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What is a jinn ?

Started by /*JM*/, November 16, 2005, 04:15:09 PM

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/*JM*/

The goal of this post is to gather some interesting reflexions on the concept of jinn, and then, to discuss them.

Jaxal

SaLaM JM

I believe jinns are beings made of smokeless fire.
She Made Me See The World In A Grain Of Sand.
When The Only Choice You Have Left Is The Wrong One, It'S Not A Choice Anymore... It's Fate.

/*JM*/

Jinn according to G.A. Parwez

Jinn - (Jeem-Noon-Noon).


Janna means hidden. According to Raghib, it means not only hidden from the eyes but  also from senses. In verse (6/77) the Quran says, "When the night spread  darkness over him, he saw a star." Jananun means grave, as it hides the dead body. Iblees is also a Jinn as this force remains hidden from the eyes (18/50).

Janeen is an embryo (foetus) in mother's womb. Junnatun is the shield or any weapon with which a person protects himself (58/16). Jinnatun means madness (23/25). The Arabs thought that Majnoon was a person who was afflicted by a Jinn.

According to Raghib "Al-Jinno" is used in two ways: for those hidden forces that are good in nature, including angels, and those which are evil, called "Shia'teen" (Taj / Raghib). The Quran also mentions the Arabs doing worship of Jinn, where it means angels (37/158) (Taj / Raghib).

The earth in the beginning was in the form of molten matter, and took billions of years to cool down to a tolerable temperature, suitable for the habitation of mankind. Prior to this, there existed a creation, which originated from steaming fire (15/27). It is now extinct and is therefore referred to as "Al-Jaann."

The Quran has referred to, and addressed "Jinn and Ins" together in many verses. Ins, (as explained under heading "Ins") means tribes which used to settle down at one place, and Jinn means those bedouins, nomadic tribes or gypsies who kept on wandering and remained in deserts or forests, away from cities. In Arabia such people were in great numbers. Since the message of the Quran was for both of them, it has pointedly addressed both of them. For instance:-

In verse (6/131), "Oh Ye, assembly of 'Jinn and Ins,' don't you know that a Rasool came to you from amongst you." There is no evidence in the Quran to show that at any time a Jinn was also a Rasool; on the contrary, it is further clarified in verse (7/35) that the Rusul were from Bani-Adam and were sent towards them. In Surah Jinn and Ahq'af, it is mentioned that a group of Jinn came to the Rasool to listen to the Quran (72/1, 46/29). This also shows that the group who came to Rasool-Allah(peace be upon him) were actually human beings, but from uncivilised tribes.

Surah Bani-Isr'ael mentions in a verse that even if all the Jinn and Ins get together, they cannot produce a Book like the Quran (17/88). Verse (6/113) states that some rebellious ones from amongst the Jinn and Ins used to oppose the Anbia. Verse (7/179) further explains that majority of Jinn and Ins are those who do not use their intellect and do not contemplate and, therefore, belong to the category of those who would be in Jahannam. Verse (41/29) states that those in Jahannam would say that they were misled by some of the Jinnand Ins. In verse (6/129), it is stated that the Ins would say that they used to derive benefit from Jinn, and the Jinn would say that they also derived benefit from Ins. Verse (27/17) says that Solomon had an army consisting of Jinn and Ins. In (34/13) it is stated that he employed Jinn for the construction of synagogues, statues, basin like wells and boilers built into the ground. Some of them were used as divers to extract pearls from ocean-depths (21/82), and others were kept in chains (38/37-38). The above narration clearly explains that Jinn  means nomadic tribes which keep on wandering and Ins were those who were social and remained settled.

