THE PHILANTHROPIC SIDE OF RAFI SAHAAB - AN INCIDENT.

THE PHILANTHROPIC SIDE OF RAFI SAHAAB – AN INCIDENT. By Nasir Ali. 

This evening I had a chance visitor. After we had exchanged greetings and taken our respective seat, he blurted out: “Rafi Sahaab was indeed a saint.” He repeated: “Yes, he was a saint despite the fact that he made a living in the Bollywood film industry.” 

I was caught unawares and also pleasantly surprised. This was not because of his statement, but because such conversation was not expected in the least. I asked him, “Why do you say that?” It was then he narrated to me what he had heard from his friend who was a poor guy from the Bandra vicinity – Behrampada (in Mumbai City) to name it precisely. Here is what he told me about an incident that pertained to the early Sixties: 

 This man from Behrampada had four daughters. One of them had reached the age of marriage. He was much worried. He had no money or means to get his daughter married. He had heard from his neighbours about Mohammed Rafi Sahaab and that he was a good man. They told him to approach Rafi Sahaab for help. He had his own doubts initially because he himself was a nobody whereas Rafi Sahaab’s was a great name. Will he help him – a total stranger that he was to Rafi Sahaab? 

Gathering Rafi Sahaab’s address, he finally came to his Bungalow. The security guard told him that Rafi Sahaab was not present. Not losing hope, he visited it again the next day and then the next day only to be told the same thing. He finally requested the security guard to inform Rafi Sahaab about his visit. The security guard accordingly did so. So on his next visit, the security guard let him inside the gate, when he was astounded to see Rafi Sahaab beckoning him. 

Now when our man entered the living room, Rafi Sahaab politely told him to sit down. Snacks and tea were offered to him. After he had had his fill, Rafi Sahaab asked him the purpose of his visit. That man explained his plight and misery and informed Rafi Sahaab that he had a daughter of marriageable age but could not get her married since he had no money. Rafi Sahaab asked him how much money he needed. He quoted an X amount. Hearing this, Rafi Sahaab requested him to come back the next day without fail. 

So the next day, this man went to see Rafi Sahaab at his bungalow again. Rafi Sahaab was waiting for him. He offered him snacks and tea again. After he had finished with his victuals, Rafi Sahaab handed over the required X amount that the man needed for his daughter’s marriage. Moreover, he also gave him the same X amount three times over, saying that these were for his remaining three daughters’ marriages too. He was very happy. Too happy in fact. He had got more than he had asked for. But there was one condition attached: Rafi Sahaab asked him not to divulge this incident to anyone, nor to say anything about the money he had got from him. This much he promised. 

In due course, he got all his daughters married decently and was relieved of his duties thanks to the generosity and altruism of Rafi Sahaab.  It was only after Rafi Sahaab passed away that he felt he could now tell the world how Rafi Sahaab had helped him. 

When I heard the above story from my friend, naturally I choked with emotions. Then I recollected all those stories that I had sometimes read in the magazines about how Rafi Sahaab time and again rescued even Bollywood industry people, including music directors, from financial straits.  Yes, not only was Rafi Sahaab a man with a Golden Voice, but he was also a man with Golden Heart.

NASIR ALI

PART 10 - JINN OF THE UNSEEN WORLD, EXPLORING SOME BASICS...

From the Desk of a Layman, Nasir Ali:

Part 10: Jinn of the Unseen World, exploring some basics...

After having discussed Ghouls, we now turn to another sub-set of Jinn known as Si’lat/ Si’lah/ Sila,(pl.Sa’aali) adj: su'luwwa).  The silah is a variant of the Ghul. This djinn is often referred to in the feminine. These smartest of the Jinn are excellent shapeshifters who are easily able to mimic the appearance of a human.  Being open-minded, they are able to mix in human society with comparative ease though they prefer to live near rivers, desolate parts of deserts, oases, jungles and thickets.  They tend to shapeshift into men or women and lure them into bed. However, most are merely lovers looking to find mates.  Owing to their propensity to bed humans, Si’lats are sometimes mistaken for Succubi or Incubi which they are not.  Their nature is built in such a way that sexual activity and the need to reproduce supersedes any other need they may have.  Indeed, they are the most salacious of the Jinn who appear as beautiful women ready to go to the extent of wedding, bedding and producing babies by interbreeding with humans.  The offspring born of Si’lats are known as Bonoo.  However, some of the male counterparts can be manipulative, and often trick women by impregnating them with Bonoo against their will. 

The Si’lats can be found by their half-breed appearances as creatures, despite their shape-shifting capacities.  They are also known as Jinn of the Lightning.  Some describe their overall appearance as resembling grey-hounds, who possess very long forelegs and hind feet and have a mane of ash-grey colour, being the Bedouins' favourite canine who enjoy frightening camels away from their grazing areas. Something that both forms have in common, though, is the ability to appear as an animal and have malicious intent.  Ancient traditions describe this jinni as sudden in appearance and disappearance, with a cat-like face, canine teeth, and a forked tongue.   In Middle Eastern legends they are shown as pernicious creatures who tend to mislead the desert or forest travellers.  After overcoming them they play a cat-and-mouse game, making them dance to their tune before eating them.  Those humans who display refined manners are rarely eaten.  More often, they are helped on a quest or journey.  It is said that the good Si’lats dine only on animal meat, while evil Si’lats prefer human meat.  It is also known that they hide the location of oases from those humans they don’t like. 

The si’luwa is a water demon from Iraq and is a variant of the s’ilah. She is described as a woman having a fishtail in place of legs, with pendulous breasts hanging down to her knees, while her body is covered in long hair.  Being the product of river demons and humans, she seeks human lovers.  Nevertheless, she too hunts humans for meals. 

Ancient Arabic geographers have shown in their maps an island known as the “Island of the Sealah” off the coast of China, where these demons resided and ate humans who fell to their lot.

In the Middle East, it is common knowledge that Jinn are scared of wolves as the wolves can see them. In fact, the sorcerers are known to use wolves to devour the Jinn.   When the wolves chase them, they go and hide in stones as they can live/hide in stones.  Si’lats are the most vulnerable.  The Wolf is their nemesis who devours them with relish.  It is alleged that even the images of wolves will repel the Si’lats.  

Al-Qazwini mentions that the wolf hunts the si’lah at night. When a si’lah is caught by a wolf, she cries out as it tears into her and begs to be saved offering a thousand dinars to her rescuer. The author states that the people ignore these pleas because they know it is the si’lah.  In fact, Robert Lebling states that wolves are the only animals that the djinn fear. He says that the djinn cannot escape the wolves by sinking into the ground, thus falling prey to the teeth and claws of the wolves.  In Iraq and other parts of the Muslim world, wolf teeth are worn as protective talismans.

INCUBUS AND SUCCUBUS:

According to the Jewish folklore or texts, Lilith who was Adam’s first wife (a non-Islamic

concept) later became a succubus after leaving the Garden of Eden.  The most powerful Succubus to have lived is believed to be Lilith, the queen of Hell. She’s also the mother of all Succubi. Her counterpart – the first and most powerful Incubus – was Lilu.  Benjamin Adamah notes in his The incubus or succubus – nightmare or astral sex date?  “Legend has it that the incubi and succubi came from the community that rose from Lilith and Samael. They were responsible for erotic fantasies, drives and desires and were particularly fond of lonely travellers and men, who had been away from their wives for a longer period of time.  They caused wet dreams and thus the loss of precious life energy and from this wasted seed new incubi or succubi were born.”    In medieval Europe, union with an incubus was supposed by some to result in the birth of witches, demons, and deformed human offspring.

Incubus and his female counterpart, the Succubus, visit women and men in their sleep, lie and press heavily upon them, and seduce them.   Incubus and succubus can be relentless in pursuit of their sexual desire so much so that they grow violent when resisted.  However, they are considered less dangerous than possessing demons.  Incubi are especially attracted to women with beautiful hair, young virgins, chaste widows, and all “devout” females.  Therefore, tales of Incubi and Succubi were originally linked more with monks and nuns – two groups of individuals who have sworn celibacy.  Consequently, there have been cases where many nuns became pregnant and killed their children at birth and then buried them outside their nunneries.    

In medieval Europe, witches were said to copulate willingly with incubi, especially at a Witches' Sabbat when witches and sorcerers gathered at a secret place for worshipping the Devil and indulging in orgiastic rites, dances, feasting, etc.  The inquisitors’ handbook the Malleus Maleficarum (1487), stated that “in times long past the Incubus devils used to infest women against their wills,” but “modern witches . . . willingly embrace this most foul and miserable servitude.” Some incubi served as Familiars to witches, who sent them to torment specific individuals.  

FRANCESCO-MARIA GUAZZO related a story in Compendium Maleficarum (Book of Witches, 1608) about a beautiful noble girl who refused to marry men of her station but instead fell into an affair with an Incubus. She freely told her parents of the marvellous sex they had at night and sometimes during the day. One night, the parents, a priest, and others bolted the house doors and went into their daughter’s bedroom with lit torches. There they found her in the embrace of a hideous Demon, “a horrible monster whose appearance was terrible beyond human imagination.” It was only after the priest began his prayers and rituals that the Incubus released the girl, but not before setting fire to the furniture in the room and taking with him the roof of the bedroom.  The girl immediately gave birth to a monstrous baby which was burnt by the midwives.

In modern representations, a succubus is often depicted as a beautiful seductress or enchantress, rather than as a demonic or scary entity, in a female form, that appears in dreams to seduce men, usually through sexual activity. The succubus can cause an erection directly.  When a human has intercourse with a succubus or an incubus for fairly long periods, a need for more sex keeps on rising.  The impacts related to the succubus range from sexual stimulation to increased heart rate to preventing sleep, as well as many others too numerous to mention. Repeated sexual activity with a succubus or an incubus can cause poor physical or mental health, and as they suck out life energy it may even cause death.

