What Are The Characteristics Of A Jinn?
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This article covers the answer to the question: “What are the characteristics of a Jinn?”
What Kind Of Beings Are Jinn And Can They Appear In Different Forms In The Visible, Material World?
The nature of jinn
Jinn is conscious beings charged with Divine obligations.
The word jinn literally means something hidden or veiled from sight. As mentioned earlier (The Fountain No. 15), jinn are a species or kind of beings that cannot be seen with the naked eye, nor can we see them with telescopes or microscopes. In the Qur’an, there is a short chapter called Jinn, which tells us that a band of jinn listened to the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, and some of them believed in his message and some did not:
Say: ‘It has been revealed to me that a company of the jinn gave ear, and they said: “We have heard a wonderful Qur’an, which guides to righteousness, so we believe in it and we shall not join (in belief and worship) any (gods) with our Lord. And (we believe) that He-exalted be the glory of our Lord-has taken neither wife nor son… Among us there are righteous folk and among us there are far from that. We are sects having different rules, (72. 1-2, 11)
From this we understand that like mankind, jinn are also conscious beings charged with Divine obligations. Recent discoveries in biology made it clear that God created beings particular to each realm in the universe. Jinn might have been created while the earth was a body of some sort of fire. They preceded mankind in creation and were responsible for cultivating and improving the world. Although God later superseded them with mankind, He did not exempt the jinn from religious obligations.
Jinn are created from smokeless fire
As we mentioned before, the Qur’an states that jinn are created from smokeless fire (55.15). In another verse, it clarifies that the fire from which jinn are created is scorching and penetrating as deep as the inner part of the body (15.27). We are not certain whether the Qur’an means energy or something like X-rays by smokeless, penetrating, and scorching fire.
Jinn, like angels, are not bound by the constraints of time and space within which we move.
Like angels, jinn move extremely fast; they are not bound by the constraints of time and space within which we normally move. However, since the spirit is more active and faster than jinn, a man who lives at the level of the spirit’s life, who can go beyond the limits of matter and the confines of time and space within which normal people live, can excel the jinn in speed and activity. For example, as we read in the Qur’an, when the Prophet Solomon asked those around him who could bring the throne of the Queen of the Yemen, one of the jinn answered that he could bring it before he finished the meeting and stood up from his seat. However, a man who had special knowledge from God replied; ‘I can bring it to you in a time shorter than the twinkling of an eye,’ and he did so (27.38-40).
Compared to men, jinn, like angels, can do more difficult things.
Nothing is difficult for God Almighty; it is equally easy for Him to create the whole of the universe and a tiny particle. He has provided men, jinn and angels with power and strength appropriate for the function or duties of each. As He uses angels in the supervision of the movements of celestial bodies, He has allowed man to rule on the earth, dominate over matter and build civilizations and produce technology.
Power and strength are not limited to the physical world, nor are they proportional to bodily size. We observe that immaterial things are much more powerful than huge physical bodies. For example, memory is much more spacious and comprehensive than a large room. We can touch with our hands a very near object, but our eyes can travel long distances in an instant while our imagination can go beyond time and space all at once. Winds can pull out trees and demolish huge buildings. A young, thin shoot of a plant can split rocks and appear in sunlight. The power of energy, whose existence we can know through the effect it produces, is known to every body. All this shows that the power of something is not proportional to its physical structure, rather the immaterial world is dominant over the physical world, and immaterial entities are much more powerful than material ones.
The appearance of angels and jinn in the visible world in different forms
As we indicated earlier, it is possible for angels and jinn to take on form and appear in the visible world in the shape of any being. We do observe, in the material world, a movement from the visible to the invisible. For example, the evaporation of water and its disappearance in the atmosphere; the transformation of solid matter into fluid or gas (steam); or, in nuclear fission, the transformation of matter into energy. Likewise, we also observe in the world a movement, in the other direction, namely from the invisible to the visible. Gases become fluid, evaporated water is transformed into drops of rain or snow or even hail, and energy into matter. Similarly, intangible thoughts and meanings in our minds can appear in the tangible form of letters and words in essays and books.
In an analogous way, invisible beings like angels, jinn, and other spirit entities are clothed in some material substance such as air or ether and then become visible. According to Imam Shibli, if God wills, He allows them to take on a form when they utter any of God’s Names which functions like a key or visa enabling them to take on form, and they become visible in the world. If they attempt to take on a visible form without God’s permission in reliance on their own abilities, they are torn into pieces and perish.’
We read in the Qur’an (19.17) that the spirit God sent to Mary, whom Muslim scholars have concluded was the Archangel Gabriel, appeared before her as a human being. Like angels and jinn, Satan (who belongs to the jinn) can also appear in different forms. Jinn can also appear in the forms of different animals like snakes, scorpions, cattle, donkeys, and birds.
By M. Fethullah Gulen