http://www.toluislam.com/pub_online/exposition/glossary_i_to_k.htm

/*JM*/

Jinn according to T. Hussain


Abdul Mannan Omar, in his Dictionary of the Holy Quran, has mentioned all the following meanings of the word Jinn : Genius; any hidden thing; intense or confusing darkness {LL}; evil spirits which inspire evil thought; germ; insect; imaginary things whom the infidels worshipped; people of different far flung countries living detached from other civilised peoples; people who inhabited the earth in pre-historic times, subject to no laws or rules of conduct, before the birth of Adam who laid the foundation of the civilisation and Shariah ; Stalwarts whom Solomon had taken into custody and having subjected them made them work as constructors of huge buildings and who were expert divers; Ibn manzur in his Dictionary Liasan al-Arab has quoted a verse of an ancient poet in which he calls his beloved by the word of Jinni . Zuhair Ibn Abi Sulma has used the word Jinn for people who are peerless, having no match or equal. Tabrizi writes in his book Sharah al-Hamasha that Jinn is a being who is highly potent, shrewd and possessed great powers and abilities; whatever conceals, hides or covers; whatever remains hidden or becomes invisible; such thing or being that remain aloof from the people as if remaining concealed from eyes of the common folk, as Kings and other potentates generally do. The word ma’shar used in the verses 6:128, 6:130, 55:33 means a community in which its members live in close communion and on intimate terms. Thus by calling Jinn and Nas as (single) community suggests that here Jinn and Ins/Nas do not refer to two different types of beings [AM]; intelligent invisible bodies, predominantly of fiery quality [LL]; certain creatures who were on the earth, and who acted corruptly thereon, and shed blood wherefore God sent Angels who banished them from the earth [LL]. According to 6:100, 37:158, the infidels made Jinns partners unto Allah. According to 34:41, infidels used to worship Jinns . According to 6:128: Jinns exploit, entice or ensnare ins ; Jinns have companions or friends ( wali ) among ins; Jinns and ins benefit or profit from each other or enjoy the company of each other. According to 6:129: Jinns and ins befriend each other or become in charge of each other ( wali ). According to 72:6, persons from ins took refuge from persons form Jinns. According to 6:112: Shayateen may be from Jinns or from ins , inspiring each other with flowery discourses by way of deception. According to 18:50, Iblees was from amongst the Jinns . In 6:130, the Jinns and ins have been addressed as ‘ m’ashar ’ which means a community in which its members live in close communion and on intimate terms [AM]. The plural of m’ashar is ‘ ma’aashir ’. If Jinns and ins were two separate communities, the plural or dual of ‘ m’ashar ’ should have been used.

According to 46:29-30 and 72:1, Jinns came to listen to the Quran which was revealed to Muhammad ( a.s. ). But according to the Quran, Muhammad (a.s.) was sent toward an-naas (4:170, 7:158, 34:28) to bring an-naas out of darkness (14:1), to warn an-naas (14:44, 22:49), to judge between an-naas (4:105) by the Book that was sent towards an-naas (4:105, 10:57, 10:108), and to read the Quran to an-naas (17:106). The Quran nowhere mentions that Muhammad (a.s.) was sent to Jinns .

According to 6:130, Messengers came from amongst the community of Jinns and ins . However, the Quran does not mention any Prophet (a.s.) who was a Jinn . All the Prophets (a.s.) came to judge between an-naas (only), in matters they differed (2:213) and in order that an-naas may conduct themselves with equity (57:25). All this indicates that the

Jinns
who came to Muhammad (a.s.) to listen to the Quran were a type of an-naas . These were people of far flung areas living detached from other civilised people. Such people of far flung areas who live detached from other civilised people are called Jinns according to Arabic Dictionaries [AM, LQ]. While ins means people who are sociable and inclined to society, Jinns mean people who are not inclined to society and live like gypsies. Having said that, it must be noticed that the Quran has used the word Jinn at different places in different meanings, including the following: (i) invisible beings which the infidels used to worship or associate with Allah (34:41, 6:100, 37:158); (ii) a species that was created with fire before the creation of man (15:27); (iii) people of far flung areas living detached from other civilised peoples. In 6:76, the word janna has been used to mean ‘to cover with darkness’. In 58:16 and 63:2 the word junnatan has been used which means ‘a cover or shelter’. In 7:184, 23:25, 23:70, 34:8, 34:46, the words

jinna(tin)
and jinna(tun) has been used to mean ‘an unsound or mad man’ (compare this with the word jinnati in 114:6). The word jannah which literally means ‘garden’ is also from the same root from which is the word Jinn . This further suggests that it is a norm in Arabic language for a word or its root to have various meanings and significations.