 

According to the Malleus Malefic Arum, or Witches' Hammer, written by Heinrich Kramer (Henricus Institor) in 1486, both entities need a human to procreate. As a Succubus has sex with a man, she steals seeds from the male human. Then the demon shifts into a male form, Incubus, and has sexual intercourse with a woman in an attempt to impregnate her.  They do not possess their own semen; they collect it from men in nocturnal emissions, masturbation or, while the Demons are masquerading as succubi, from coitus.  An incubus may pursue sexual relations with a woman in order to father a child, as in the legend of Merlin.  The hybrid of human and incubi/succubi is called a Cambion.  

Coming to their genuine shapes, they look nothing like the beautiful masterpieces depicted in movies.  They are demons and sizeable and serpentine evil animals with skeletal ghost limbs that have qualities of a fowl. Their underbellies are continually washed with the blood of their victims down the ages.  Their backs bear stripes of hair.   Some Incubus penises were described as scaly, like the skin of a reptile. Incubi are not interested in procreation, only in degrading sex. Incubi have enormous phalluses that are so stiff they cause women great pain.  A woman accused as a witch in Haraucourt in 1586 described her Demon’s penis as long as a kitchen tool and without testicles or scrotum. Another accused witch, a woman named Didatia of Miremont, said at her trial in 1588 that she was “always so stretched by the huge, swollen member of her Demon that the sheets were drenched with blood.”  On the other hand, a succubus's private area feels like a cavern of ice, and their purpose is supposedly to take the seed of young men and return it to incubi, their demonic male analogues.

It may be stated here that Abrahel, called the Queen of the Succubi, is especially devoted to seducing men of doubtful asceticism, more punctually to peasants and men of little formal instruction.  It takes the form of a beautiful woman who captivates them immediately. It then disposes of them at will, causing them to commit real follies to satisfy their whims. Abrahel is also known to be especially cruel and perverted, even by Demons' standards, enjoying psychologically torturing and manipulating her victims. 

The French Demonologist, Nicholas Remy notes in Demonolatry, a succubus case that

happened in 1581.  A shepherd named Pierron Armenterious of Dalheim was persuaded by a succubus, Abrahel, to murder his son. After the murder, Pierron was so overcome with grief and guilt that he contemplated suicide.  Abrahel told him that if he worshipped her, she would restore the boy back to life.  He complied, and his son returned to the living.  However, the boy wasn't as intelligent as before; he was also skinnier and slower.  A mere year later the young boy died again, and a nauseating smell started to emanate from the corpse. The father buried the cadaver without holding a funeral.  In the words of Remy, "The child's body, which gave off an insufferable stench, was pulled out of his father's house with a hook and buried in a field."  The story does not make further mention of the succubus demon or the shepherd.

Francesco-Maria Guazzo wrote of one alleged succubus incident in Compendium Maleficarum (1608), in which a succubus forced herself on a young man near Aberdeen, Scotland. The succubus visited him in bed every night and stayed until dawn. The young man claimed that he tried to get rid of the succubus, but to no avail. Finally, the local bishop ordered him to go away to another place and devote himself to prayer and fasting.  After several days, the young man said the succubus left him.  

However, both entities are not bound by form or gender.   They can shapeshift into whatever the human most desires.  In other words, whatever the sleeping person desires, that will come forward. Incubi and Succubi are said to be mortals like us, so they basically can be killed either through decapitation or by ripping their hearts from their chests.

It cannot be said that all succubi were malevolent.  As a young priest, Gerbert of Aurillac (946-1003 C.E.) fell madly in love with the daughter of the Provost of Rheims who cruelly rejected him.  He fell into a deep melancholy.  According to Walter Mapes in De Nugis Curialium (Trifles of Courtiers), after being jilted in love, he got involved with a succubus named 

Meridiana.  Meridiana offered him all of the sins of the flesh and lust-filled sex that he could ever want beyond his wildest dreams, as well as wealth, good fortune, and knowledge of the mystical arts if he would only stay faithful to her and her alone.  Gerbert of Aurillac agreed and his career rose very fast. From the monk, he rose to be the Bishop of Rome, became Archbishop of Rheims, then Cardinal, Archbishop of Ravenna, and finally Pope Sylvester II.  All the while, quite against his vows, he secretly indulged in satisfying his every carnal desire with Meridiana.  In fact, he also had flings with his early rejector who now suddenly found him worthy of her love.  This went on until one day Meridiana predicted that Gerbert would die as he celebrated mass in Jerusalem, which actually turned out to be Santa Croce in Gerusalemme (Holy Cross of Jerusalem) in Rome.  

Before his death, Pope Sylvester II (999–1003) confessed his sins and died repentant. Of course, there are some gory details here; but we need not go into them.  According to Lore, his tomb sweats prior to the death of a prominent person. If a pope is going to die, the sweat is so heavy that it turns into a stream and creates a large puddle, and Sylvester’s bones shake and rattle.

For the sake of brevity, we shall not discuss how these spirit demons can be conjured by witches, sorcerers, and shamans. During the witch hysteria in Europe, incubi were believed to be instruments of the Devil, tormenting people for the sole purpose of degrading their souls and perverting them to more vices. During the witch hunts, Demonologists wrote handbooks on witches, the Devil, and Demons. They described the appearances, behaviour, and characteristics of incubi and remedies against them.    The 15th-century witch hunter's manual, the Malleus Maleficarum, is a notorious, much-maligned text on how to identify, capture, and kill witches. Thousands of women of whom many were innocent were burnt at stake in Europe.  Just because some women had a crooked nose, or were living singly with a cat, or dressed somewhat differently, or were assertive and intelligent, and so on was good enough to be branded a witch,

Women who “tried to seduce” men were accused of being Succubi in disguise, while women who became pregnant outside of wedlock were accused of consorting with Incubi.  It may be stated here that the famous late-fifteenth century German handbook for the prosecution of witches, put forth “the Devil, a witch, and the permission of Almighty God”, as “the three necessary concomitants of witchcraft”

The men accused of witchcraft were tortured until they confessed to having sex with Demons, among other Demonic crimes.  In a grave travesty of justice, we have the classic case of Father Urbain Grandier who during the Witch Trials of 1634 in France was falsely accused of casting spells and inflicting mass demonic possession on the Ursuline nuns of Loudon. Despite the very gruesome tortures that included the smashing of both his legs till the marrow oozed out of the bones, Grandier did not confess as he laboured under the belief that he would be exonerated.  Grandier was convicted of practising witchcraft,  summoning evil spirits, and causing demonic possession of the Ursuline nuns of Loudun. Of course, later on, it was found that the entire case had been concocted by his rivals including a Bishop, a Cardinal and a Baron as well as Mother Superior who produced a forged Devil Pact to get even with Grandier for having spurned her offer of a Confessor at the Convent and thus shattering her dreams of having sex with him.  But the damage had been done! Grandier was burnt alive at the stake for the alleged offences. Ironically, even after this,  the 12 Ursuline nuns who had given depositions at the trial continued to show signs of demonic possession by contorting their bodies, lifting their skirts and begging for sexual relief in a language that “would have astonished the inmates of the lowest brothel in the country.” 

 Ludovico Maria Sinistrari (d.1701 C.E.) in Demonioality: Incubi-Succubi is not dismissive of their salvation. He advances the theological argument that these minor demons have souls, and can be saved from damnation. He distinguishes them from the more vulgar type that tends to possess humans in terrifying displays.  Here he cites the views of saints, scholars and churchmen and their descriptions of a world filled with beings able to assume human shapes in order to haunt and taunt their mortal victims.  Repeated intercourse with these demons theoretically causes insanity and extraordinarily ill-health.

Down the centuries many such encounters have been recorded involving various individuals.  Even in the modern world, there have been encounters between these demons and humans.  Some Hollywood actresses have gone on record to state their experiences, their encounters with these spirits.  The truth is, Lucy Liu, Anna Nicole Smith, Natasha Blasick, Kesha, and even porn stars have all publicly admitted to ongoing sexual relations with amorous spirits though they term it Spectrophilia.

When asked why, the answer is always the same: sex with these spirits is ridiculously pleasurable, as they have the ability to manipulate our bodies in ways that a human may not be able to.  

To Continue...

NASIR ALI

PART 9 OF JINN OF THE UNSEEN WORLD, EXPLORING SOME BASICS...

From the Desk of a Layman, Nasir Ali:

JINN OF THE UNSEEN WORLD, EXPLORING SOME BASICS, PART 9.

Speaking of Ghouls, one must willy-nilly turn to ALF LAYL WA LAYL or THE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS which is one of the great books on fiction which fired the imagination of the readers down the centuries in the orient and the occident.   These stories are anonymous and have their roots in an oral culture, passed down from one generation to the next.  The most ancient testimony to the existence of a collection of tales bearing this title is given by Masʿūdī (d. 345/956; see Morūǰ IV, p. 90; ed. Pellat, sec. 1416). He refers to work full of untrue stories translated from Persian, Sanskrit, and Greek, including the “book entitled Hazār afsāna, or the thousand tales, because a tale is called in Persian afsāna. Moreover, the names of the protagonists also suggest Persian origin.  This volume is known to the public under the title "One Thousand and One Nights."  

