Djinn

Fear one thing in all there is...fear the djinn.

The holy Quran says that God made humans from mud and clay, angels from light, and djinn from smokeless fire. In the western world, many people readily accept the idea of angels and demons, but most have no knowledge of the djinn, called “God’s other people.”

In Arabian lore, djinn (also spelled jinn) are a race of supernaturally empowered beings who have the ability to intervene in the affairs of people. Like the Greekdaimones, djinn are self-propagating and can be either good or evil. They can be conjured in magical rites to perform various tasks and services. A djinni (singular) appears as a wish-granting “genie” in folk tales such as in The Book of 1001 Nights collection of folk tales.

In Western lore djinn are sometimes equated with demons, but they are not the same. They are often portrayed as having a demonic-like appearance, but they can also appear in beautiful, seductive forms. The djinn are masterful shape-shifters, and their favored forms are snakes and black dogs. They also can masquerade as anything: humans, animals, ghosts, cryptids, and other entities such as extraterrestrials, demons, shadow people, fairies, angels and more.

The djinn are not confined to the Middle East, or to the past. They exist in their own realm, probably a parallel dimension, and they have the ability – and the desire – to enter our world and interact with us. The djinn have been among us in antiquity and they are among us now.

According to legend, the djinn were the first inhabitants of this world, where they lived for thousands of years before humanity arrived. In order to make room for humans, angels took the djinn out of this world and placed them in a dimension that parallels our own. There they stay hidden from our view. They have the ability to see and interact with us, but we have difficulty seeing them. They are cloaked in mystery, and it suits their covert purpose.

The goal of most djinn is to retake this world, which they feel rightfully belongs to them. In order to succeed, they must make humanity give up stewardship of this reality. They are accomplishing this by stealth and disguise. They have great powers and plenty of time, for they live for centuries.

Shape-shifting djinn may be responsible for many forms of paranormal phenomena and experience, such as UFOs, shadow people, ghosts, poltergeists, and demonic possession. In such ways, they gain access to us that enables them to steal our life force and information about us, and to manipulate and use us without revealing their true form and purpose. These negative experiences are on the rise.

The social organization of the jinn community resembles that of humans; e.g., they have kings, courts of law, weddings, and mourning rituals.
A few traditions (hadith), divide jinn into three classes: those who have wings and fly in the air, those who resemble snakes and dogs, and those who travel about ceaselessly. Other reports claim that ‘Abd Allāh ibn Mas‘ūd (d. 652), who was accompanying Muhammad when the jinn came to hear his recitation of the Qur’an, described them as creatures of different forms; some resembling vultures and snakes, others tall men in white garb. They may even appear as dragons or a number of other animals. In addition to their animal forms, the jinn occasionally assume human form to mislead and destroy their human victims. Certain hadiths have also claimed that the jinn may subsist on bones, which will grow flesh again as soon as they touch them, and that their animals may live on dung, which will revert to grain or grass for the use of the jinn flocks.

Ibn Taymiyyah believed the jinn were generally "ignorant, untruthful, oppressive and treacherous," thus representing the very strict interpretations adhered by the Salafi schools of thought.

Ibn Taymiyyah believes that the jinn account for much of the "magic" perceived by humans, cooperating with magicians to lift items in the air unseen, delivering hidden truths tofortune tellers, and mimicking the voices of deceased humans during seances.


A related belief is that every person is assigned one's own special jinnī, also called a qarīn, of the jinn that whisper to people's souls and tell them to submit to evil desires. The notion of a qarīn is not universally accepted amongst all Muslims, but it is generally accepted that the Devil whispers in human minds, and he is assigned to each human being.

[edit]