JINN OF THE UNSEEN WORLD, EXPLORING SOME BASICS, PART 8.

 From the Desk of a Layman, Nasir Ali:  

JINN OF THE UNSEEN WORLD, EXPLORING SOME BASICS, PART 8:

Islamic scholar Ibn Abd al Barr (d.1071 CE) said the jinn have several names and are of various types:  a jinni who lives among people is called Aamir, the type of jinni that attaches itself to a child is called Arwaah, an evil jinni is often called Shaitaan (devil) when the Jinn are demonic, they are called Marid, and the evilest and strong Jinn are called Ifrit (plural afaareet). It may be stated here, that most of the exegetes disregard the different jinn known in Islamic folklore.  Marid and Ifrit are the only kinds of sub-species mentioned in the Qur'an. Al-Jinn is mentioned 32 times in 31 verses of the Holy Qur’an, while the word "Ghul" appears once in Surah 37:47 to mean “There will neither be any harm in it for their body nor will it intoxicate their mind,” i.e., in the wine of Paradise.  Tabari, however, is one of the earliest commentators through whom several Jinn have been made known, though he denied its theological significance.  Besides, commonly associated with Jinn in human form are the Ghoul and the Si’lah. 

The Ghoul is an inferior but fiendish type of Jinn who is opposed to travels and assumes different forms and appearances.  In ancient Arabian folklore, the Ghūl, anglicized as a ghoul, literally means demon in Arabic.  In Arabic, the female form is given as ghouleh and the plural is ghilan.  The term, ghūl, is often used by modern Arabs to frighten disobedient children or to describe a greedy or gluttonous individual, or a cannibal.  This fiendish type of jinni is believed to be sired by the Shaytan Iblis.  It dwells in burial grounds and other uninhabited places such as wastelands and deserts.  

THE GHOUL: 

Ghouls were mostly encountered by the desert Bedouins and travellers.    It may be noted that before the advent of Islam, Hazrat 'Umar Bin al-Khattab (caliph 586-644), was known as the man who had killed a ghoul in the desert when he was travelling to Syria.  However, in this case, it was a female ghulah who had accosted him and wanted to know where he was heading for. Upon his refusal to disclose his destination, she even tried to frighten him by turning her head completely around (Ibn Manzur vol. xxvii, 269-70).  This  360° head-spinning reminds us of the scene from the famous movie Exorcist.  Hazrat Umar struck off her head with one blow of a sword between the neck and shoulders.  By the time he returned to the same place later, the body had disappeared! And it boded well for him.  For, according to Arabian folklore, if a second blow is dealt then it would resurrect the Ghoul or ghulah, and he or she would not die unless further 1000 blows are given! Because only one strike can be used to kill a ghoul, decapitation is the preferred method to ensure that the beast dies quickly. 

Ta’abbata Sharran, the famous pre-Islamic poet, mentions in his poem How I met the Ghoul his experience of encountering a female Ghul one night.  After having killed her, but not knowing who had been his attacker, he lay atop the jinniyah through the night only to behold in the morning, “Two-eyes set in a hideous head, like the head of a cat, split-tongued, legs like a deformed foetus, the back of a dog.”  No doubt, the people before Islam described them as having a cat-like face, canine teeth, and a forked tongue, and who appeared and disappeared suddenly.  

Abu Asid al-Sa'di mentioned the story of Arqam Bin Abu al-Arqam in which a ghoul appeared and kidnapped al-Arqam's, son who was on a desert journey. The ghoul, disguised in the form of a woman, carried the boy on its back. When they saw al-Arqam's friend, the woman pretended to be the boy's attendant (al-Waqidl 1984, 104). This story emphasizes the well-known deceitful and wicked character of the ghoul.

