THE JINN - Part 3 continued:
It is stated in Hughes' Dictionary of Islam, “among the evil Jinn are distinguished the five sons of their chief Iblis; namely, Tir, who brings about calamities, losses, and injuries; al-A'war, who encourages debauchery; Sut, who suggests lies; Dasimn who causes hatred between man and wife; and Zalambur, who presides over places of traffic.” The term "Shaitan" is also used for those disbelieving human beings who have the evil nature of Shaitan and who are active in spreading Fitna and corruption on earth and fighting righteousness. They disbelieve in the clear tokens and fling the scripture behind their back when Allah’s Messengers come to them confirming what they possess. According to Surah Baqara, verses 102-103: They followed what the Shayatin (devils) gave out (falsely of the magic) in the lifetime of Sulaiman a.s.(Solomon). Sulaiman did not disbelieve, but the Shayatin (devils) disbelieved, teaching men magic and such things that came down at Babylon to the two angels, Harut and Marut, but neither of these two (angels) taught anyone (such things) till they had said, “We are only for trial, so disbelieve not (by learning this magic from us).” And from these (angels) people learn that by which they cause separation between man and his wife, but they could not thus harm anyone except by Allah’s Leave. And they learn that which harms them and profits them not. And indeed they knew that the buyers of it (magic) would have no share in the Hereafter. And how bad indeed was that for which they sold their own selves if they but knew. And if they had believed, and guarded themselves against evil and kept their duty to Allah, far better would have been the reward from their Lord, if they but knew!
The Holy Quran informs us that some Jinn are on the righteous path having submitted themselves to Allah, while some follow many divergent paths and are unjust having gone astray and they are the Jinn who are the fuel for Hell-Fire. The jinn are of different ranks in terms of piety or impiety. Some are heedless; others are disbelievers. They speak of themselves in the Qur'an: “There are among us some that are righteous, and some the contrary; we are groups having different ways (i.e. religious sects)” [72:11]. The devils among the Jinn have chosen disbelief, idolatry, and disobedience of Allah. They are the followers of their Chief, Satan or Iblis who rebelled against Allah by not obeying His command to prostrate before Adam. Hafiz Ibn Hajr has alluded in his Fath al-Bari that disbelieving Jinn are shaitans meaning that when the word shaitan is used it means an evil disbelieving jinn. [Fath al-Bari [6:344] and [8:675]. Most scholars such as ar-Razi and Alusi accept that unbelieving Jinn are called satans. They work mischief and corruption on earth and lure and seduce humans to evil. In a hadith, transmitted in Imam Muslim’s Sahih from the Hadith narrated by Jabir Ibn ‘Abdullah as said by the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wasallam): “Iblis places his throne upon water; he then sends detachments (for creating dissension); the nearer to him in rank are those who are most notorious in creating dissension. One of them comes and says: “I did so and so.” And he says: “You have done nothing.” Then one amongst them comes and says: “I did not spare so and so until I sowed the seed of discord between a husband and a wife.” Satan goes near him and says: “You have done well.” Al-A’mash said: “He then embraces him.”
On the question of whether the Jinn had the messengers sent from amongst themselves or had no messengers, or had human messengers sent by Allah, we know that the Holy Quran is addressed to both humans and Jinn and both Quran and Sunnah indicate that jinn exist and that there is a purpose for their existence in this life, which is to worship Allah Alone with no partner or associate. Allah Almighty says: “And I (Allah) created not the Jinn and humans, except they should worship Me (Alone).” (Adh-Dhariyat: 56). It is also mentioned in the Holy Quran in Surah al-An’am: "O ye assembly of jinn and humankind! Came there not unto you messengers of your own who recounted unto you My signs and warned you of the meeting of this day of yours?" (6:130), meaning by those messengers from mankind and messengers from the jinn. Ibn Hazm said: A prophet from mankind was never sent to the jinn before our Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wasallam), and before him prophets would be sent to their people. He said: we know with certainty that they would warn one another. So according to al-Shibli al-Hanafi the view that prophets from themselves came to them is sound though the majority of the 'ulama, successors and predecessors, believed that there was never a messenger from the jinn and whenever Allah sent a Prophet to mankind, the Jinn of that time could also receive his message. Apparently, this verse (6:130) shows that there were messengers from the jinn as well, but the Tafseer (commentary) of this verse is that a messenger will be sent to both man and jinn. It does not mean that each one of them will have their own messenger. The word منكم (from you) is addressed collectively to the jinn and man. (Bayan-ul-Qur'an, Vol 3, Pg 129) Ibn Kathir too says in his Tafsir that messengers are among mankind only and not vice versa as stated by ibn Jurayj, Mujahid, and other imams from the Salaf and later generations We need to remember that in the final phase the Holy Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wasallam) is the final Prophet sent not only to Man but also Jinn. It is mentioned in Surah al-Ahqaf: And when We inclined toward thee (Muhammad) certain of the jinn, who wished to hear the Qur'an and when they were in its presence, said: Give ear! and, when it was finished, turned back to their people, warning. They said: O our people! Lo! we have heard a scripture which hath been revealed after Moses, confirming that which was before it, guiding unto the truth and a right road. O our people! respond to Allah's summoner and believe in Him. He will forgive you some of your sins and guard you against a painful doom. And whoso respondeth not to Allah's summoner he can nowise escape in the earth, and he hath no protecting friends instead of Him. Such are in error manifest. (46:29 to 32)