http://www.quranicteachings.co.uk/sura-55.htm

idolfree1

Peace be upon you,

Jinn come from he same root as Jannah(garden) and Majnun(crazy, overrun my emotion)

Jinn are both "good" and "bad"

Their nature is "fiery"

They are hidden from sight

/*JM*/

Jinn according to S. Ahmed

Jinn pertains to something hidden, rarely seen, hence, after using TASREEF, Al-Jinn = The nomads. Jannah from the same root word means a garden hidden in foliage. When the Jinns or the nomads move to dwell in towns and become civilized, they are referred to as Ins = Urbanites. Among the verses referred to above, Jinn, at times, denotes the hidden evil prompting that goes on in the human mind. In the sense of flashes of evil prompting, Jinn can be understood as Satan in minor forms. Satan = Selfish or rebellious desire works in concert with evil emotions which have been described as being fiery in the JAHILIYAH poetry. 'Emotions being fiery' stands up to reason.
Verse 21:37 convincingly shows what the creation of jinn out of fire actually means. Using exactly the same terms khuliq and min it states “KHULIQAL insanu MIN ajal”. Literally that would translate as: He created man out of haste. Whereas the clear understanding is: Man has been created with a tendency to be hasty and looking for instant gains or results.
Such is the case with “KHULAQAL jaanna MIN marijin MIN naar”. He has given a fiery, emotional disposition to uncivilized human beings.]

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“And the Jinns He has created from a confused flame of fire (with a fiery disposition 55:15).
(References to Jinns: 2:102,6:76, 6:100, 6:112, 6:128-130, 7:12, 7:38, 8:27, 11:119, 15:17, 15:27, 21:82, 32:13, 34:12-14, 37:158, 38:76, 46:29-32, 55:15, 72:1-15, 75:2-6, 114:6).
Jinn in fact implies something hidden, rarely seen, hence, after using TASREEF, Al-Jinn = The nomads. Jannah from the same root word means a garden hidden in foliage. When the Jinns or the nomads move to dwell in towns and become civilized, they are referred to as Ins = Urbanites.
Among the verses referred to above, Jinn, at times, denotes the hidden evil prompting that goes on in the human mind. In the sense of flashes of evil prompting, Jinn can be understood as Satan in minor forms. Satan = Selfish or rebellious desire, works in concert with evil emotions which have been described as being fiery in the JAHILIYAH poetry. 'Emotions being fiery' stands up to reason.
Verse 21:37 convincingly shows what the creation of Jinn out of fire actually means. Using exactly the same terms khuliq and min it states “KHULIQAL insanu MIN ajal”. Literally that would translate as: He created man out of haste. Whereas the clear understanding is: Man has been created with a tendency to be hasty and looking for instant gains or results.
Such is the case with “KHULAQAL jaanna MIN marijin MIN naar”. He created the nomads with a fiery disposition.

*********************

Verse 5 of this Surah has frequently been misinterpreted giving the impression as if there are some invisible creatures, jinns and satans who ascend to the heaven and try to listen to God[/i]s secret conference with angels. Then missiles in the form of meteorites are thrown upon them. This fallacy arises from the Biblical and fabricated Hadith concept of God sitting on a Throne in the heavens. According to the Quran God is everywhere. He is High Above anthropomorphism (a physical form). And Satan is nothing but our own selfish desire. Satans are people who succumb to their selfish desire or incite others into wrongdoing. And JINNS denote the uncivilized nomads living distant from INS, the urban people. Contrary to the Bible, the Quran does not acknowledge the existence of any DEMONS either.
It is tragic that the ancient and the modern commentators of the Quran have only rarely been able to free their minds of the Israelite, or the Judeo-Christian traditions. Furthermore, they disregard a reported saying of the exalted Prophet, “La Ghoul” = There is no such thing as demons, witches, Dracula, evil spirits, mysterious beings possessing or harassing the humans.

http://www.beacon2005.com/QXP.pdf

/*JM*/

Jinn according to M. Asad[/b]