The French scholar Antoine Galland  [ɑ̃twan ɡalɑ̃]  (1646-1715)  found the Arabic original and translated it into French as Les Mille et Une Nuits.  His version of the tales was published in 12 volumes between the years 1704-1717 and thus it was he who introduced The Nights to Europe.  Despite the interpolations and loose translation, Galland's work was a raging success.      Translations of Galland's into English, Italian, Russian and other languages soon followed.  It exerted considerable influence on subsequent European literature and the western world in its understanding of the Middle East, inspiring the work of William Beckford, the 18th Century author of the Arabian-themed novel "Vathek,. The folkloric studies of Sabine Baring-Gould, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Addison, Johnson and Goethe were among the 18th-century writers whose work was heavily influenced by the Nights.  It even inspired painters, musicians, poets, dramatists, and others. .  

The tales in the collection of Galland and in more complete editions discovered since his time are chiefly Persian, Indian, and Arabian in source, and in ultimate origin come from all the ends of the earth. No two manuscripts have precisely the same contents, and some of the most famous of the tales here printed are probably not properly to be regarded as belonging to the collection but owe their association with the others to their having been included by Galland. Thus “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” is found in no Oriental version of the “Nights,” and “‘Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp” was long supposed to be in the same situation, though in recent years it has turned up in two manuscripts.  Contrary to popular assumptions, Galland did not concoct the "Story of Sidi Nouman". He collected it (and composed it up) from a Syriac-Christian storyteller named Hanna Diab, who moreover gave him  "Aladdin" and "Ali-Baba". Consequently "Sidi Nouman" is at least 300 years old and from a truly mid-eastern source (Hanna Diab). It won't be easy to find mid-eastern tales on ghouls older and more authentic than the tale of Sidi Nouman.  The tales of  Aladdin and the Enchanted Lamp, The Seven Voyages of  Sindbad the Sailor and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves are the most popular of the lot and have even been turned into children’s films and cartoons.

Edward William Lane translated The Thousand and One Night directly from  Arabic into English and published it in three volumes in 1839-41.  Lane was prudish in his interpretation of the Nights as he expunged stories and occurrences that smacked off sexual content.  His abundant endnotes furthered his didactic aims.    On the other hand, Sir Richard Burton produced his English translation from Arabic in 10 books accompanying six supplementary books (1885-8), he retained the sexual settings,  using copious notes on matters of bestiality, homosexuality and emasculation. Though his unexpurgated 16-volume edition was highly praised by some critics for his exceptional literary skill, robustness and honesty, some other critics attacked his Nights as “garbage of the brothels,” and “an appalling collection of degrading customs and statistics of vice.”

It is said that the Nights still carries with it a certain mystique and awe with it as well, as there is a Middle Eastern superstition that no one can read the last of the Nights without falling dead.  

Now, One thousand and one nights tell the tales of fictional Scheherazade, (Shahrzad) narrated to King Shahriyar (Shahryar) who used to kill his virgin bride in the morning after having consummated his marriage during the first night.  This killing spree went on daily for three years till his Vizier could no more find a virgin bride in the kingdom and was compelled to give his own daughter, Scheherazade, in marriage to the king.  Of course, the reluctant Vizier was advised to take this step by Scheherazade herself who was confident of surviving the ordeal.  Scheherazade's self-confidence was not misplaced:  In Sir Richard F. Burton's translation of The Nights: she was described in this way: "[Scheherazade] had perused the books, annals and legends of preceding Kings, and the stories, examples and instances of bygone men and things; indeed it was said that she had collected a thousand books of histories relating to antique races and departed rulers. She had perused the works of the poets and knew them by heart; she had studied philosophy and the sciences, arts and accomplishments; and she was pleasant and polite, wise and witty, well-read and well-bred."

When Scheherazade and the King are in bed and he wants to get into her she starts to weep. He asks what is wrong. She says she would like to see her sister before she sees the dawn. Dunyazad (Dīnārzād)  is brought and the King removes the bride’s maidenhead. But at midnight Dunyazad, who has been secretly coached before, asks for a story. Scheherazade is willing to tell her if the King consents, which he does. She makes the king honour-bound to a certain condition that he could kill her in the morning only after she has finished 

relating a story to him at night.  And so the first night of the Thousand Nights and a Night begins.  

Scheherazade narrates tales from within her own tale, but within her tales, characters also tell tales, and within those tales of characters are their characters telling tales.  When morning overtakes the completion of the tale, Scheherazade lapses into silence and the story remains incomplete.  Then Dunyazad exclaims, “Sister, what a strange and entertaining story!”  Scheherazade replies, “This is nothing compared with what I shall tell you tomorrow night if only the king spares my life!”  The king was honour-bound to stay her execution until such time as Scheherazade had completed her story.  The following night when Scheherazade finishes the previous story she then begins a second and more exciting tale.   At the first streak of dawn, she again stops halfway through the story.  As instructed, in the story cycle, it is Dunyazad who initiates the tactic of cliffhanger storytelling to prevent her sister's execution by Shahriyar.  Once again, the king spares her life for one more day so Scheherazade can finish the story.  She never does, for completion of the story would signal the end of her life!  Thus, the nightly tales, also known as The Arabian Nights, go on and on as she weaves a deep narrative, forming links of rich tapestries of old legends and parables, the fantastic and the trivial.  There are palaces in the sky, Jinnis, giant birds, and speaking fish.  When the stories speak of the mighty, they do not leave out the mundane.  When spiritual love is mentioned, sexual pleasures are not avoided.  She entertains the ruler with love stories and erotica, tragedies, comedies, poems, riddles, songs, historical tales, injustice against women,  humour, numerology, occult magic, deceit and vengeance.  This labyrinth of tales entertains us, sometimes instructs us, and sometimes poses a challenge or a chastisement.  The fact is that many fantastic and delightful elements fill its pages as well against the backdrops of not only Baghdad, Basrah, Cairo, and Damascus, but also North Africa, China, Greece, Turkey and India.  The Nights echoes also the similarities of the two societies of jinn and humans in many stories.  Starting from the 271 night and ending on 282 night in the Syrian manuscript (now lost) is the story of Qamar al-Zaman, though it is found in the Egyptian recension of the Nights.  The story of Qamar and Budur is portrayed through various stages of adventures, including their marriage, culminating in years of pain and separation thanks to the interventions of jinniyah Maymuna and Ifrit Dahshan.  

Scheherazade tells the stories each night to create her life anew each night.  After 1001 nights and 1000 enthralling stories, Scheherazade tells the king that she has no more tales to tell him.  By this time the king has already fallen in love with her, and become wiser, with his faith in womanhood restored.  What’s more, Scheherazade has borne him three sons.  Shahriyar deems it fit to make her his Queen.  

Now, why did Shahriyar behave in the manner he did before his meeting with Scheherazade who cured his morbid cruelty, makes for an interesting background which does not figure in the Tales:  Shah Zaman and Shahriyar are brothers and rulers in their particular kingdoms. After a space of twenty long years, the brothers wish to see each other. Shah Zaman, planning to take off but overlooking something at the royal residence, returns to discover his spouse ‘embracing with both arms a dark cook of detestable angle and foul with kitchen oil and grime'. "If such case happens while I am yet within sight of the city what will be the doings of this damned whore during my long absence at my brother's court?"  Shah Zaman draws his scimitar and, cutting the two in four pieces with a single blow, leaves them on the carpet… Arriving at his brother Shahriyar’s house, he falls sick with grief.  Eventually, after his brother leaves for hunting,  Shah Zaman sees his sister-in-law and slaves there having sex as well.  His sister-in-law calls out a title and after that springs with a drop-leap from one of the trees a huge drooling blackamoor with rolling eyes which showed the whites, a genuinely ghastly sight. He walks strongly up to her and tosses his arms around her neck whereas she grasps him as warmly. At that point, he “busses” her and winds his legs around hers, 'as a button-loop clasps a button,' and throws her and enjoys her.  Shah Zaman feels superior on seeing that his brother has more issues than he. Shahriyar inquires after Shah Zaman’s progressed well-being and extracts the secret from him. In secret, they observe the intercourses happen once more after they have faked another hunting trip.   Losing all hope, the brothers spurn their royal residences and meander into the desert until they come to an oasis and a tree.  A column of smoke rises and they hide in the tree. The smoke takes the shape of a Jinni. The Jinni has a key that he uses to release a young lady from a ‘box of seven chains.’

The Jinni copulates with her and falls asleep.  Presently she raises her head toward the treetop and sees the two Kings perched near the summit.  She beckons them to come down, threatening them otherwise to wake up the Ifrit.   So, being afraid, they come down to her, and "she rose before them and said, 'Stroke me a strong stroke, without stay or delay, otherwise will I arouse and set upon you this Ifrit, who shall slay you straightaway.'"  They hesitate but in the long run, succumb to the young lady's demands as the Jinni sleeps. Then the young lady tells them that she was abducted on her wedding night and the Jinni keeps her beneath the sea. The young lady inquires about their seal rings, and she includes them as ‘a jewellery of five hundred and seventy seal rings' belonging to the other men she has loved without the Jinni knowing.  She bids them farewell saying, "But I have lain under as many of my kind as I please, and this wretched Jinni wotteth, not that Destiny may not be averted nor hindered by aught, and that whatso woman willeth, the same she fulfilleth however man nilleth."  The kings decide that if a powerful Jinni can be made a cuckold (and indeed he is described as having mighty horns) then their lot is not so bad, and they decide to go home.  When Shahriar enters his palace, he causes his wife’s head to be cut off at the neck, and in the same way the heads of the slaves, both men and women. Then the embittered misogynist orders the Vizier to bring him a young virgin girl every night, whom he ravishes and, when the night has passed, causes her to be slain the very next morning so that she will not have the opportunity to bring dishonour upon him.