The Holy Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wasallam) was commanded to tell Mankind about the World of Jinn, and that he was sent to both Man and Jinn as a Guide. We have already quoted verses 29 to 32 from Surah al-Ahqaf where Allah has mentioned that a group of Jinn heard the Quran and believed in it and they also warned their folks about heeding it. The first 19 verses of chapter 72 (The Jinn) of the holy Quran mentions Jinn’s coming to the Holy Prophet (PBUH), for embracing Islam and he (sal Allahu alayhi wasallam) used to teach Islam to them, in their own respective languages. Therefore, Jinn are also included in the ummah of the Holy Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasallam). It is reported by many classical Islamic authorities in their books that 12,000 Jinn came from Mousel in Iraq, and from Harran near Turkey and Naseebeen in Yemen.” Additionally, there are many prophetic traditions that also lend assurance to this fact. From the Companions such as Abu Hurairah and Ibn Masood (excluding Ibn Abbas ® who at that time had no knowledge of the incident), we come to know that the Jinn used to visit Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wasallam) who used to talk to them. The Holy Prophet (sal Allahu Alayhi wasallam) also read out the Surah ar-Rahman to the Jinn. In that Surah, there is a refrain of the verse “And which of your Lord’s favour would you deny”. As Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wasallam) would read the said refrain, the Jinn would reply: ‘There is none of your signs that we deny, all praise is due to You.”
The story of how the first Jinn of this ummah became Muslims was narrated by 'Abd-Allaah ibn 'Abbas, who said: "The Prophet went out with a group of his Companions heading for the marketplace of 'Ukaaz. This was when the shayaateen were prevented from getting any news from heaven, and shooting stars had been sent against them. The shayaateen went back to their people, who said, 'What is the matter with you?' They said, 'We cannot get news from heaven, and shooting stars were sent against us.' Their people said, 'Nothing is stopping you from hearing news from heaven except some new event that must have happened. Go and look in the east and the west of the earth, and see if you can find out what it is that is stopping you from hearing news from heaven.' Those who went out in the direction of Tihaamah came upon the Prophet in Nakhlah, when he was on his way to 'Ukaaz, and found him leading his Companions in Fajr prayer. When they heard the prayers, they listened to it and said, 'By Allah, this is what is stopping us from hearing news from heaven.' When they went back to their people, they said, 'O our people, we have heard a wonderful Recital. It guides to the Right Path, and we have believed therein, and we shall never join (in worship) anything with our Lord. It was after this that the revelation came that some of the group of Jinn did listen to the Quran during his (s) Fajr prayers there. The Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) went to the companions and recited Surah ar Rahman but they were all quiet. He told them that he went to the jinn and recited it to them and they were responsive. And when he would recite the verses 'And which of the favours of the Lord will you deny' the jinn would respond 'There is nothing among your bounties that we can deny, all praise belongs to Allah'. [Tirmidhi, Ibn al Mundhir, Al Adhama & Hakim 2/474]
Imam Baihaqi mentions in "Dalail-e-Nubuwwat" on the authority of Hadhrat Abdullah ibn Masood ® that the Prophet (sal Allahu Alayhi wasallam) once, said to his companions in Makkah: "Whosoever from amongst you desires to see the Jinn, he should come to me tonight." Hadhrat Abdullah ibn Masood stated that no one except me came that night. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wasallam) took me with him to a high hill in Makkah. He drew a circle with his foot for me and advised me to keep sitting within that circle. Seating Hadhrat Abdullah ibn Masood within that circle, he advanced ahead and then stood at a place. There, he started recitation of the Holy Quran. All of a sudden a big group of Jinn encircled the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wasallam) and that group stood as a wall between me and the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wasallam) and I heard the Jinn saying: "Who gives evidence that you are the Prophet." There was a tree nearby. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wasallam) observed: "Will you accept my claim if this tree gives the evidence?" The Jinn said: "Yes, we shall accept it." On that, the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wasallam) beckoned the tree. The tree came nearby and gave the evidence accordingly and all the Jinn embraced Islam.
Continued in 4.