Other Muslim authors, such as Abi al-Sheikh al-Aşbahâni (c.887 - c.979), defined the ghoul or si'lwah as a female demon that could change shape and appear to travellers in the desert in order to deceive and harm them. He told the story of Ahmed al-Dabbâgh's father who once while going on a journey traversed a dangerous road notorious for being frequented by ghouls. Ahmed al-Dabbâgh's father observed a woman in shabby clothing laying on a bed above which hung lanterns used to brighten the space.  When she saw him approaching, the woman started calling on the man to entice him.  But he recognized she was a ghoul and recited the Surah Yaasin from the Qur'an instead.  As a result, the woman put out her lantern lights and said: 'Oh man, what did you do to me?' Hence, he was saved from her harm (1987, vol. v, 1652).

According to Al-Jahiz (775-868 CE) the author of Al-Haywan, Ghoul is the name for every jinni that the traveller comes across, appearing in different forms and shapes, both male and female.  He mentioned that the common people believed that genies, devils, and ghouls, had the ability to transform themselves into whatever forms they liked. However, even though the ghoul could change into the shape of a beautiful woman, its legs would remain like those of an ass.  

Al-Qazwini (1208-1283 c.e.), the author of Ajaib al-Makhluqat Wa Gharaib al-Mawjudat, states that al-Ghul (the Ghoul) is one of the most famous and common among the Jinn.  He describes the ghoul as a demonical animal resembling both man and brute. While relying on some older Arabic source he says:  The ghouls are among the inferior type of Jinn who while eavesdropping on the heaven to gather intelligence for soothsayers were struck by meteorites or shooting stars so that they plummeted back to earth, hugely burnt and deformed into ghouls.  As for those who fell into the sea, they later became crocodiles. According to others, all the demons who were struck changed into ghouls no matter where they fell, and some being driven insane, they roam the deserts as such.  However, this description is not found in Islamic texts.  He pointed out that Arabs emphasized the ghoul's ugly features even if they did not see a ghoul, and that mentioning its name in poetry and tales brought fear to listeners.  

Hafiz Ibn Kathir (1300-1373 c.e.) in his Tafsir, says "Ghoul" is used for the genie when it appears at night. 

In Arabic culture, there is no specific description of ghouls.  Researcher, Ahmed K. Al-Rawi, states that a ghoul within the Arabic dialect can be defined “as a kind of female sorcerer, a devil of genies, or the Satan itself” since there's no accord on its specific nature.  Arabic texts did not identify them as grave robbers who dined on the dead or who did not mind having a fresh supply of human flesh.   But for Abu’l-Wafa (940-998 C.E.), who considered the devil to be a male genie, most dictionaries concur that ghouls were noxious, ugly male creatures—or female creatures, as in the case of si‘alwah —with teeth and cloven feet. To travellers in the desert, they were thought to appear in several shapes in order to beguile them and to lead them off track in order to kill them.  E.W. Lane’s Arabic-English Lexicon states that the Ghul “is a ‘kind of goblin, demon, devil” and that it is “terrible in appearance, having tusks or fangs.”  Inea Bushnaq, the translator of the Arabic The folktales on Pearls on a Branch, describes ghouls as “the wildest and most repulsive-looking of the jinn, hairy, filthy and long of the tooth with a sharp nose for the scent of human flesh.” 

    

A ghoul is capable of constantly changing form and can assume the guise of an animal, especially a hyena to lure the travellers to a secluded place so that other ghouls would also appear and devour the victim quickly. Often, especially in the hours between twilight and dawn, the ghoul takes on an appearance of a human being to lull the victims into a false sense of security and to lure them away from their path and into its trap.  Another ruse is to stalk the desert in the guise of an attractive woman to seduce the unwary travellers with a view to killing and devouring them. Sometimes the female ghoul may strike a conversation and yield herself to men in order to cross-breed with them, realising that plain inbreeding can lead to a weakness in their bloodlines.  In fact, one of the most common ghouls is the result of this demon and human cross-breeding. It is said that if the human women have been impregnated by male ghouls they will be killed and eaten only after the child is born.  Till such time, they are held captive.  As for the human men who mate with female ghouls, their fate is decided much earlier. 

