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.