Ghouls were largely unknown to Europe, and it was not until Antoine Galland translated the Arabian Nights into French that the western idea of the ghoul was introduced.  The writings were corrupted because of Galland’s free translation of the Nights.  In truth, he is thought to have made a few characters and included them in stories that were not initially part of the work.  One of these characters was Amina, who figures in the story featuring the ghoul.  This is a story within a story which is narrated by Sidi Nouman to Caliph Haroun Rashid:  Sidi-Nouman is happy with his new wife, Amina, except for one thing: her strange way of eating just a few grains of rice at each meal. One night, hearing her slip out of the house, Sidi-Nouman follows her to a cemetery and hides behind a wall.  He sees his wife devouring a corpse in the company of a ghoul.  When he confronts her, Sidi-Nouman becomes the victim of her magic and is changed into a dog.  Sidi-Nouman is now living the life of a dog.   He roams the streets until a baker takes him in. One day a lady comes in with fake money to buy bread and again Sidi-Nouman points out the bad money.  The baker is astonished by the dog's talent.  Another lady comes in with fake money and Sidi-Nouman points it out, but this time the lady takes the fake money back and pays it with real money. The lady then signals the dog to follow her. So he does. The lady takes Sidi-Nouman to her daughter.  The daughter says that she knows his real identity as he is actually a man inside a dog's body.  She turns Sidi-Nouman back into a human.  The lady’s daughter then gives Sidi-Nouman some water and tells him to return home.  She also instructs him to recite a

mantra on the water and then sprinkle the water on his wife.  Sidi-Nouman does everything the lady´s daughter says.  Once he does it his wife is transformed into a horse.  It was on seeing this horse being beaten most severely by Sidi-Nouman that the Caliph Haroun al-Rashid wanted to know the reason for such cruelty.  It was then that the above tale was narrated before him.  

The other ghoul in Galland's text is also a female, and the mother of a brood of little ghouls as found in the tale of The Vizier who was Punished.  Shortly stated, there was once upon a time a king who had a son who was very fond of hunting. He often allowed him to indulge in this pastime, but he had ordered his grand-vizier always to go with him, and never to lose sight of him.  To come to the point, one day the prince rode so hard while chasing a stag he lost his way back, with the grand-vizier nowhere in sight.  He chanced upon a beautiful lady who was bitterly crying.  She said she was an Indian princess and in the state of sleep, she had fallen off a horse.  The prince took pity on her and offered to take her behind him on the horse.  As they passed by a dilapidated building the lady dismounted and went in.     The prince also dismounted and followed her. To his great surprise, he heard her saying to someone inside, "Rejoice my children. I am bringing you a nice fat youth." And other voices replied, "Where is he, mamma, that we may eat him at once, as we are very hungry?"  The prince at once saw the danger he was in. He now knew that the lady was in fact a female ghoul who lured passersby and made a meal of them.  He was terrified and threw himself on his horse.  The fake princess appeared at this moment, and seeing that she had lost her prey, she said to him, "Do not be afraid. What do you want?"   "I am lost," he answered, "and I am looking for the road."  "Keep straight on," said the female ghoul, "and you will find it."  The prince could hardly believe his ears and rode off as hard as he could. He found his way and arrived safe and sound at his father's house, where he told him of the danger he had run into because of the grand vizier's carelessness. The king was very angry and had him strangled immediately. This brief story continues the longer legend of King Yunan and the Sage Duban, which is narrated by the Fisherman to the Jinni which story is narrated by Scheherazade to Shahriyar. 

The History of Gharib and His Brother Agib is one of the original stories in ‘The Thousand and One Nights’ that highlights ghouls that remained unaltered by Antoine Galland.  Gharib is sent on an errand to get the hand of  Mahdiyyaa in marriage. On the way, he faces the Sa’dan the Ghoul – the master of a castle.  In order to continue with his quest, he must overcome him.   He vanquishes the Ghoul and his sons who accept Islam at his hand.

Literature on the ghouls is too vast to be discussed here.   In spite of the fact that ghouls were now and then related to rummaging hyenas, Arabic writings did not recognize them as grave raiders who feasted on the dead.  According to Researcher, Ahmed Al-Rawi, this detail appears to have risen with the French translation of "The Thousand and One Nights" by Antoine Galland within the early 18th century.  In short, tales of the ghoul circulated throughout the Middle East long before the seventh-century spread of Islam through the region. In fact, the Arabic ghul may stem from gallu, the name of an Akkadian demon in ancient Mesopotamian mythology [source: Al-Rawi]. Arabic scholars of the eighth, ninth and 10th centuries compiled various Bedouin folktales involving ghouls, many of which found their way into the collection "The Thousand and One Nights." Translations of this book travelled to Europe in the 18th century -- as did the notion of the ghoul. Such creative stories from the Middle East and surroundings, that date back past the medieval period have regularly highlighted ghouls as violators of the graves.  Baring-Gould depicts the scene: On a moonlit night, odd shapes are seen stealing among the tombs and digging into them with their long nails in order to reach the bodies of the dead before daybreak when they relinquish their cravings. These ghouls are mainly thought to require the flesh of the dead for magical spells and incantations.  More often though, they desire to disturb the repose of the dead body by just tearing into it.

European depictions of ghouls show that since ghouls are able to acquire the shape of any human whose flesh they have eaten, those who are cautious to conceal their eating propensities can work in human society. Indeed in the event that they are caught, ghouls are mistakenly taken for human cannibals. Their true nature is revealed when they are denied human flesh.  In addition to being pale, these progressed ghouls are shown to have in fact more unmistakable shapeshifting capacities than the early ghouls. It has been suggested that these ghouls can also get to the memories of the person they have eaten up by eating their brain so that it reasonably allows them to blend into society without being found out. Ghouls tend to live in limited zones that are isolated from human society.

Some people who are acquainted with the traditions believe that offspring of this interbreeding between a ghoul and a human occurs only if a human has been buried alive or detained in a tomb for at slightest 24 hours prior to mating. It isn't known if there's any truth to this superstition.  In the extremely popular anime Tokyo Ghoul and the sequel series Tokyo Ghoul, ghouls live among humans and are seen as carnivorous monsters that resemble humans in every way, except for an extreme craving for human flesh and a predatory organ weapon called a "Kagune" unique to each ghoul with special abilities.

 Ghouls can move faster than humans on all fours or on their feet.  Despite their immense speed and massive strength, the Ghouls have a couple of weaknesses that are: decapitation, fire, and concentrated acid. With decapitation, which involves the whole elimination of their head, is rather fatal, while any exposure to concentrated acid would cause the death of a Ghoul.  Fire can kill them if it is sufficiently hot to burn them to a crisp. Since Ghouls have very sensitive eyes, exposure to light can cause them pain. 

To sum up the Ghouls, Professor Rawi says:  “According to Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ), ghouls can hurt human beings by eating or spoiling their food or by frightening travellers when they are in the wilderness.  In order to avoid harm, one can recite a verse from the Holy Quran or call for prayer since they hate any reference to God.  Ismâ‘īl bin ‘Umar Abū al-Fidâ’ (?- c. 1372)* mentioned in Tafsīr Ibn Kathīr that ghouls were the ‘demons of genies’, and cited the following famous incident:  According to a prophetic tradition when the Prophet (Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam)  met his companion Abū Dharr in a mosque, the Prophet advised Abū Dharr to pray in order to be saved from the mischief of the devils of humans and genies. Abū Dharr was surprised to hear the Prophet confirmed the existence of creatures such as these, which the Prophet identified as ghouls.  In brief, Islam tried to direct the people's way of thinking to the one omnipresent God as the creator and mover of all things and did not acknowledge that there were other forces involved in controlling the universe.” 

*(1300-1372)

To Continue...

NASIR ALI.

JINN OF THE UNSEEN WORLD - EXPLORING SOME BASICS, PART 6.

From the Desk of Layman, Nasir Ali:

JINN OF THE UNSEEN WORLD, EXPLORING SOME BASICS, PART 6:

As we noted before, Abu Tha`labah al-Khushni says that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) says: “The jinn are of three types: a type that has wings and they fly through the air; a type that looks like snakes and dogs; and a type that stops for a rest then resumes its journey.” (Reported by At-Tahawi in Mushkil Al-’Athar).

Let us now dwell on one aspect where Jinn were snakes:

JINN AS SNAKES:

Serpents are the animals most associated with Jinn. In Islamic tradition, many narratives concern a serpent who was actually a jinni. The term Jann refers to both a snake and a jinni. The Holy Qur’an uses the same word variously translated as snake and Jinn, according to context:

The connection between Jinn and serpents is strong enough, that those who believe in Jinn fear killing a serpent since a jinni might avenge the murder.  Also, some sources speak of killed jinni leaving a carcass similar to either a serpent or a scorpion behind. Both scorpions and serpents have been venerated in the ancient Near East. Additionally,  serpents and other chthonic animals such as scorpions and lizards are regarded as usual forms of Jinn.

According to one early Islamic tradition Jinn can take the forms of snakes and show up in front of humans. It is for this reason that the Prophet (Sallallaahu ‘Alayhi Wasallam) has forbidden the killing of the snakes discovered in the houses, out of concern that they might be Jinn that have embraced Islam. It is recorded in Sahih Muslim on the authority of Abu Saeed al-Khudri ® that the Prophet (Sallallaahu ‘Alayhi Wasallam) said, “A group of Jinn in Madinah has embraced Islam. So he who sees any one of them should warn it three times. And if it still appears after that, it should be killed, for it must be a devil (evil jinni).”