  

A female ghoul will be lenified by some kind words and politeness and some personal service offered by her male victim.  If treated well, according to Inea Bushnaq in Arabian tales, the ghoulah may even prove to be sentimentally good-natured enough to carry him to any place he desires to go after he has forged a foster relationship with her by suckling from her pendulous breasts. This happens when the Ghoulah sits at her hand-mill, and to grind the hand-mill unhindered, she flings her huge breasts over her shoulders.  This offers an opportunity for the man to silently sneak up from behind and suckle from those breasts.  Upon this, she treats him as her own bosom child and protects him even from her own ghoul children who by virtue of suckling milk from her breasts automatically become brothers and sisters of the newcomer.  This suckling alludes to the Islamic law on the foster relationship which we need not delve into apart from mentioning that according to a prophetic tradition, foster-ship is only valid if it takes place in the suckling period (before two years of age)," in which case the suckling children come within the prohibited degree that restrains marriage between them.

 

In earlier Parts of our Article, we have already gone through a similar story recorded from Abu Hurairah ® who was guarding the Ramadan Zakah when someone came and grabbed some food but was caught. This happened three times. Here also, on the third occasion, he said, 'Let me go, I will teach you some words by which Allah will give you some benefit.' I asked, 'What are they?' He said, 'Whenever you go to bed, recite Aayat al-kursi- Allaahu laa ilaha illaa huwa al-hayyul-qayyum - until the end of the aayah. Then Allah will appoint a guard to remain with you, and no shaitan will come near you until the morning.'  The next morning Abu Hurairah, when enquired upon, related the incident to the Prophet (Sall Allahu 'Alaihi Wasallam) who said, ‘he told you the truth, though he is a liar.  Do you know who it was that spoke to you these past three nights Abu Hurairah?’ He (Abu Hurairah) said, ‘No’. "That was a shaitan."   

[You will find the full version in the Sahih and Tarikh of Imam Bukhari, which has also been cited by Imam Baghawi.  Ibn Hajar has traced the various routes of this Hadith’s chain.] 

'Abdurrahmaan Bin Abu Laylaa reported: "Once a ghoul came into Abu Ayyub's shed and he caught her. He told the Prophet (Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam) about the incident, so he said; ‘When you see her, then say, "In the name of Allah, come and answer to Allah's Messenger."’ So she came back, and he said that to her and grabbed her, then she said to him, 'I will not return.' So he released her. He came back and the Prophet (Sall Allahu 'Alaihi Wasallam) said to him, ‘What did your captive do?’ He said, 'I grabbed her, but she said she would not return, so I released her.' He (Sall Allahu 'Alaihi wa Sallam) said, ‘She will return.’ 'I caught her a second time and a third, each time she said she would not return. So I went to the Prophet (Sall Allahu 'Alaihi Wasallam) and He said, ‘What did your captive do?’ 'He said, 'I caught her, but she said she would not return.' He (Sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam) said, ‘She will return.’ So he caught her again, and she said, 'Release me and I will teach you something to say and nothing will come near you. It is Aayat al-Kursi.' So he came to the Prophet (Sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam) to tell him. He said, ‘She told the truth, and she is a liar.’" [This hadith is recorded by Ahmad, at-Tirmidhi and others.]

Abdullaah Bin Ubayy narrated that his father had a storage space that contained some dates. He went into it and found that some were missing. So he kept watching over it. Later he found a beast that resembled an adolescent boy in it. He said, "So I gave him salaams, and he returned salaams. So I said, 'What are you, a jinn or a human?' He said, 'Jinn.' I said, 'Show me your hand.' He showed me his hand, it was the hand of a dog with hair like a dog's. I said, 'Is this the way that jinns are?' He said, 'I know of the jinn what is worse than me.' Ubayy said to him, 'What made you do as you have?' He said, 'We have learned that you are a man who likes to give sadaqah, so we like to get some of your food.' Ubayy said, 'Is there something that will protect us from you?' He said, 'This aayah, is Aayat al-Kursi.' The next day Ubayy went to the Prophet (Sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam) and informed him about what happened. He (Sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam) said: The evil one told the truth. [This hadith is recorded by an-Nasa'i in 'Aml al-Yawm wal-Laylah, al-Baghawee in Sharh as-Sunnah, al-Bukhari in at-Taarikh al-Kabeer, and Ibn Hibbaan in his Saheeh as well as others.]