IN ORDER to grasp the purport of the term JINN as used in the Quran, we must dissociate our minds from the meaning given to it in Arabian folklore, where it early came to denote all manner of "demons" in the most popular sense of this word. This folkloristic image has somewhat obscured the original connotation of the term and its highly significant - almost self-explanatory -verbal derivation. The root-verb is JANNA, "he [or "it"] concealed" or "covered with darkness": cf. 6:76, which speaks of Abraham "when the night overshadowed him with its darkness (janna alayhi)". Since this verb is also used in the intransitive sense ("he [or "it"] was [or "became"] concealed", resp. "covered with darkness"), all classical philologists point out that al-jinn signifies "intense [or "confusing"] darkness" and, in a more general sense, "that which is concealed from [man' s] senses", i.e., things, beings or forces which cannot normally be perceived by man but have, nevertheless, an objective reality, whether concrete or abstract, of their own.

In the usage of the Quran, which is certainly different from the usage of primitive folklore, the term jinn has several distinct meanings. The most commonly encountered is that of spiritual forces or beings which, precisely because they have no corporeal existence, are beyond the perception of our corporeal senses: a connotation 'which includes "satans" and "satanic forces" (shayateen - see note 16 on 15:17) as well as "angels" and "angelic forces", since all of them are "concealed from our senses" (Jawhari, Raghib). In order to make it quite evident that these invisible manifestations are not of a corporeal nature, the Qur'an states parabolically that the jinn were created out of "the fire of scorching winds" (naar as-samoom, in 15:27), or out of "a confusing flame of fire" (maarij min naar, in 55:15), or simply "out of fire" (7:12 and 38:76, in these last two instances referring to the Fallen Angel, Iblis). Parallel with this, we have authentic ahadith to the effect that the Prophet spoke of the angels as having been "created out of light" (khuliqat min noor: Muslim, on the authority of Aishah) - light and fire being akin, and likely to manifest themselves within and through one another (cf. note 7 on verse 8 of surah 27).

The term jinn is also applied to a wide range of phenomena which, according to most of the classical commentators, indicate certain sentient organisms of so fine a nature and of a physio?logical composition so different from our own that they are not normally accessible to our sense-perception. We know, of course, very little as to what can and what cannot play the role of a living organism; moreover, our inability to discern and observe such phenomena is by no means a sufficient justification for a denial of their existence. The Quran refers often to "the realm which is beyond the reach of human perception" (aI-ghayb), while God is frequently spoken of as "the Sustainer of all the worlds" (rabb al-alameen): and the use of the plural clearly indicates that side by side with the "world" open to our observation there are other "worlds" as well - and, therefore, other forms of life, different from ours and presumably from one another, and yet subtly interacting and perhaps even permeating one another in a manner beyond our ken. And if we assume, as we must, that there are living organisms whose biological premises are entirely different from our own, it is only logical to assume that our physical senses can establish contact with them only under very exceptional circumstances: hence the description of them as "invisible beings". Now that occasional, very rare crossing of paths between their life-mode and ours may well give rise to strange - because unexplainable - manifestations, which man's primitive fantasy has subsequently interpreted as ghosts, demons and other such "supernatural" apparitions.

Occasionally, the term jinn is used in the Quran to denote those elemental forces of nature -including human nature - which are "concealed from our senses inasmuch as they manifest themselves to us only in their effects but not in their intrinsic reality. Instances of this connotation are found, e.g., in 37:158 ff. (and possibly also in 6:100), as well as in the earliest occurrence of this concept, namely, in 114:6.

Apart from this, it is quite probable that in many instances where the Qur~an refers to jinn in terms usually applied to organisms endowed with reason, this expression either implies a symbolic "personification' of man's relationship with 'satanic forces' (shaytan) - an implication evident. e.g.. in 6:112, 7:38, 11:119, 32:13 - or, alternatively, is a metonym for a person 's preoccupation with what is loosely described as "occult powers". whether real or illusory, as well as for the resulting practices as such. like sorcery, necromancy. astrology, soothsaying. etc.: endeavours to which the Quran invariably refers in condemnatory terms (cf. 2:102 ; also 6:128 and 130, or 72:5-6).

In a few instances (e.g., in 46:29-32 and 72:1-15) the term jinn may conceivably denote beings not invisible in and by themselves but, rather. "hitherto unseen beings" ( 72:1).

