The Origin of the Jinn
Post Views: 488 According to Islamic lore, the angels were created from the light of a divinefire, the jinn were created from its flames, the evil jinn or shaitans werecreated from its smoke and humanity was created from dirt. Angels differfrom the jinn in regards to their origin in this regard. Arising from the light ofa divine fire, the angels are not able to disobey Allah’s commands, whereasthe jinn, shaitans and men all have the capacity to disobey. In contrast, theability of angels to become demons is acknowledged in Christianity, asLucifer is said to have initially been a good angel who, in the course of time,became evil through pride. He convinced other angels to join him, leading toa retinue of demons at his side. In this regard, the angels of Christianityappear to have first been conceived of in a way similar to the jinn, while laterbeing ossified into roles of “good” or “evil”, without explanation as to whythis ossification Types of Jinn According to Muhammad, there were three types of jinn: those who fly, thosewho take on the forms of dogs and snakes, and those who are bound to acertain area, yet have the power of wandering away. (Jinn were also said totake the forms of lions and scorpions).There are many later different classifications of jinn, though theseclassifications are not agreed upon by all scholars. Some of theseclassifications are: occurred PariJannIfritMaridShaitanGhul and qutrubsGhaddarShikkNasnasSaalahHaritDalhamSilat Many other types of jinn are described in local literatures and many preIslamic traditions are incorporated into their description, and this small is listis by no means exhaustive. However, it gives a small sense of the variousways the jinn were perceived and mythologized in Islamic lands Muhammad is reported to have once said that Satan (as a jinn) is foundflowing in the blood of all humanity, and the Qur’an speaks of those whosought refuge in the jinn, but who only found fear. This is often viewed aspart of his condemnation of sorcery in general The main elements of the jinn lore which seem to parallel the universal loreof spirits are as follows:1. The disembodied or subtle-bodied nature of the jinn2. Their ability to cause and act through apparently supernatural or nonphysical means3. Their use in magical acts such as sorcery4. Their ambiguous moral nature5. Their occasional possession of human-beingsThese elements tally perfectly with what is taught of spirits, ghosts, demonsand angels in European lore, as well as the ideas of other lands. In this sense,Islam retains a well-developed understanding of paranormal phenomena, andthose who investigate the paranormal or practice magic in the modern daycan attest to the reality of these aspects. Nonetheless, the Islamic descriptionsof the origin of the jinn cannot be taken seriously except by believingMuslims, and ideas such as the jinn eating bones and feces, being scarred outof water-holes due to urination, having their own religions and governments,being made of a “smokeless fire” and their creation 2,000 years prior to mando not necessarily correspond to the ideas of other lands. One of the more intriguing issues behind the jinn is the Islamic idea that theycan sire children with human beings—children which are half-jinn and oftenquite monstrous. As you are probably already aware, this is a very ancientidea and also present in many cultures. What is the source of this, unless it ispure imagination? Perhaps it arose as a way to account for strange birthdefects, but I am not so sure about that. In the modern day, the idea parallelsthe alien-abduction phenomena. Some have skeptically opined that suchscenarios arise out of sleep-paralysis—which can often be accompanied bydreams of a terrifying and/or sexual nature—or hypnogogic imagery, and thatseems reasonable to a certain extent, yet the research of the late Dr. RogerLeir implies that the “implants” which are placed in some abductees are noteasily explainable by modern science. If that is the case, perhaps these storiescome from a genuine sexual interaction between paranormal creatures andhuman beings—or perhaps not. Having said that, I find the extraterrestrialhypothesis to be rather unsophisticated in light of available evidence forparanormal phenomena. The work of John Keel and Jacques Vallee in thisregard seems more accurate in terms of theory. They tend to look at evidence overlooked by other researchers and incline towards more open-endedconclusions. If our commitment to theory causes us to cast out certain piecesof evidence because they don’t fit, then we’re clearly blinding ourselves.There are indeed physical aspects to UFO and abduction phenomena, but thatis not the entire story. Ancient sightings of lights in the sky are also anothersource of the jinn lore, I believe. For anyone who studies these ancientparanormal accounts, it is clear UFOs are not only a modern phenomena.Though jinn are not normally described as being particularly luminous, theirorigins—like angels—are clearly associated with the idea of luminosity. Andthis brings us to the question of what led to the lore of the jinn. It is aquestion which not only applies to Islam, but to the lore of all nations—whywere they routinely convinced invisible or shape-shifting spirit creatures wereinteracting with mankind?If we look at some of the descriptions of the jinn and their behavior, we see avariety of phenomena which the jinn account for. Such phenomena asdisembodied voices, strange apparitions, demonic possession, deformed ormonstrous offspring, murders without explanation, etc. were all attributed tothe jinn. Some of these phenomena doubtlessly had natural explanations, butparanormal phenomena is a reality observed in the modern day, and it isequally as certain that such phenomena was experienced in the past. The jinnwere one culture’s way of explaining such phenomena, but the imprecision orfaultiness of their explanation in no way impugns the reality of thephenomena as a whole. Yet taking ancient accounts at face value is alsounhelpful. It would seem that if we are to understand paranormal phenomena,we must come to terms with the totality of its expressions. Only then can wecome to reasonable conclusions. I find John Keel’s idea of the Ultraterrestrial—a trans-dimensional being—a particularly attractive concept, in that itneither restricts such phenomena to the domain of biological, extraterrestrialentities, nor does it subscribe to religious
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