There are other similar hadiths, with varying degrees of authenticity, and in some of them, the narrators call the creature a ghoul, sometimes the creature is a male, sometimes a female. Among the other similar narrations are the narrations of Mu'aath, Buraydah, and Abu Usayd, the last two of which mention the ghoul.

The Prophet (Sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam) said, “No 'adwaa, no tiyarah, and no ghoul.” (Muslim)

There are a number of hadiths like this that mention the statement, Laa (no) ghoul, such are found with al-Bukhari and Muslim as well as others. In light of the discussion above confirming the ghoul, the following is the explanation of the scholars rectifying the apparent contradiction between these two types of texts.

The statement "No ghoul" does not negate the actual existence of the ghoul, but it negates the superstitions commonly held in jahiliyyah about ghouls, i.e, that they are assassins, that they hijack travellers from the road, and that they eat people, etc. Additionally, when the Prophet said, Laa (no) ghoul he said the same about other things, like 'adwaa for example, yet he commanded a form of 'adwaa on other occasions, like fleeing from the area of plague if you hear about it before you reach it. And in one variation of the hadith mentioning 'adwaa, he (Sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam) said: “But stay away from the leper like you would stay away from a lion.”

Imam an-Nawawi said, "...And the meaning of Laa (no) ghoul is they are not able to mislead anyone..."

According to Islamic scholars, all of these hadiths support the existence of the ghoul due to their multiple routes of transmission - this is the saying of Ibn Hajar in Fath al-Baari, al-Bayhaqi in Dala'il an-Nubuwah, Ibn Kathir in his Tafsir, and al-Mubarakpuri in Tuhfat al-Ahwathee. After the narration of Abu Ayyub, al-Haakim said, "These chains of narration, when combined together, make the hadiths' level Mashhoor (well known), and Allah knows best."

The Prophet (Sall Allahu 'Alayhi Wasallam) rejected and denied this idea altogether about what the Arabs thought about the ghoul. However, this was not denying that ghouls exist, rather it was a denial of the Arabs’ belief that they could change shape and colour and make people lose their way, hence the meaning of “no ghoul” is that they cannot make people lose their way. This is borne out by another hadith, “There is no ghoul but there is Sa’ali” This is in Muslim and elsewhere. Sa’ali is a magician among the jinn, but among them, there are magicians who base their magic on confusion and illusions…

Next, we need to briefly examine the European versions of the Ghouls.

To continue...

NASIR ALI

JINN OF THE UNSEEN WORLD, EXPLORING SOME BASICS, PART 7.

 From the Desk of Layman, Nasir Ali. 

JINN OF THE UNSEEN WORLD, EXPLORING SOME BASICS, 

PART 7. 

After discussing snakes, let’s come to the next form of Jinn – dogs/Hinn.  

 

BLACK DOGS/HINN: 

It is to be noted that wild dogs in the desert were very vicious and could literally rip human beings apart.   They used to roam around in packs.  At the time of the Prophet ﷺ

diseases among dogs were very widespread. 1400 years ago, people did not have the medicine to cure the deadly diseases some of the dogs may have carried.  Rabies is acute encephalitis caused by a lyssavirus. It is primarily transmitted through bites of infected dogs which results in the worldwide death of an estimated 59000 humans every year.  Its history dates back thousands of years, yet despite this long history, it remains a challenge for modern medicine.  Although wild carnivores and bats are the natural reservoirs of the rabies virus, it is the domestic dog, Canis lupus familiaris, that usually acts as the most common host and chief source of infection for humans (World Health Organization 2018).  Dogs are the greatest source of rabies infection for humans (Rupprecht et al. 2002).

