Jinn according to T. HussainAbdul 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