Imam Nawawi said: What this means is that if they do not disappear after being warned, then they are not the kind of creatures that inhabit houses and they are not among the Jinn who have become Muslims, rather they are devils so there is no sin on you if you kill them and Allah will never give the Shaytaan a way to prevail over you by taking revenge, unlike the creatures (snakes) and Jinn who have become Muslims. And Allah knows best. [Sharh Muslim]

Muslim has recorded it in his Sahih that Abu al-Saib ® went to Abu Saeed’s ® house and found him praying.  Abu al-Saib was waiting for him to finish his prayer when he heard some rumbling in the bundles of wood that were lying in the corner of the house. He looked and he found it was a snake. He was about to kill it when Abu Sa’eed ® gestured to him to sit down. After the prayer, Abu Sa’eed ® pointed to a room and he said, “Do you see this room? “Yes,” answered al-Saib ®.

Abu Sa’eed ® said: “There was once a man who was newly-wed and we

had gone to participate with Nabi (Sal Allahu ‘Alayhi Wasallam) in the Battle of the Trench. He used to ask the Prophet’s permission to go to his wife and the Prophet (Sal Allaahu ‘Alayhi Wasallam) cautioned him to take along his weapons for he feared [an attack from behind by] the Quraidha tribe. The man took his weapons and when he returned to his family he found his wife standing between the doors of the apartment. He was enraged by jealousy and took a stab at her with his spear. She told him to keep his spear away and to enter the house to see what had made her go outside. He entered and found a big snake on the bed. He struck it with his spear and pierced it. He was bent upon taking it outside, but the snake had enough strength to bite him. No one knows who died first from that incident, the snake or the man. The people made a mention of this incident to Nabi (Sallallahu ‘Alayhi Wasallam) asking him to ask Allah to bring that man back to life. Instead, the Prophet (Sallallahu ‘Alayhi Wasallam) said, “Ask forgiveness for our companion. Prophet (Sallallahu ‘Alayhi Wasallam) said, ‘Verily in Madinah, there are Jinn who have accepted Islam,  So if you see any of them, ask them to leave over a period of three days, but if one appears after that, kill it for verily it is a devil.’  In another narration collected by Imam Muslim, the Prophet (Sallallahu ‘Alayhi Wasallam) is reported to have said, ‘Verily these houses have snakes, so if you see any of them, ask it to leave three times. If it leaves, fine, otherwise kill it, for surely it is a disbeliever.’ Then he said, ‘Go and bury your comrade.’ ”

There is one type of snake that is found in the house which we have been given special permission to kill without first requesting it to leave. In Sahih Bukhari, it is recorded from Abu Lubaba that the Prophet (Sallallahu ‘Alayhi Wasallam) said, “Do not kill the Jinn, except every one with two streaks on the back, for they cause miscarriages and take away the eyesight. Therefore, kill them.”

Islamic scholars explain:  The snake mentioned in the hadith is a poisonous one. When it bites a human being, its poison causes blindness and abortion.  The fright and horror one experiences and the effect of the evil eye of this snake while gazing affects human beings so severely that it causes blindness and abortion. Prophet Muhammad (Sal Allahu Alayhi Wasallam) NEVER said to keep poisonous snakes for three days! 

Aisha(R) narrated: The Prophet (Sal Allahu Alayhi Wasallam) said, “Five animals are harmful and are lawful to kill while in a state of pilgrimage or otherwise: a snake, a speckled crow, a rat, a biting dog, and a kite.”  (Sahih Muslim)

As is evident in the hadith of Abu Huraira, (may Allah be pleased with him), where he said: "The Messenger of Allah (Sal Allahu Alayhi Wasallam) said: Kill the two black

things while in prayer: the snake and scorpion." (Sunan Abu Dawood, number 921, and Sahih Sunan Abu Dawood 814.)

AISHA ® KILLS A JINN BY MISTAKE:

Aisha ® the wife of the Holy Prophet (Sal Allahu Alayhi Wasallam), found a snake in her house and had it killed.  When she fell asleep she was informed in a dream: “You have killed Abdullah the Muslim.”

She replied, “Had he been a Muslim he wouldn’t have been sneaking and peeping at the wives of the Prophet (Sal Allahu Alayhi Wasallam).

“He wouldn’t have looked until you put on your clothes.  He was there only to listen to the recital of the Qur’an.  He was one of those who had listened to the recital of the Prophet (Sal Allahu Alayhi Wasallam).

She ordered twelve thousand dinars be distributed to the poor.  She also had someone sent to Yemen to purchase forty slaves on her behalf and freed them.

It may be noted that such “Blood Money” or compensation is one way of a settlement that obviates the need for a prolonged court proceeding.

This tradition has also been cited in detail by historian and Muhhadith Imam Adh-Dhahabi, in his Siyar A’lam al-Nubala (The Lives of Noble Figures).   

AMRAH BINT ABDUR-RAHMAN (R) & THE SNAKE:

Born during the era of the third Caliph 'Uthman ibn Affan around 29 AH, Amrah bint Abdur-Rahman was brought in the household of Lady A'ishah (Mother of the Believers) from whom she learned the Prophetic Hadith and fiqh and became one of the greatest scholars of all time.  Amrah bint Abdul Rahman belonged to the Tabi’een generation. A party of men went to offer their condolences to her.  As the party was sitting, they heard a stunning noise.  It all happened very quickly.  A gigantic black snake, like a tree trunk, had fallen near Amrah.  She fainted.  It was now a Jew moving towards her.  Suddenly, a white leaf came down from the ceiling. On it was written: Stay away from the daughters of virtuous and useful people.  When he looked at the message he kept rising in the air till he left the house, in the same way as he had come.  (Shibli:117)   

'AMR AL-JINNI:

The tale of ‘Amr al-Jinnī, may God have mercy on him, is a well-known one: he died in the form of a snake in a whirlwind that was seen and it dispersed over him as he lay dying. It was not long before he died. He was a jinni and a righteous servant. 

‘AMR IBN AL-JUMANA:

The death of ‘Amr ibn al-Jumana from Nusaybeen in a snake duel against the Christian jinni named Muhassan ibn Jawshan was attested by the Holy Prophet (Sal Allahu Alayhi Wasallam) himself.  The snake was buried by one Hatib ibn Balta’a who was on his way to seeing Prophet (Sal Allahu Alayhi Wasallam) when he saw the fight.  Incidentally, while revealing the identity of the dead jinni, Prophet (Sal Allahu Alayhi Wasallam) said he had seen Nusaybeen as it was raised to him by Archangel Gabriel to let him see it, upon which he prayed to God Almighty to bless its river, to make its water pure, bless its plants, and bless it with abundant rainfalls.  

 DEATH OF AN UNKNOWN JINNI:

According to Ibn Abil Donya, a man entered the sitting room of Caliph Othman ibn ‘Affan and sought permission to recount an amazing feat he had witnessed.  According to that man, he was in an arid area when he saw two giant snakes coming towards each other and engaging in a fight, then disengaging.  When they left, the man went to the place where the snakes had been fighting each other. He found the soil littered with as many snakes as he had never seen before.  Some of them were exuding a smell of musk.  In their midst, he found a dead but very beautiful snake with very refined features.  The man bent over the dead snake for a closer look and then went about searching left and right among the dead snakes to see if there were more like it, but there was none as beautiful.  Deducing that it was special and that there was something good about it, he took off his bonnet, wrapped the snake in it, and buried it.  As he was leaving the place, he heard someone invisible calling out to him,

“O Abdullah, what is it that you have done?” 

The man told the invisible caller what he had seen and done. 

“You have done the right thing,” said the invisible caller.  “Those were two snake-like parties of jinnis from the tribes of Bani Shaysan and Bani Qays.  They met and killed each other.  Among them was the martyr you have just buried.  He was one of those who had listened to the Divine inspiration of the Prophet (Sal Allahu Alayhi Wasallam)”.

Besides Ibn Abil Donya, the above story is also mentioned by the historian al-Tabari.

TRIAL OF SHAH WALIULLAH:

According to a popular belief in India, Shah Waliullah once killed a jinn that had approached him in the form of a snake. Shah Waliullah was taken to the court of the jinn and was in the process of being sentenced when an ancient Muslim jinni – a ‘jinni companion’ of the Prophet and convert to Islam more than a millennium earlier – intervened in the proceeding. This jinn said that he had heard the Prophet himself declare that if anyone takes the form of another creature and is killed, then the killing is forgiven, blood money need not be paid and the killer cannot be punished.

The Story of 'Umar ibn Abdul Aziz and the Snake:

While walking in a desert, the pious Umayyad caliph, 'Umar ibn Abdul Aziz (R), found a dead snake.  He covered it in a scrap of cloth for burial.  This snake was actually a jinn who like 'Amr was among the early accepters of Islam. As stated by al-Damiri, when 'Umar had completed the burial, he heard a voice (of an invisible jinn) telling him that the one who had perished was named Sariq. It also informed him that when Sariq was alive, Prophet (Sal Allahu Alayhi Wasallam) had told Sariq: ‘You will die in a waterless land and a devout man will shroud you and bury you.’ The speaker said out of the nine Jinn, he and Sariq had been the last two who had survived.  This meant that the voice belonged to 'Amr ibn Jabir al-Jinni.

DEATH OF THE LAST JINN:

The last of the party of Jinn who had listened to the Qur’an is said to have died on the hands of one ‘Ali Abu Raja’e al-‘Ataredi.  He recounted that he had been travelling with his folk. When they reached the waterfront they halted for some time.  He went to relieve himself.  There he spotted an ailing white snake who was trying to hide.  Moved with compassion at the plight of the snake, he sprinkled some water on it which seemed to give it some relief.  When the time came for resuming the trip, Ali asked the leader to wait a while since he knew what the snake was heading for.  In fact, soon after the early morning prayer, the snake passed away.  Ali took a white piece of material from his baggage, washed the snake, and enrolled it in the said winding-sheet.  Thereafter he dug the earth and buried it.

