Jinn
- Origin
- Islamic scripture and theology, held by living Muslims. The first written record here is the Qur'an itself: its chapter 72 is named after the jinn (Iranica; Quran.com) and 55:14 has them made of smokeless fire (Iranica). A hadith in Sahih Muslim (2996) has them made of fire. Wikipedia says the idea is not strictly Islamic and may carry pagan beliefs that Islam absorbed. Iranica is later scholarship, and Lane (1883) an outsider's account of Muslim belief.
- How we treat it
- The label covers the jinn of the Qur'an and Islamic belief: beings made of fire who stand with humans before God and face judgement (Sunnah.com; Wikipedia). It makes no claim that they exist. It does not cover the folk figures that other entries' sources call jinn, such as the ghul, Umm al-Duwais, al-Naddaha, or the jinn said to haunt Wadi al-Jinn and Al Jazirat Al Hamra. Those entries are folklore.
- Routes out
- Scripture first, as Muslims read it: the Qur'an in Mustafa Khattab's translation (Quran.com) and the hadith (Sunnah.com). Then Encyclopaedia Iranica for scholarship, Lane's 1883 summary as an outsider's account of Muslim belief, and Wikipedia last for the pre-Islamic background.
In Islamic scripture and theology, the jinn are beings made from fire who live unseen alongside the visible world. The Qur'an names them often, and its chapter 72 carries their name.
The Qur'an's chapter 72, Surat al-Jinn, is named after them. In Mustafa Khattab's translation on Quran.com, the Prophet is told to say it was revealed to him that a party of jinn heard the Qur'an recited and told the others of their kind that they had heard a wonderful recitation. A hadith in Sahih Muslim (2996, on Sunnah.com) sets out three creations: angels from light, jinn from fire, and Adam from clay.
Encyclopaedia Iranica defines the jinn as a category of beings believed to be made of smokeless fire, citing Qur'an 55:14, and to live invisibly beside the visible creation. It notes that Arab lexicographers trace the word to the root janna, meaning to hide, while the scholar Nöldeke thought it might be borrowed from another language.
Edward William Lane described the belief in a study of Arab society, edited by Stanley Lane-Poole and published in 1883. He wrote that Muslims generally recognise three kinds of created beings with intelligence: angels made of light, jinn made of fire, and humans made of earth. He added that the stronger opinion holds the devils to be jinn who rebelled, though some consider them a separate kind.
Wikipedia says that in Islam jinn are neither good nor evil by nature, and that they stand on the same footing as humans before God, facing judgement and an afterlife. It also says jinn are not a strictly Islamic idea: they may carry several pagan beliefs that Islam absorbed, and the Qur'an condemns the pre-Islamic practice of worshipping them or asking them for protection.
"The Muslims, in general, believe in three different species of created intelligent beings: Angels, who are created of light; Genii, who are created of fire; and Men, created of earth. The first species are called Meláïkeh (sing. Melek); the second, Jinn (sing. Jinnee); the third, Ins (sing. Insee). Some hold that the Devils (Sheyṭáns) are of a species distinct from Angels and Jinn; but the more prevailing opinion, and that which rests on the highest authority, is, that they are rebellious Jinn."
- Surah Al-Jinn (Qur'an 72), The Clear Quran translation, Quran.com (translation: Mustafa Khattab)
- Sahih Muslim 2996 (Book of Zuhd), Sunnah.com
- GENIE, Encyclopaedia Iranica
- Jinn, Wikipedia