NASIR
It is stated in Hughes' Dictionary of Islam, “among the evil Jinn are distinguished the five sons of their chief Iblis; namely, Tir, who brings about calamities, losses, and injuries; al-A'war, who encourages debauchery; Sut, who suggests lies; Dasimn who causes hatred between man and wife; and Zalambur, who presides over places of traffic.” The term "Shaitan" is also used for those disbelieving human beings who have the evil nature of Shaitan and who are active in spreading Fitna and corruption on earth and fighting righteousness. They disbelieve in the clear tokens and fling the scripture behind their back when Allah’s Messengers come to them confirming what they possess. According to Surah Baqara, verses 102-103: They followed what the Shayatin (devils) gave out (falsely of the magic) in the lifetime of Sulaiman a.s.(Solomon). Sulaiman did not disbelieve, but the Shayatin (devils) disbelieved, teaching men magic and such things that came down at Babylon to the two angels, Harut and Marut, but neither of these two (angels) taught anyone (such things) till they had said, “We are only for trial, so disbelieve not (by learning this magic from us).” And from these (angels) people learn that by which they cause separation between man and his wife, but they could not thus harm anyone except by Allah’s Leave. And they learn that which harms them and profits them not. And indeed they knew that the buyers of it (magic) would have no share in the Hereafter. And how bad indeed was that for which they sold their own selves if they but knew. And if they had believed, and guarded themselves against evil and kept their duty to Allah, far better would have been the reward from their Lord, if they but knew!
The Holy Quran informs us that some Jinn are on the righteous path having submitted themselves to Allah, while some follow many divergent paths and are unjust having gone astray and they are the Jinn who are the fuel for Hell-Fire. The jinn are of different ranks in terms of piety or impiety. Some are heedless; others are disbelievers. They speak of themselves in the Qur'an: “There are among us some that are righteous, and some the contrary; we are groups having different ways (i.e. religious sects)” [72:11]. The devils among the Jinn have chosen disbelief, idolatry, and disobedience of Allah. They are the followers of their Chief, Satan or Iblis who rebelled against Allah by not obeying His command to prostrate before Adam. Hafiz Ibn Hajr has alluded in his Fath al-Bari that disbelieving Jinn are shaitans meaning that when the word shaitan is used it means an evil disbelieving jinn. [Fath al-Bari [6:344] and [8:675]. Most scholars such as ar-Razi and Alusi accept that unbelieving Jinn are called satans. They work mischief and corruption on earth and lure and seduce humans to evil. In a hadith, transmitted in Imam Muslim’s Sahih from the Hadith narrated by Jabir Ibn ‘Abdullah as said by the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wasallam): “Iblis places his throne upon water; he then sends detachments (for creating dissension); the nearer to him in rank are those who are most notorious in creating dissension. One of them comes and says: “I did so and so.” And he says: “You have done nothing.” Then one amongst them comes and says: “I did not spare so and so until I sowed the seed of discord between a husband and a wife.” Satan goes near him and says: “You have done well.” Al-A’mash said: “He then embraces him.”
On the question of whether the Jinn had the messengers sent from amongst themselves or had no messengers, or had human messengers sent by Allah, we know that the Holy Quran is addressed to both humans and Jinn and both Quran and Sunnah indicate that jinn exist and that there is a purpose for their existence in this life, which is to worship Allah Alone with no partner or associate. Allah Almighty says: “And I (Allah) created not the Jinn and humans, except they should worship Me (Alone).” (Adh-Dhariyat: 56). It is also mentioned in the Holy Quran in Surah al-An’am: "O ye assembly of jinn and humankind! Came there not unto you messengers of your own who recounted unto you My signs and warned you of the meeting of this day of yours?" (6:130), meaning by those messengers from mankind and messengers from the jinn. Ibn Hazm said: A prophet from mankind was never sent to the jinn before our Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wasallam), and before him prophets would be sent to their people. He said: we know with certainty that they would warn one another. So according to al-Shibli al-Hanafi the view that prophets from themselves came to them is sound though the majority of the 'ulama, successors and predecessors, believed that there was never a messenger from the jinn and whenever Allah sent a Prophet to mankind, the Jinn of that time could also receive his message. Apparently, this verse (6:130) shows that there were messengers from the jinn as well, but the Tafseer (commentary) of this verse is that a messenger will be sent to both man and jinn. It does not mean that each one of them will have their own messenger. The word منكم (from you) is addressed collectively to the jinn and man. (Bayan-ul-Qur'an, Vol 3, Pg 129) Ibn Kathir too says in his Tafsir that messengers are among mankind only and not vice versa as stated by ibn Jurayj, Mujahid, and other imams from the Salaf and later generations We need to remember that in the final phase the Holy Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wasallam) is the final Prophet sent not only to Man but also Jinn. It is mentioned in Surah al-Ahqaf: And when We inclined toward thee (Muhammad) certain of the jinn, who wished to hear the Qur'an and when they were in its presence, said: Give ear! and, when it was finished, turned back to their people, warning. They said: O our people! Lo! we have heard a scripture which hath been revealed after Moses, confirming that which was before it, guiding unto the truth and a right road. O our people! respond to Allah's summoner and believe in Him. He will forgive you some of your sins and guard you against a painful doom. And whoso respondeth not to Allah's summoner he can nowise escape in the earth, and he hath no protecting friends instead of Him. Such are in error manifest. (46:29 to 32)