Thereafter, travelling for the rest of the day and night till reaching another water source the group set up tents.  Ali went to relieve himself when he heard a voice saying, “Salamun ‘Alaykum,” not only once, twice, ten times, a hundred times, even a thousand times or more.

“Who are you?” asked Ali.

“We are the Jinn.  God bless you for what you have done for us.  We shall never be able to reward you.”

“And what have I done?” asked Ali astonishingly.               

“The snake you buried was “Amr” the last of the Jinn who had sworn allegiance to Prophet (Sal Allahu Alayhi Wasallam).

CAIRO'S GUARDIAN SNAKE:

It was believed in Egypt that each quarter of the city of Cairo has its peculiar guardian-genius or Noble Spirit which has the form of a serpent.  Now, in the 17th Century there lived a holy man known as Shaykh al-Haridi.  It was believed that after his death he had returned in the form of a large snake, making it uncertain for the people to know whether he was originally a good jinni who first took the form of man and later that of a snake, or in fact was a genuine human being, and who after his death was transformed into a snake. All that they could be ascertained was that it was al-Haridi himself who lived in the crevice of rocks as a serpent near this holy man’s shrine on the east bank of 

 The Nile near the Tahta city in Upper Egypt.  One Muslim legend said he was a pious jinni, i.e. jinni Salih, who had met the Holy Prophet (Sal Allahu Alayhi Wasallam) and sought his intercession to enter the Jannah or Paradise.  In his lifetime, the Shaykh gained fame as a Healer.  Even after his death and transformation into a snake, miraculous cures were attributed to him.  In cases of barren women and those who lost their sense, and victims of stroke, al-Haridi’s Baraka or blessings were invoked. The Coptic Christians, on the other hand, did not deny the miracles but considered him to be a demon king. The fame of the serpent-saint has lasted through all the political and other changes which have passed over Egypt since the days of Sieur Lucas. Norden, the Dane,  sailed up the Nile in 1737.  Passing from the eighteenth to the nineteenth century, we find that the belief in the miraculous powers of the serpent-saint in no way diminished.  The local customs see to it that the shrine is still considered a place of pilgrimage.  

This folk belief survives in modern Egypt, too, although undercover: each of Cairo’s quarters allegedly possesses its own snake-shaped guardian spirit, its own Agathodemon. 

A Serpent-Jinni Helps Abu Zayd (Arab/Western Sahara):

In the Sahara and adjoining African regions, serpents and jinn are the common denizens of water points, caves, tree roots, low-lying thickets, and groves, and both beings are often confused as common protectors of hidden treasures.

As the poet Abu Zayd Muhammad (Abu) ‘l-Khattab al-Qurashi accompanied a party of riders on a journey, they saw a great snake (Shuja') dying because of the heat. They told Abu to kill it, but he allowed it to live. He cooled the snake with water from his waterskin, and it slid away to its lair. The party continued its journey and accomplished its aims. When they returned, they passed that same river valley where the serpent lived. Abu was delayed because his camel was tired. Alone in the strange place, he was afraid, but he heard the voice of a friendly jinni. It gave him a fresh camel so that he could continue his journey. When he got home, he gratefully released the second camel. Then he heard the jinni's voice, telling him that it was the serpent that he had befriended in its agony and that the camel which had brought him to safety had been his reward. Within the haunted deserts and thickets of the Sahara and Arabia, the serpent was both a friend and a foe to man; in its form was the supernatural, always prepared to help or to hurt mankind, depending on the nature of the jinni, or the intentions of its human confronter. Hausa call them aljannu, iskoki, ibilisai.  (Mentioned in Oxford References – A Dictionary of African Mythology)

To continue...

NASIR ALI. 

JINN OF THE UNSEEN WORLD, EXPLORING SOME BASICS, PART 5:

 From the Desk of a Layman: Nasir Ali.

JINN OF THE UNSEEN WORLD, PART 5:

NATURE AND TYPES OF JINN:  

 Generally, the administrative and social systems of the Jinn are almost akin to those of human beings.  They have kings, courts, armies, and social functions.   It is said that originally the Jinn were concentrated into twelve tribes that later on were sub-divided into many.  Often they are in a state of war and often they conclude treaties in order to avoid conflicts.   They have communities consisting of their families and clans and are ruled by kings. They play, sleep, and have their own pet animals, especially dogs. The riding beasts of jinn include gazelles, jackals, foxes, hedgehogs, and ostriches.  The Jinn husband their own animals. 

The Jinn eat and drink, have weddings and mournings, produce children and die.  They love to sit in places between the shade and the sunlight and move around when the dark first falls. Since they take rest, and in view of a prophetic tradition that Shayateen do not sleep during mid-day, it can be safely deduced that they sleep too!  The Jinn may remain invisible but may also assume a physical shape before a human being.  Apart from the Jinn who follow Islam, the other Jinn follow the religion of their own choice such as Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Paganism, Judaism, etc.  As we noted before, some are good, some are evil, and some, are ambivalent.  They are subject to rewards or punishments by Allah (swt) on the Day of Judgment.

THEIR LIFESPAN:

Their lifespan is much longer than that of humans.  According to a tradition, all the Shayateen are the seeds of Iblis.  There were some of them who had faith, such as Hāma b. al-Hām b. Lāqīs b. Iblīs, who is known as a believing jinn as we noted before.  Allah has given respite to Iblis till the Day of Judgment and many other evil Jinn are to survive mankind but they are to die before the general Resurrection.  Other Jinn die before him though they may live many centuries.  However, many of the evil Jinn are killed by the shooting stars, hurled at them from heaven.  When the Arabs witness a shooting star (shiháb), they often exclaim, ‘May God transfix the enemy of the faith!’ 

MARRIAGE: 

There are both male Jinni and female Jinniya and they do get married.   Ibn al-Arabi states in Fatuhat al-Makkiya [435]: The union of marriage between them is a spiral, as when smoke comes out of a potter’s kiln or a kitchen oven; that is how one enters the other and they satisfy each other in this coupling. They find each other like the pollen from the palm tree, solely by smell, as happens with their food. He further states: Procreation amongst jinn involves air being projected into the female womb so that the conception and reproduction of the jinn take place.  For every human child, one thousand children are born among the jinn (Tūsī, p. 484)!   However, Sayyidunā ‘Amr Bikālī رَضِىَ اللهُ تَعَالٰی عَـنْهُ has stated, ‘Whenever a human is born, nine jinns are also born.’ (Jāmi’-ul-Bayān, vol. 9, pp. 85, Ḥadīš 24803).  The jinn require the services of human midwives, and it is said that every midwife must help deliver a jinn child for every one hundred human children she delivers. The midwife is taken to the jinn mother blindfolded, and after the conclusion of her duties, she is given a handful of onion skins as payment. If she places them under a rug and keeps her experiences with the jinn a secret, then every morning she will find a gold coin under her rug. If not, her payment will stay onion skins [Massé-1886-1963].

By the way, there have been some cases where human beings inadvertently found themselves at the wedding of Jinnis.  One such case is of Noura.  Noura Al-Tukaka was a famous Kuwaiti folk singer who gained great fame in

the mid-nineties for her performances at numerous weddings in many Arab Gulf countries.  Her band consisted of six people who became famous for their popular songs.  However, she disappeared from the music scene all of a sudden.  In an interview she claimed that unknown to her, she had been invited to a wedding in Sabahiya, Kuwait, that turned out to be a wedding reception of the Jinnis. When the band reached the venue it saw an opulent and lavish setup with the bride and bridegroom and host of guests.  During the performance, they were terrified by what they saw and experienced so much so that they realized that all was not well and made good their escape.  The place in reality turned out to be an abandoned and deserted building with no jinnis in view.  

As for the question of whether they can marry humans, we shall examine this theme later. 

THEIR FOOD AND DRINK:

The Jinn do eat and drink. Ibn Mas'ood, (may Allah be pleased with him), said: The Messenger of Allah (Sal Allahu Alayhi Wasallam) said: 

'Once the jinn called me, and I went with him and recited Quran for them.' He took me and showed me the traces of where they had been and the traces of their fires. They (his fellow jinn) asked him for food and he said: 'You can have every bone on which the name of Allah has been mentioned that comes into your possession, as meat, and all the droppings as food for your animals.' The Prophet (Sal Allahu Alayhi Wasallam) said, 'So do not use [these things] for cleaning yourselves [after relieving oneself], for they are the food and provision of your brothers. '[Muslim]

When the Prophet (Sal Allahu Alayhi Wasallam) said that bones are the food of the jinn, Ibn Mas’ūd asked him how these could be. The Prophet (Sal Allahu Alayhi Wasallam) said that they would still find the meat in the bone as if it had not been touched by humans. What the Prophet (Sal Allahu Alayhi Wasallam) means is that the taste and the odour which they need are still there in the bone.  And in another Hadīth, he said: “Surely God put in them [i.e. bones] their sustenance”. 

In fact, there are several hadiths in this regard that also mention the delegation of the Jinn of Nasibeen, and the hadiths that say Satan eats and drinks with his left hand and that we need to use our right hand.  Additionally, there are hadiths that while entering one's home and before eating one must pronounce the Tasmiyah, i.e. Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim  According to Ibn Qayyim (1292-1350 c.e.), Rahmān describes the quality of abounding Grace which is inherent in and inseparable from the Almighty, and Rahīm expresses the continuous manifestation of the Grace in our lives and its effect upon us as a result of our own activities.

