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