    

Ibn ‘Abbas (may Allah be pleased with both him and his father) reported: “Allah’s Messenger (Sall Allahu Alayhi Wasallam) said: ‘Angels do not enter a house in which there is a dog or a picture.’” [Reported in Sahih Muslim] It was found that his grandson Al-Hasan had brought a puppy into the house of Prophet ﷺ who refused to enter the house until the puppy had been removed.  With regard to the wisdom of killing dogs, the Prophet (Sall Allahu Alayhi Wasallam) did not command killing all dogs; rather, he ordered the killing of a mordacious (biting) dog due to its harm.  ‘Aishah (R) narrated that the Prophet Sall Allahu Alayhi Wasallam) said, “There are five harmful creatures that should be killed even if one is in the state of Ihram (ritual state assumed for Hajj or 'Umrah): a snake, a speckled crow, a rat, a mordacious dog, and a kite.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]   

Rabid or violent dogs among others could be killed even in the state of Ihram or prayers.  

 

Merritt Clifton states:   

“The Prophet Mohammed (Sal Allahu Alayhi Wasallam) is widely believed to have fought a rabies outbreak in the walled city of Medina by closing the city gates to prevent the outbreak from spreading, and then exterminating dogs...." 

   

Barnaby Rogerson states:   

“The Prophet’s (Sal Allahu Alayhi Wasallam) actions in attempting to RID MEDINA OF RABIES in the seventh century also gave legal protection to dogs. He had spared the working dogs – those who guarded, those who herded, and those who hunted – and this is not forgotten.”  

As far as dogs are concerned, in Surat al-Ma’idah, God says that of the good things that are permissible to you are the animals which you hunt that your dog fetches for you. (Qur’an, 5:4).  How could hunting with dogs be possible if all dogs had been killed? 

According to the most preponderant opinion, the command to kill the all-black dogs is abrogated as stated by Imam An-Nawawi, “The scholars agreed about killing a mordacious dog, but they differed about dogs that do no harm. Imam al-Haramayn (al-Juwayni) said, 'The Prophet (Sall Allahu Alayhi Wasallam)  commanded the killing of all dogs and then this was abrogated with the exception of all-black dogs, and then the Sharia established that it is prohibited to kill all kinds of dogs that do no harm, even the all-black dog.”

  

The adverse critics of Islam attempt to point out the alleged cruelty of the Prophet ﷺ to dogs without appreciating the historical contexts of various hadiths on dogs. Of course, eminent Islamic scholars have soundly refuted the allegations. Here, we cannot cite all those instances that highlight the kindness of the Prophet (Sal Allahu Alayhi Wasallam) to creatures including birds, animals, and ants - all of which are outside the scope of our subject. But to cite just one instance: 

   

Whilst on a military expedition to Makkah, he passed by a bitch that lay in their path, with her pups suckling from her. To prevent her from being harmed, the Prophet (Sall Allahu Alayhi Wasallam)  ordered Juʿayl b. Suraqa to guard her lest any of the oncoming armies disturb or harm them (Imtāʿ al-Asmāʿ, al-Muqrizi). Is this the action of someone who hated dogs? There are many hadiths praising and rewarding the actions of people who helped animals, including dogs, just like there are ahadith that threaten those who harm animals.

   

But let’s revert to our subject! 

Shaykh Ibn Taymiyyah mentioned that the jinn may appear in human or animal form; they may appear in the form of snakes, scorpions and so on; or in the form of camels, cattle, sheep, horses, mules and donkeys; or in the form of birds.  He also said that the Jinn may take the image of a black cat, like the case of a black dog, as he said, "The black dog is the devil of the dogs and the jinn take his image much, as well as the image of a black cat because the black colour gathers the satanic forces and it has the strength of heat."  However, this does not mean that every black dog or black cat is a jinni.  All that this means is that it is possible for a jinni to appear in the form of a black dog or a black cat. 

