night and no supper", When the man mentions Allah on entering but does not when he eats, he says "You have supper but no place to spend the night". If he

does not mention the name of Allah when he enters, Shaytan says, "You have got a place to spend the night and supper.

Arwah is a word used for the Jinn that appear to children.

Ifrit is a jinn of special qualities. He can fly and is very quick and he is very strong. Prophet SAW once caught an Ifreet but then he released it.

Shayateen

Every Shaitaan is a Jinn but not every jinn is Shaitaan. These are the non-muslim Jinns. All these non-Muslim Jinns form a part of the army of the most famous Jinn, Iblis- The Shaytan.

Long Long Ago

The Jinns were created long before man. They had become corrupt. Whatever species of animals were on earth, the Jinns were given control over them. One of the crimes of the Jinns was they didn’t treat the dinosaurs well. In the end all good Jinns were gone and only the worst of them remained. They lived on earth and caused destruction and they became so corrupt that Allah SWT sent an army of Angels to destroy the evil. Iblis was a very pious jinn and he used to worship Allah a lot. He helped the angels in fighting the Shayateens. The army of angels pushed the Jinns to Jazah-ul-Bahoor, the corners of the ocean. They were taken off land, put in pockets in the oceans. The pious jinn whose name some say was Al-Azeer (before he became a Kafir). After disobeying

Allah he is called Iblees. He was so pious that as a reward Allah SWT raised his status and he lived in the heavens among the angels, he was even given the shape of the angels. Ibn-e-Omar says some 2000 years had passed after the war of the angels and jinns, Allah SWT decided to make Adam AS from clay. The angels protested because they had seen the bloodshed caused by the jinns on earth before. Then Allah said I know which you don’t know. From this species of humans will come all the Anbiya, Prophets, Saliheen, Saddiqeen, and the best of them, our Prophet SAW. No Prophet came among the Jinn species

When Iblis saw the clay model of Adam (AS) he flew in and out of the model and was very arrogant and jealous of this new creation. So when Allah SWT ordered everyone in heaven including Iblis to prostrate before Adam (AS) Iblis refused to prostrate. We all know what happened after that.

The throne of Iblis is in the sea.

Imam Ahmed bin Hanbal relates that Jabir said that the Prophet 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 (corruption of a state(. One of them comes and then another comes and says, “I did not leave him until I split him from his wife.” He brings him near-or clasps him-and says, “You did well.”

Iblis is the head of all Shaiyateen. He has a huge army of Shayateen. The Shaiyateen whisper to

us and give us nightmares and have unlimited access to us to misguide us from the right path. Just fighting Shaitaan is an act of worship. Iblis’s throne is somewhere under the ocean. It can move from one place to another.

Jinns Abilities

The Jinns are limited in their abilities. The Shayateen run away from the believers. They are limited to this earth and the sky above us. Before Quran came to this world the Jinns used to fly above our immediate sky. After Quran came to this world the Jinns are trapped in the skies of this world. If they fly too close to the sky they will be burned. They try to get information from the heavens but are warded off by the angels. The Shaiyateen become very weak like a wilted flower when they hear Azaan. They cannot take the shape of Prophet SAW in our dreams.

In Shamail Muhammadiyah Chapter 55 Anas RA reports that Prophet SAW said: “The one who sees me in a dream has really seen me, because the Shaytaan cannot impersonate me”

They cannot uncover the covered foods. The Prophet SAW said that Shayateen have the ability to run inside us as the blood runs in our veins. This might be news to some of you but there is a Jinn with us 24/7. This Jinn is called Qareen. Just like we have an angel to protect us 24/7. This Qareen misguides us and tries its best to make us do bad things.

Hadith - Sahih Muslim 6757, Narrated Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, similar narration 6759 by 'Aisha, r.a., Prophet SAW said: There is none amongst you with whom is not an attache from amongst

the jinn (devil(. They (the Companions( said: Allah's Apostle with you too? Thereupon he said: Yes, but Allah helps me against him and so I am safe from his hand and he does not command me but for good.

The companions of the Prophet asked the Prophet SAW if he had a Qareen. The Prophet Saw said yes even I have a Qareen but Allah SWT has made him submit to me and he does no harm to me.

Jinns are involved in magic. The people who do magic do so on unclean things like blood etc. You might have heard of fortune tellers. These fortune tellers by doing magic can talk to their own Qareen. So what happens is when a person goes to the fortune teller, the fortune teller’s Qareen asks the person’s Qareen about the past and tells it to the fortune teller. The fortune teller then tells it to the person in front of him saying such and such happened in the past. This innocent person gets very impressed by the true information. Now what happens is the fortune tellers fabricates information about his future and tries to get as much money as he can. We know that only Allah knows what is in the future.

When a child is born, the Shaytaan pokes the new born out of hatred. The Jinns have great animosity. They take revenge. The jinn among the Shayateen can possess a human. They can cause physical or psychological damage. The chemical imbalance in the brain can be caused by them. In the Quran when Allah SWT mentions in Surah Baqarah that a person who takes interest on money will be like someone possessed by a Shaytaan on the day of Judgement. So possession is possible. People who have dealt with those possessed by a Jinn will tell you incredible stories.

Most of the Imams know this. Jinns can actually speak through human beings. It’s a very frightening experience. Easiest way to be possessed by a Jinn is to deny Allah SWT. Or when you do something major like leaving the prayer or consume usury or sell Haram things. Doing these things allow the protection of Allah to leave you. The angels leave you if you are doing a major sin. So now you are surrounded by Shayateen Jinn. A lot of anger, lust and being unclean makes possession easier. That is how one gets possessed by a Jinn. So don’t offend the angels, they protect you.

Some signs of possessions are: 1) Person will feel terribly tired 2) Will refuse to pray 3) Will speak weird languages 4) Will feel crawling of insects on his body 5) Will feel cold and at the same time perspire.

6) Sometimes weird things will come out of his body like needles.

If you fulfill the duties of Allah SWT, do Zikr Allah, follow the rules of cleanliness, say Azaan, these will ward off the Shaiyateen. Don’t listen to the whispers of Shayateen. Even after a bad dream say Tauz (Auzubillah minash shaitan rajeem(. Shaytaan puts Waswasah (The whispering of the shaitan) in you so sometimes people do wudu 5 times. When Shaytaan starts pestering you say Tauz. Always say this dua first thing in the morning for your protection for the whole day:

It is not for nothing that Prophet Mohammad SAW

has given us lots and lots of duas to ward off evil and Shaiyateens. We must not take these things lightly. Evil eye can be given by a jinn or a human. The Prophet himself asked protection of the evil eye. Also for his grandsons Hassan and Hussain. Not every envy can turn into evil eye. You can give evil eye to yourself or your children. Evil eye can come from good people.

The last two Surahs called Muazzatain are called Ruqya. Prophet SAW used to recite them and blow on his hand and wipe over his whole body. Surah Baqarah helps remove Shayateen from the house, especially Ayatal Kursi from Baqarah.

The Surahs for Possessions Are3

• Faitha

• Ahad

• Flaq

• Naas

• AyatulKursi

• Last verses of Baqrah

• Saffat

Bibliography3

• Lecture by Shaikh Waleed Al Basuni (AlMaghrib)

• Sheikh Omar Sulaman