Satan and his disciples happily find lodging and boarding in the home of the person who fails to utter the Tasmiyah in the given situations: 

In the Musnad Ahmad the following hadith is recorded:  If the man enters his house and mentions the name of Allah upon entering it and upon eating therein, Satan says, There is no lodging for you here and no meal here.  But if the man enters his house and neglects to mention the name of Allah upon entering it, Satan says, 'I have found lodging for you.'  And if he does not mention Allah’s name upon eating his meal, Satan says:  'I have found lodging and a meal.'  This hadith was also recorded by Muslim.  Muslim recorded in his Sahih, on the authority of Ibn Umar (R), that the Prophet (Sal Allahu Alayhi Wasallam) said:  If one of you eats, he should eat with his right hand. And if he drinks, he should drink with his right hand. Verily, Satan eats with his left hand and drinks with his left hand.

The Messenger of Allah (Sal Allahu Alayhi Wasallam) did not permit the believing Jinn to have anything on which Allah’s Name has not been mentioned as those are for the unbelieving Jinn.  

In the hadith narrated by Abd Al-Rahmān b. Abī Laylā [reported in Al-Bayhaqi’s, Al-Sunan Al-Kubrā 7:445,446],  of the man who was abducted by jinn, here is a part of the hadith:

Umar (Allāh be pleased with him) asked the man, “What was your food when you were amongst them?” He replied, “Difficult [stolen?] food, and what had not had the name of Allāh mentioned over it.” ʿUmar ® asked, “And what did you drink when you were amongst them?” He replied, 'Jadaf' (a type of drink that does not ferment).”

A slightly variant account mentions:

“Ful (brown fava beans) and anything on which the name of Allah is not mentioned”, said the man. 'What was their drink?’ 'Umar asked. He replied, ‘Jadaf.’ He also said it is ‘every vessel left uncovered’.  According to al-Damiri (1341-1405 c.e), Jadaf is the froth whipped up from the water.

Hence, it is as clear as a crystal that the texts of the above hadiths definitely prove that the devils eat and drink.  Unless people say the name Allah prior to eating, Jinn will share human food, sapping its energy, eating and drinking with their left hand as they are wont to do!

It may be noted that interestingly, orthodox Muslim communities of the subcontinent believe that Jinn come out late at night in the form of human beings and make a beeline for their dedicated shops that sell traditional sweets and Attar or fragrance.  As the late Sadia Dehelvi, whose Shama Kothi was believed to be inhabited by Jinn after midnight, mentions in her Jasmine and Jinns that Jinn love sweets and bought them from Agra's Mithai-ka-Pul. 

RESIDENCE OF JINN:

Jinn are also known to reside in valleys.  It was customary for the pagan Arabs to be afraid of them whenever they travelled, caught a game, or camped in a valley.  So in order to avoid their harm, they used to say: “we seek refuge in the master of this valley from the foolish ones of his folk” after which they felt safe. According to the following tradition, translated from al-Qazwini (1203-1283 c.e.) – “It is related by a certain narrator of traditions, that he descended into a valley with his sheep, when a wolf carried off a ewe from among them; and he arose and raised his voice, and cried ‘O inhabitant of the valley!’  Whereupon he heard a voice saying, ‘O wolf, restore to him his sheep!’  And the wolf came with the ewe, and left her, and departed.”  According to Qazwini, the same opinion was held by the modern Arabs of his time, though probably they did not use such an invocation.

Pausing here for a moment,  A question arises whether it is unjustifiable to seek the help of Jinn in view of Surah 72:6 and Surah  6:128 of the Holy Qur’an!: Now, Surah 72:6 states: And indeed (O Muhammad) individuals of humankind used to invoke the protection of individuals of the jinn, so that they increased them in revolt (against Allah).

And, Verse 128 of Surah An’am states:

“And on the Day when He will gather them (all) together (and say): ‘O you assembly of jinn! Many did you mislead of men,’ and their Awliyaa’ (friends and helpers) amongst men will say: ‘Our Lord! We benefited one from the other, but now we have reached our appointed term which You did appoint for us.’ He will say: ‘The Fire be your dwelling place, you will dwell therein forever, except as Allah may Will….”

An Islamic scholar of repute states: The correct interpretation in the Tafsirs is not “but they (jinn) increased them (mankind) in sin and transgression” but rather “but they (mankind) increased them (jinn) in sin and transgression” because the jinn imagined themselves to be very powerful when they saw human beings ask for their protection. As for the second verse, …its meaning according to al-Hasan al-Basri, as cited in Ibn Kathir, is that ‘the jinn commanded and the human beings obeyed;’ whereas the Prophetic way of getting assistance from the jinn is for the human being to command and for the jinn to obey.  It is kufr to suggest that it is unjustifiable since Sayyidina Sulaiman (upon him be peace) did it, the Prophet (upon him blessings and peace) commanded it, and exorcists in this Ummah do it every day.

To continue regarding Jinn's abode, traditionally, it is believed that the cosmic mountain of Qaf (Jabal al-Qaf) which encircles the world of humanity is the abode of jinn.  Qaf Mountain is mentioned by the famous historian Tabari who quotes in Chronicles of Tabari:  The Prophet of Islam(Sal Allahu Alayhi Wasallam) is reported to have said: “Allah created the mountain Qaf all around the Earth. It is called stake of the Earth, as it is said in the Quran, ‘And the mountains as pegs?’ This world is in the middle of the mountain of Qaf as the finger is in the middle of the ring. No man can reach there, for he needs to spend four months in the darkness..." The mountains may have a giant emerald at the summit or be comprised entirely of emerald or the greenstone peridot. Some consider it to be Paristan of the exquisite winged creature renowned for their beauty; some Jinnistan the home of the Jinn ruler Malik Gatshan and his court;  or a parallel dimension that inter-penetrates our own. 

Now, the Jinn's abode could be anywhere on the planet Earth.  They prefer to choose as their principal places of resort, or of occasional abode, places of impurity like garbage dumps, dunghills, camel pastures, the bathrooms, latrines, ovens, and wells; 

(pix: Jinnaat ki Baoli)

crumbling houses, uninhabited buildings, 

desolate places,  graveyards, market places [Muslims are warned not to be the first to enter the market or the last to leave it], inter-sections of roads, deserts, valleys, the sea, and rivers and all places "dark, dank and deep". They also can live in the houses where people live.  The Jinn also dwell in caves.  

It was narrated by al-Nasa'i, on the authority of Qatadah from Abdallah bin Sarjis that the Prophet (Sal Allahu Alayhi Wasallam) prohibited as unpleasant about urinating in a cave?" He replied: 'It is said that they are the homes of jinn.'  The Jinn also dwell in burrows and cracks in the wall.   The Holy Prophet (Sal Allahu Alayhi Wasallam) has stated, ‘None of you should urinate in a burrow.’ [Sunan Nasa'i, pp. 14, Hadith 34]

According to an Islamic scholar:  The word ‘Juhr’ used in the above Hadith either means a burrow in the ground or a crack in the wall. As poisonous animals or weak creatures such as ants, or jinns often live in the burrows, ants will face trouble by urine or water, and snakes or jinns will come out to harm us. That is why urination in such places is prohibited.  The companion Sayyiduna Sa’d Ibn ‘Ubadah Ansari (R) died in this way. He urinated in a burrow. A jinn came out and martyred him. People then heard a voice from that burrow:  "We have martyred Sa’d Bin ‘Ubadah (R) the chief of the Khazraj tribe and we struck such an arrow which has penetrated his heart. (Mirat, vol. 1, pp. 267; Mirqat, vol. 2, pp. 72; Ashi’a-ul-Lam’aat, vol. 1, pp. 220)" 

In fact, the Jinn are said to dwell in all conceivable inanimate objects such as stones and trees,  underneath the earth, in the air, and in the fire. They are also said to guard hidden treasures and lost cities.

Jabir (R) reported: I heard Allah's Messenger (Sal Allahu Alayhi Wasallam) as saying: The throne of Iblis is upon the ocean and he sends detachments (to different parts) in order to put people to trial and the most important figure in his eyes is one who is most notorious in sowing the seed of dissension. (Sahih Muslim, Hadith 5031)  Their main aim and objectives are to break and fragmentize society and gradually deviate them from the guided masses within the society. Shaytan knows very well that the family is the foundation and a vital element in maintaining a stable society as is apparent from the previous hadith (under subtitle Throne). Establishing problems in the family and creating friction between its members would be in the right direction to wreck the stability of the family. Leaving them more and more vulnerable to the dangers that face the Muslims of this day and age.

In the words of Shaykh Nazim al-Haqqani, “The Devil, no matter how many people exist on earth, hopes to turn each and every one of them into devils.”

THEIR LIFESPAN:

Their lifespan is much longer than that of humans. They live for centuries or a millennium or more.  As the Holy Qur'an mentions, Allah has given respite to Iblis till the Day of Judgment.  In fact, according to some hadith, the great-grandson of Iblis, Haam, reverted to Islam during the time of Muhammad (Sal Allahu Alayhi Wasallam).  He was a kid during the time of Cain and Abel and had,  among other prophets, also met Isa (a.s.) whose greetings and the message he conveyed to Prophet (Sal Allahu Alayhi Wasallam).  That indicates that he must have been thousands of years old.  According to a tradition, all the Shayateen are the seeds of Iblis and die not but with him.  Other Jinn die before him though they may live many centuries. However, many of the evil Jinn are killed by the shooting stars, hurled at them from heaven.  When the Arabs witness a shooting star (shiháb), they often exclaim, ‘May God transfix the enemy of the faith!’  