Abd al-Wahhab al-Sharani (1492/3-1565 c.e.) was a Cairene Sufi who had great dealings with the Jinn. Naturally, there was no shortage of intercourse with the Jinn. They were seeking his rulings as a jurist. Once a dog-shaped jinni ran to his door with a piece of European paper in his mouth. This paper had some theological questions. Al-Sharani answered those questions by writing a book that still exists.

C A T S: 

As for cats, in Islam, the cat is not just an animal, but it has a very long history, as the Prophet (Sall Allahu Alayhi Wasallam) was once saved from a snake by a cat.  As said by the Prophet (Sall Allahu Alayhi Wasallam): “They (cats) are not najis (unclean, impure, filthy), rather they are of those who go around amongst you.” – Tirmidhi.

 

An interesting story –written by one Göynüklü Emîr Hüseyin Enîsî- is mentioned in the sixteenth century Manaqib of Akshamsaddin (Turkish: Ak Semsettin - 1389-1459 C.E.), who was an influential Ottoman religious scholar, poet, mystic saint, and tutor and guide of Mehmed II the Conqueror of the invincible Byzantine city of Constantinople in 1453 C.E.  He was also a discoverer of the burial place of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari ® who had died at the walls during the first unsuccessful siege of the city in 669 C.E.

 

Now, there was a jinni who loved the Shaykh.   Unknown to the Shaikh, the jinni had taken on the form of a cat, and was constantly in the Shaykh’s house, never leaving. One night the Shaykh went to sleep. The cat curled up beside the hearth. The Shaykh was sleeping soundly when from outside the front door there came a great and powerful strange

voice. The cat stood up and answered from behind the door. The one outside said, ‘I am very hungry! Give me something to eat—let me eat, open the door and I’ll come in!’   The cat replied: ‘The Shaikh’s door is locked with the Bismillah, so the door cannot be opened to give you food.’ However, the Shaykh had earlier cooked some Köfte Kebab, which [the cat] put through a slot in the door, saying, ‘Eat some of this!’ So, it happened. The Shaykh saw it but made no sound and went back to sleep.  Morning came. After finishing his prayers, he called out to the cat relating what had happened in the night. The cat twitched, then came [to the Shaykh]. The Shaykh said: ‘It’s difficult for a human and a jinni to always be in one place together. So go now, and visit sometimes.’ As directed, the jinni came from time to time, paying Ak-Shamsuddin a pious visit (ziyâret iderdi).  

The above story’s ‘moral’ shows the need for regulation of relationships between jinn and humans, not their absolute suspension. The jinn-turned-cat feature here is not a malevolent character, but rather the one who genuinely wants to be in the presence of the saint. 

Who has not heard stories of demon cats of Suakin or Swakin? The port on the island of Suakin was strategically crucial to powerful empires for 3,000 years. It was Sudan's only port before the construction of Port Sudan which is 35 miles away on the Red Sea coast.  Suakin had a rich and chequered history before it was abandoned in the 1930s and since then it has been a ghost town with its crumbling coral buildings and a nationwide reputation for its demonic black cats, believed to be of the jinn family. They haunt its

ruined palaces and ancient houses.  It is said that King Solomon used to condemn and lock evil spirits in Suakin.  One of the stories about the behaviour of cats in Suakin and Port Sudan is mentioned by a writer, named Umm Ahmed, who found those large cats with different colour shades odd and unusual. She says, “I saw large cats of black, white and other colours of the spectrum. These cats tend to frequent restaurants, and when you begin to eat your meal one of them would reach out one of its front legs as if begging and saying please give me food! If you do not respond, it will forcibly grab the plate and take the food. These cats act strangely and display unfamiliar behaviour. This is coupled with their huge size and peculiar looks give the impression that they are capable of speaking and in reality, they are weird and frightening!” 

In passing, it may be stated that in the history of Europe, cats were destined to suffer a terrible fate, driving them to near-extinction:  As the persecution of witches took hold throughout Europe, public paranoia spread, and in many places, Cats were targeted. In 1233 C.E., a papal decree condemned a satanic cult that was said to worship, among other things, a devil that took the form of a diabolical black cat. This resulted in the slaughtering of millions of cats over the next 300 years in Europe.  It is said that this may have been a direct cause of the Black Plague since there were hardly any cats to keep the rat population in check. In some parts of England, the death toll was 50%. Some parts of France suffered an astounding loss of ninety percent of their population. According to one estimate, nearly half the population of Europe was decimated!

