IIPH (International Islamic Publishing House)

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ISLAMIC CREED SERIES •
THE WORLD OF
THE JINN & DEVILS
In the Light of the Qur'an and Sunnah
Dr. 'Umar S. al-Ashqar
INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC PUBLISHING HOUSE
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The World of the Jinn and Devils
Every person has a qareen (jinn-companion)
His betrayal and abandonment of his friends
The Shaytaan mobilizes his friends to serve him and to wage war against the believers
4- The means used by the Shaytaan to misguide people
(1) Making falsehood appear attractive
(2) Exaggerations vs. negligence
(3) Preventing people from doing good deeds,
and making them procrastinate and be lazy
(4) Promises and wishes
(5) Appearing to be sincere towards man
(6) Gradually misleading people
(7) Causing people to forget what is in their best interests
(8) Making the believers afraid of his allies
(9) He enters a person's heart through that which he
loves and desires
(10) Instilling doubts
(11) (14) Alcohol, gambling, ansaab and azlaam
(15) Sihr (sorcery, witchcraft)
(16) Man's weakness
(17) Women and love of this world
(18) Singing and music
(19) Negligence of the Muslims towards doing what they are commanded to do
5- How the Shaytaan makes his whispers reach
the heart of man
(1) Waswasah (insinuating whispers)
(2) Taking physical shapes
(3) Summoning the spirits of the dead
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Wbrld ofthe Jinn and Devils
(3) How the jinn were created
We do not know anything about their creation, forms or faculties except
that which Allah has told us. We do know that they have heans, as Allah
says:
{And surely, We have created many of the jinn and mankind for Hell-
They have hearts wherewith they understand not, and they have eyes
wherewith they see not, and they have ears wherewith they hear not
[the truth]. They are like cattle, nay even more astray)
(Qur'an 7:179j
Allah clearly states that the jinn have hearts, eyes and ears. The
Shaygaan also has a voice, as Allah says:
<And befool them gradually those whom you can among them with
your voice)
[Qur'an
It is proven in the a&aadeeth that the Shay(aan has a tongue, and that the
jinn eat, drink, laugh and do other things which you will find throughout
this book.
(4) The various types of jinn and their names in Arabic
Ibn SAbd al-Barr said: "Among the scholars of (Arabic) language the
jinn have several names:
(i) If a jinn is mentioned in general tems, they say jinni
(ii) If they refer to one of those who live with people, they say •aamir,
pl. 'ummaar (lit. dweller or haunter)
(iii) If it is one of those that attach themselves to children, they say
arwaa'ß (lit. souls)
(iv) If it is evil and tries to cause ham, they say shaygaan (devil)
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The World Of the Jinn and Devils 23
Lack of knowledge of a thing does not constitute proof that it does
not exist
The best that these liars can come up with is to say that they have no
knowledge of their existence, but not knowing does not prove
anything. 10 It reflects badly on an intelligent person to deny something
just because he does not know that it exists, This is something for which
Allah criticized the kuffaar (disbelievers):
(Nay, they have belied the knowledge whereof they could not
(Qur'an 10:39]
comprehend.)
There are modem inventions which no one can deny out of arrogance —
could a person living hundreds of years ago have denied the possibility
of them happening, if a truthful man had told him about them? Did the
fact that we did not hear the sounds with which our universe is crowded
in every place prove that they do not exist, then after we invented radio
and were able to pick up sounds that our ears cannot hear, we started to
believe in that?
Professor Sayyid Qu!b (may Allah have mercy on him) said in his book
Fi-Zilaal al-Qur •an (In the Shade ofthe Qur'an), speaking ofa group of
jinn whom Allah sent towards His Messenger, and who heard the Qur'an
from him:
' eThe Qur'an mentions an incident where a group of thejinn were sent to
listen to the Qur'an from the Prophet g, and it tells us what they said
and what they did. This alone, and of itself, is suffcient to confirm that
the jinn exist, to confirm that this incident happened, to confirm that
They cannot use as evidence the report narrated in $u&eeb a!.Bukhaari from Ibn
*Abbaas, saying that he used to deny that the Messenger spoke with the jinn and
exchanged words with them. His denial was of conversation with the jinn, not Of
their existence, However, people other than Ibn 'Abbaas such as Ibn Mas'ood
affirmed that the Messenger did converse with them, and whoever learned
something about the Prophet has evidence against the one who did not come to
know of that.
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THE WORLD OF THE JINN & DEVILS
Some people think that writing about this topic is writing about a matter that should remain on the periphery of knowledge. They believe in going over this topic in the quickest of fashions and not giving it too much thought.
They think that the benefits of such a study are very limited, and that being ignorant of this topic is not harmful at all.
However, this is not an irrelevant matter. Humans today spend billions of dollars, with which they could develop countries and end poverty in the farthest reaches of the world, on research to discover whether there is any possibility of life on
nearby planets. Scientists spend a great deal of their time and resources on this question. What about living beings that are known to exist right here with us on our earth? They live in our houses and they eat and drink with us. In fact, they affect our thoughts and our hearts and even drive us to destroy our own selves and to spill one another's blood.
No price can be put on the importance of the texts of the Qur'an and authentic hadiths that have reached us, giving us knowledge of this matter.
Those texts uncover for us the secrets of these fellow-creatures: the world of the jinn.
ISLAMIC CREED SERIES
1. Belief in Allah
2. The World of the Noble Angels
3. The World of the Jinn and Devils
4 The Messengers and the Messages
5. The Minor Resurrection (What happens after death)
6 The Day of Resurrection
7 Paradise and Hell
8. Divine Will and Predestination
ISBN 9960-672-76-X
IIPH