Allah says in the Holy Qur'an, "and indeed we have adorned the nearest heaven with lamps, and We have made such lamps (as) missiles to drive away the Shayateen, ( 67: V 05)

POWER OF JINN:

What clearly distinguishes the Jinn from mankind is their powers and abilities.  For the most part, it is accepted that the Jinn have colossal powers and are not foreordained by the laws of Physics, such as matter, weight, time, and place.  Unlike humans, they can cross over the dimensional boundaries of The Seen and The Unseen worlds. They can moreover travel any place within the squint of an eye and transform into the shape of other creatures such as cats, dogs, feathered creatures, serpents, or even human beings.  Allah has given them these powers as a test for them. If they oppress others with them, then they will be held accountable. Allah Almighty says: “… Verily he (shaytan) and his soldiers from the jinn or his tribe see you from where you cannot see them…” (Al-A`raf: 27)  Under normal conditions, Jinn cannot be seen in their natural state.  They can remain invisible unless they wish to appear in a dense, physical form before the humans since they are excellent shape-shifters.  They are able to take on any physical form they like so that they can appear as humans, animals, reptiles, trees, and anything else.  

Jinn have immense strength and speed.  The Qur'an also tells us that Jinn used to move freely about in the galaxy until Allah restricted their movement to our universe only. "And we touched the heavens, but found it full of powerful guards and projectiles. And we used to sit in it in places of listening, but anyone who sits now finds a projectile seeking him." (72:8-9)  The jinn are able to talk in numerous dialects of those people whom they come in contact with.   According to a few traditions from the Maghreb, they talk Suryaniyya, or old Syriac,  which Berbers called the dialect of communication with the jinn.  According to the Moroccan people, 30% of whom are purely of Berberic heritage, though the jinn talk,  their dialect is diverse from that of men.  When a jinni talks through the mouth of a human being, he calls cash "ashor" rather than flus (ڢلوس‎), and excrements "jatu".  The sound of his voice is exceptionally thin. Some say that the jinn can communicate mentally and telepathically and this, in turn, facilitates the jinn to transfer thoughts and possess their victim. 

Jinn can affect the material world, i.e. they can move physical items or even craft objects - as we shall observe later when discussing King Solomon.  Also, Jinn do not follow the same concept of time as humans (i.e. Jinn can stay for days without moving as is evident by the Jinn not noticing Sulaiman(a.s.)'s  death until a "worm" finished eating its way through his staff, breaking it.

ANIMALS CAN SEE JINN:  

Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "When you hear the crowing of cocks, ask for Allah's Blessings for (their crowing indicates that) they have seen an angel.  And when you hear the braying of donkeys, seek Refuge with Allah from Satan for (their braying indicates) that they have seen a Satan." -- Sahih al-Bukhari 3303.  This is also reported in Sahih Muslim Book 035, no.  6581.

Keep a white rooster (in-home) as neither Satan nor magicians would come near the home, and near its surrounding ones, where there’s a white rooster. (Mu’jam Awsaṭ, vol. 1, pp. 1201, Ḥadīš 677)

‘Do not speak ill of the white rooster as I am its friend and it is mine. Its enemy is my enemy. It drives jinns off as far as its voice reaches.’ (Luqṭ-ul-Marjān, pp. 165)

Pausing here for a moment, Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have peered deep into the eye of the chicken and found a masterpiece of biological design. Scientists mapped five types of light receptors in the chicken's eye. They discovered the receptors were laid out in interwoven mosaics that maximized the chicken's ability to see many colours in any given part of the retina, the light-sensing structure at the back of the eye.

Based on the above short summary, it seems some of the animals can see with their infrared rays, while the demon itself comes from a genie (jinn) created from fire, while angels are created from light, meaning worth the ultraviolet rays.  Birds have an extra cone for seeing violet and ultraviolet light.  It means the devil is included in the infrared scope. Therefore, the animal can see the devil.  As for the rooster it is able to see ultraviolet light, Therefore, the angel can be seen by the rooster.

Some Jinn are good, some are ambivalent, and some are downright devilish.  “We made the evil ones friends only to those without faith,” says the Quran al-Karim in 7:27.

The Shayateen are pure evil and are known to be the cause of many troubles in the human world. They are sometimes used and controlled by strong dark magicians.  Shayateen have the ability to cause illness and even death. They are also capable of much destruction and can cause a person to lose everything they have. Perhaps most dangerous of all though, Shayateen are known to have the ability to possess humans. While other Jinn also have this ability, the act is much more malevolent when done by Shayateen.   As stated in al-Furqān bayna awliyā’ al-Raḥmān wa-awliyā’ al-Shayṭān,  Ibn Taymiyya believed the jinn to be generally "ignorant, untruthful, oppressive, and treacherous". He held that the jinn account for much of the "magic" that is perceived by humans, cooperating with magicians to lift items in the air, delivering hidden truths to fortune tellers, and mimicking the voices of deceased humans during seances.  Naturally, he was referring to the Shayateen. 

The Holy Qur'an states:  "And entice whoever you can of them with your voice, and mobilize all your forces and men against them, and you may share with them in their money and children, and promise them. But the devil promises nothing but deceit. As for My servants, you will have no power over them. And your Lord suffices as a Caretaker." (17:64-65)  

In other words, On the one hand, Satan becomes a partner with the one who follows him in the earning and spending of his money without putting in any labour in it. On the other hand, he does not become a partner in bearing the consequences of his error, crime, and sin. But his foolish dupe follows his instructions as if he were a partner, nay, a stronger party. Again in regard to the children of such a man, the father himself bears the whole burden of bringing them up, but under the misguidance of Satan, he trains them in wrong and immoral ways as if he alone was not their father but Satan also was a partner in it.  However, Satan will not succeed in alluring Allah's righteous servants who are steadfast in His obedience and who as such will not succumb to Satan.

The good side of the Jinn should not be forgotten. Good genies are despised by bad jinn, as a result of which other Jinn will stay away from these good genies.  A momin genie fears Allah (swt) and will not enter others’ houses without asking them.  Without the necessity of becoming visible, good Jinn may pass on some benefits to humans.   Jinn’s voices may be heard on some occasions when they wake up a person for prayers or tell him of some things. They may draw their attention to some harmful things. Although rarely, a genie may make himself visible to some people when pointing them towards something good or something evil.  

To give a random example:  During the Rwandan genocide when a million people were killed in a matter of 100 days, both Hutus and Tutsi avoided searching in local Rwandan Muslim neighbourhoods under the belief that local Muslims and Masjids were protected by the power of Islamic magic and the efficacious Jinn.  In Cyangugu, instead of destroying the Mosque the arsonists ran away fearing the wrath of Jinn who they believed were guarding the Mosque.

As stated, a jinni may make himself visible to some people when pointing them towards something good or something evil. According to ibn Ka’b and ‘Abdur Rahman ibn Bishir, and quoted by Qadhi al Shibli (Badr al-Din Abu Muhammad ibn Abd Allah al-Shibli (712/1312 - 769/1367), a Hanafi jurist from Syria:

Some pilgrims were on their way to Makkah.  After leaving the place called Imarat Othman, they lost their way.  Being overwhelmed by thirst, they desperately began their quest for finding some water. However, all that they could find was salty water.  Some pilgrims advised the rest not to consume any salty water lest they perished, but to press ahead where they might find some potable water.  Finding none even after having walked all day long, and even as the night fell, they contemplated returning to the salty water.  So desperate were they that they donned their mortuary shrouds.  Suddenly, a man of blackish complexion appeared before them from behind the palm trees.  He said, “I’m the remaining jinni from amongst those who had heard the Prophet’s (ﷺ)    recital.  I’d heard him (ﷺ) say that a Muslim is a brother to other Muslims and hence should guide them, and never disappoint or deceive them.  He should like for them what he likes for himself and hate what he hates for himself. Go in this direction till you reach Akma.  Then turn left where you will find potable water.” They did.

According to one of the world's most renowned scholars of Islamic history and the spiritual science of Sufism, Jinn exist and Jinn have no permission to harm any human being except by permission of Sultan of Jinn. This sultan will not give any permission without going to Sultan al-Awliya and asking his permission. So Muslim Jinn are not allowed to harm any Muslim. Now as far as black magic is concerned, there are people who do black magic. That might be what makes one afraid or imagine there are Jinn.  But non-mu’min is where the black magic works and they can harm. But they cannot harm without permission of Sultan al-jinn.  So don’t put this in your mind. If you are afraid, read Surat al-Jinn every day before you sleep and that will take it away.

Then again,  it is well to remember that some creations of Allah (SWT)  are sent as a Rahmah in order to combat every type of negativity.  Being Momins, they know how to deal with their world and its denizens. Of course, the environment needs to be pleasing for attracting their energy with recitations from the blessed Qur'an Shareef, and the compilations of the Salwats from the Dala'il Al Khayrat (دلائل الخيرات) in an ambience suffused with the 

fragrances of Attar and incense.  Islamic scholars advise us to conduct ourselves according to the rules that Prophet ﷺ has given to us so that we will be able to combat all these negativities.

In conclusion, the believing Jinn help the believers even though the believers may not realize it, and they love everything good for them. Similarly, believing humans love everything good for their believing brethren among the jinn, and they ask Allah to give them everything good. The believers among the Jinn attend the lessons of humans sometimes and in some lands, and they benefit from the lessons of humans. This has been clearly stated by many of the scholars whom the jinn contacted and asked about some issues; they told them that they had attended their lessons.  All of this is well-known, and Allah is the One Whose help we seek. 

In the words of Shaykh Nazim al-Haqqani: "Do not imagine that the true Awliya are only from humankind since the saintly ranks of the Nuqaba at least include many kings of the jinn." 

And Allah is the One Who grants strength to do what is right.

(To continue in Part 6.)

NASIR ALI