 

HINN: 

Regarding the Hinn, they are the type of Jinn that are close to animals and they appear

in the form of dogs.  According to Ibn Kathir, the Hinn belong together with the Jinn to those creatures who shed blood on Earth before humankind, causing the angels to question God's command to place Adam as a vice-regent. According to Ibn Kathir, the Hinn belong together with the Jinn to those creatures who shed blood on Earth before humankind, causing the angels to question God's command to place Adam as a vice-regent. In his work Al-Bidāya wa-n-Nihāya, he relates that the Hinn and Binn were exterminated by the jinn so that they could dwell on the earth.   Al-Jahiz mentions them as a "weak type" of demons in his Kitāb al-Ḥayawān.  In Miraculous Aspects of Things Existing (Arabic - كتاب عجائب المخلوقات وغرائب الموجودات), or The Book of Jinn, Zakarīyā’ ibn Muḥammad al-Qazwīnī claimed to have sighted these creatures in Arabia, Persia, and India. The book contains several pages dedicated to this particular Jinn.

Coming to another description of the Jinn who have wings and they fly, it may be stated that the Jinn are also related to the wind, and may even appear in mists or sandstorms.  According to Shaykh al-Akbar, Ibn al-Arabi, after the tribes of Jinn were divided into different sub-divisions great wars were waged among them.  Some whirlwinds were born of these conflicts. It is true that the whirlwind arises when the winds come together and do not let each other pass, creating a circle seen in the dust, which is a sign of opposing winds crashing together. Their wars are similar.  Sandstorms are thought to be caused by a battle between different groups of jinn. But not all whirlwinds signify their wars. Al-Qazwini and Imam Ghazali attribute them to natural causes. We mentioned before the tale of ‘Amr al-Jinnī, (may Allah have mercy on him), that he died in a whirlwind that was seen and it dispersed over him as he lay dying.  It was not long before he died.

Wind Jinn, a type of winged Jinn, have the power to fly over long distances at quick speeds. The Zóba´ah is a whirlwind that raises sand or dust in the form of a pillar of great height, often seen sweeping across the deserts and fields, and is believed to be caused by the flight of an evil Jinni. To defend themselves from a Jinni thus "riding in the whirlwind," the Arabs often exclaim, “Ḥadeed! Ḥadeed!” (Iron! Iron!), or "Ḥadeed! yá mashoom!" ("Iron! thou unlucky!") since the Jinn are supposed to have a great dread of that metal, or they exclaim, "Alláhu Akbar!” (“Allah is The Greatest!”)

According to an Islamic Fatwa, some Jinn have wings and can fly and thus they can cross the entire Earth in a very short time.

However, defining this time into minutes or an hour needs proof, which does not exist. Some scholars quoting from An-Nabuwwat say that with regard to the possibility of flying by seeking the help of the jinn, this is possible in and of itself.  Ibn Taimiyyah stated that the Jinn still carry people and fly with them from one place to another. He also said: Those whom the Jinn carry and fly with them from one place to another, in most cases, are unaware of how they are carried.  Some experts on the subject of Jinn state that some Jinn fly so fast that they teleport themselves in an instant, while some may take hours.  Zawba'a or Zoba'ah, is considered the demon king of Friday.    In some accounts, Jinnan or Jawan (singular Jann) are shape-shifters who live in the desert and take the forms of whirlwinds and white camels. They have the power to hide or reveal oases in the desert, depending on whether they like or dislike a party of travellers.  

That now leaves us to discuss the type of Jinni that stops for a rest and then resumes its journey, as mentioned in the hadith narrated by  Abu Tha'labah al-Khushani.   

TO CONTINUE IN PART 8. 

 NASIR ALI.