Islam, Arabs, and the Intelligent World of the Jinn

7. Love Between Humans and Jinn

103 LoveBetweenHumansandJinn O doctor of the jinn, woe unto you, find me a cure, for the doctor of humans is helpless against my ill. —Majnun Laila, seventh-century Arab poet 1 Love between humans and jinn could be considered one of the most extravagant and intriguing aspects in the two species’ interaction. This particular theme fascinated Muslims in medieval times. Aberrant love affairs between jinn and humans circulated, creating fear, and flaring the curiosity of all classes of the society. Writers from the three layers of Islam—Orthodox, popular, and Sufi— were equally drawn toward this topic. All of them extensively wrote on it. The corpus they generated is one of the most original and captivating materials written on human/spirit love affairs across cultures. It was, though, the most difficult thing to deal with. Religious leaders strove to put down laws to control these alleged and dangerous relations. But the public remained immensely entranced by these strange narratives. Love Stories Between Jinn and Humans in Pre-Islam In pre-Islam, a jinni who loved a woman or a jinniyah who loved a man would take on a human form, and sometimes an animal form. They were called tabi‘, “follower,” masculine, or tabi‘ah, feminine, from the Arabic root t.b‘, meaning “to follow.” It was alleged these spiritual entities would always follow the human they loved, whether the latter was aware of their presence or not. People thought if the jinn were pleased with humans they, in return, would teach them the arts of medicine and the art of war, especially how to make fine swords. For example, in one account, we are told “a certain jinni, called Manzur, loved a woman from the humans, called Habbah. He befriended her and taught her the arts of healing.”2 104 | Islam, Arabs, and the Intelligent World of the Jinn The notion jinn would offer humans their knowledge in return is noteworthy . Before Islam, people supposed knowledge came from gods or spirits; that humans had to seek it outside of themselves. Two branches of knowledge specifically interested them: healing and the art of war. Rampant disease took an enormous toll on people’s lives. Pre-Islamic Arabs thought supernatural beings such as the jinn had power over death and sickness. The continual state of war was devastating . As one tribe commenced a truce with a neighboring kingdom, another tribe declared war somewhere in the Arabian Peninsula. Love between humans and jinn was often linked to the belief jinn could dwell in some animals, as previously discussed. People maintained jinn dwell especially in deer. Pre-Islamic Arabs firmly believed deer were sacred animals. It was claimed goddess al-‘Uzza was worshiped surrounded by deer as her sacred animals.3 The most notorious of pre-Islamic myths related to love and animals is undoubtedly that of the Arab Queen Balqis from Yemen. This myth recounts that Balqis’s father, a king named al-Hadhad, went one day to hunt the deer. He encountered a flock of deer but didn’t kill them. The king of the jinn appeared to him and thanked him for preserving the lives of his people, the jinn, who were thought to dwell in these “sacred” animals. The myth claims he expressed his gratitude to al-Hadhad and offered him the hand of his daughter, Ruwaha bint Sakan. The king of the jinn requested, however, that he never question her if her behavior appears sometimes odd to him. Ruwaha bint Sakan gave birth to two sons and a girl they named Balqis. At the birth of each child, a female dog would come and snatch away the newborn. The father didn’t ask for any explanation at the request of the king of the jinn, except at the third time. Ruwaha then revealed to him this female dog was in fact a jinniyah that took the children to raise them in the jinn’s realm. She then departed from the conjugal house and never returned because her husband broke the covenant of silence and asked about the secret of the jinn.4 After her father’s death, Balqis became the queen. People accepted her authority . They abided by her rules, and attributed to her immense powers because of her mythical origins. Love Between Humans and Jinn | 105 Islamic Theology and the Love Between Humans and Jinn The idea jinn embody a human form when they fall in...