Finally, references to jinn are sometimes meant to recall certain legends deeply embedded in the consciousness of the people to whom the Quran was addressed in the first instance (e.g., in 34:12-14) - the purpose being, in every instance, noot the legend as such but the illustration of a moral or spiritual truth.

http://www.geocities.com/masad02/appendix3

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The plural noun jinn (popularly, but incorrectly, taken to denote "genii" or "demons") is derived from the verb janna, "he was (or "became"] concealed" or "veiled from sight"; thus, the veiling darkness of night is called jinn (Jawhari). According to Arab philologists, the term jinn signifies, primarily, "beings that are concealed from [man's] senses" (Qdmus, Lisdn al-'Arab, Raghib), and is thus applicable to all kinds of invisible beings or forces. For a further discussion of this term and of its wider implications, see Appendix III.

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According to most of the commentators, the invisible beings (al-jinn) referred to here are the "evil forces" (shaydffn) among them, such as are spoken of in verse 112 of this surah. It is generally assumed that these very beings or forces are addressed here; but the primary meaning of the term ma'shar appearing in this context warrants, in my opinion, a different conclusion. It is true that this term is often used to denote a group or community or genus of sentient beings which have certain characteristics in common: a conventional -and undoubtedly justifiable-use based on the verb `dsharahu, "he consorted [or "was on intimate terms"] with him" or "lived in close communion with him". But it is precisely this verbal origin of the term ma'shar which gives us a clue as to what is really meant.here. Since, in its primary significance, a person's ma'shar denotes those who are on intimate terms or in close communion with him (cf. Lisdn al-'Arab: "A man's ma'shar is his family"), we may well assume that it has a similar significance in the above Qur'anic phrase. Thus, to my mind, the allocution yd ma'shar al-jinn does not denote, "O you community of [evil] invisible beings" but, rather, "O you who are [or "have lived"] in close communion with [evil] invisible beings": in other words, it is addressed to the misguided human beings- who have been seduced by "glittering half-truths meant to delude the mind" (verse 112). This interpretation is reinforced by the words, "Have there not come unto you apostles from among yourselves", occurring in verse 130 below: for the Qur'an speaks always only of apostles who belonged to the human race, and never of apostles from among the jinn. (As regards the wide significance of this latter term, see Appendix III.)

http://www.geocities.com/masad02/006

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As regards the various meanings attributable to the plural noun jinn (rendered by me here as "unseen beings"), see Appendix III. As pointed out there, the jinn are referred to in the Qur'an in many connotations. In a few cases - e.g., in the present instance and in 46:29-32 - this expression may possibly signify "hitherto unseen beings", namely, strangers who had never before been seen by the people among and to whom the Qur'an was then being revealed. From 46:30 (which evidently relates to the same occurrence as the present one) it transpires that the jinn in question were followers of the Mosaic faith, inasmuch as they refer to the Qur'an as "a revelation bestowed from on high after [that of] Moses", thus pointedly omitting any mention of the intervening prophet, Jesus, and equally pointedly (in verse 3 of the present surah) stressing their rejection of the Christian concept of the Trinity. All this leads one to the assumption that they may have been Jews from distant parts of what is now the Arab world, perhaps from Syria or even Mesopotamia. (Tabari mentions in several places that the jinn referred to in this surah as well as in 46:29 ff. hailed from Nasibin, a town on the upper reaches of the Euphrates.) I should, however, like to stress that my explanation of this occurrence is purely tentative.

http://www.geocities.com/masad02/072.html

/*JM*/

Jinn according to M. Ali

See http://aaiil.org/text/books/mali/religionislam/angels/angels.djvu

Pages 142 to 151
And especially pages 144 to 147 for the chapter "The word Jinn as applied to men" : very, very interesting...


To download the djvu plug-in : http://www.lizardtech.com/download/dl_options.php?page=plugins

/*JM*/

Jinn according to Shahid A Chaudhary

I also urge every interested people to read the excellent book of Shahid A Chaudhary : Jinn: Who are they?.
http://www.regency-books.com/browse/details.asp?id=120

You can read it online here :
http://www.parvez-video.com/article_jinn.asp

Enjoy !

/*JM*/

Hello,

Did the texts I have quoted or linked here help someone change his mind about jinns ?

Peace