The Message of The Quran
Translated and Explained by Muhammad Asad
ON THE TERM AND CONCEPT OF JINN
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 physiological 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,
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.