The Holy Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wasallam) was commanded to tell Mankind about the World of Jinn, and that he was sent to both Man and Jinn as a Guide. We have already quoted verses 29 to 32 from Surah al-Ahqaf where Allah has mentioned that a group of Jinn heard the Quran and believed in it and they also warned their folks about heeding it. The first 19 verses of chapter 72 (The Jinn) of the holy Quran mentions Jinn’s coming to the Holy Prophet (PBUH), for embracing Islam and he (sal Allahu alayhi wasallam) used to teach Islam to them, in their own respective languages. Therefore, Jinn are also included in the ummah of the Holy Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasallam). It is reported by many classical Islamic authorities in their books that 12,000 Jinn came from Mousel in Iraq, and from Harran near Turkey and Naseebeen in Yemen.” Additionally, there are many prophetic traditions that also lend assurance to this fact. From the Companions such as Abu Hurairah and Ibn Masood (excluding Ibn Abbas ® who at that time had no knowledge of the incident), we come to know that the Jinn used to visit Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wasallam) who used to talk to them. The Holy Prophet (sal Allahu Alayhi wasallam) also read out the Surah ar-Rahman to the Jinn. In that Surah, there is a refrain of the verse “And which of your Lord’s favour would you deny”. As Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wasallam) would read the said refrain, the Jinn would reply: ‘There is none of your signs that we deny, all praise is due to You.”
The story of how the first Jinn of this ummah became Muslims was narrated by 'Abd-Allaah ibn 'Abbas, who said: "The Prophet went out with a group of his Companions heading for the marketplace of 'Ukaaz. This was when the shayaateen were prevented from getting any news from heaven, and shooting stars had been sent against them. The shayaateen went back to their people, who said, 'What is the matter with you?' They said, 'We cannot get news from heaven, and shooting stars were sent against us.' Their people said, 'Nothing is stopping you from hearing news from heaven except some new event that must have happened. Go and look in the east and the west of the earth, and see if you can find out what it is that is stopping you from hearing news from heaven.' Those who went out in the direction of Tihaamah came upon the Prophet in Nakhlah, when he was on his way to 'Ukaaz, and found him leading his Companions in Fajr prayer. When they heard the prayers, they listened to it and said, 'By Allah, this is what is stopping us from hearing news from heaven.' When they went back to their people, they said, 'O our people, we have heard a wonderful Recital. It guides to the Right Path, and we have believed therein, and we shall never join (in worship) anything with our Lord. It was after this that the revelation came that some of the group of Jinn did listen to the Quran during his (s) Fajr prayers there. The Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) went to the companions and recited Surah ar Rahman but they were all quiet. He told them that he went to the jinn and recited it to them and they were responsive. And when he would recite the verses 'And which of the favours of the Lord will you deny' the jinn would respond 'There is nothing among your bounties that we can deny, all praise belongs to Allah'. [Tirmidhi, Ibn al Mundhir, Al Adhama & Hakim 2/474]
Imam Baihaqi mentions in "Dalail-e-Nubuwwat" on the authority of Hadhrat Abdullah ibn Masood ® that the Prophet (sal Allahu Alayhi wasallam) once, said to his companions in Makkah: "Whosoever from amongst you desires to see the Jinn, he should come to me tonight." Hadhrat Abdullah ibn Masood stated that no one except me came that night. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wasallam) took me with him to a high hill in Makkah. He drew a circle with his foot for me and advised me to keep sitting within that circle. Seating Hadhrat Abdullah ibn Masood within that circle, he advanced ahead and then stood at a place. There, he started recitation of the Holy Quran. All of a sudden a big group of Jinn encircled the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wasallam) and that group stood as a wall between me and the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wasallam) and I heard the Jinn saying: "Who gives evidence that you are the Prophet." There was a tree nearby. The Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wasallam) observed: "Will you accept my claim if this tree gives the evidence?" The Jinn said: "Yes, we shall accept it." On that, the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wasallam) beckoned the tree. The tree came nearby and gave the evidence accordingly and all the Jinn embraced Islam.
Continued in 4.
NASIR
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