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32 3 BeingsofLightandofFire Angels are souls blown into lights, jinn are souls blown into winds, and human beings are souls blown into shapes —ibn ‘Arabi (d. 1240) Islamic teaching, as seen previously, highlights the interaction between humans and jinn, and attempts to interpret every facet that deals with this relationship. It expands much less, however, on the situation of angels and jinn despite the intermediary position of the latter, who are supposed to trade both with humans in the lower level and with angels in the higher level. The reason for this paucity of details seems to lie in the Qur’an, which forbade the jinn from ever approaching the heavens. Islam thus closed the higher realm to jinn who, before its advent, constantly visited angels and engaged in dialogue with them. With the advent of the new religion jinn do not interact with angels any longer. This is why Islam talks about the interaction between jinn and angels in the past; it depicts their historical interaction in the heavens and on Earth and confines itself to comparing their respective compositions and powers. The Jinn’s Composition In many instances, the Qur’an mentions the elements from which the jinn are composed: “Surely, We created mankind of a clay of mud molded, and the jinn created We before of scorching winds” (Qur’an 15:26–27). In addition to the wind, the Qur’an cites the “smokeless fire” mentioned in Qur’an 55:14–15. It is characterized by a brilliant flame of very high intensity mixed with smoldering wind and has a special Arabic name, marij, which means “mixed with.”1 It is almost as if the jinn were composed of hell itself or are a living hell, as many Muslim Beings of Light and of Fire | 33 scholars pictured them. They found them fascinating beings but repugnant at the same time because they evoke hell.2 Muslim medieval scholars asserted the jinn could literally kill because of their dangerous composition. They emphasized heat is an attribute of fire and a vehicle for passions.3 They ascribed to the jinn strong feelings and immense emotional powers as well as rationality, as we have seen before. Muslim researchers endeavored to know which of the two elements overcomes the other in their composition. Some believed “fire prevails more than air in their bodies,”4 while others thought the jinn could not possibly be composed of these two elements alone. Ibn ‘Arabi (d. 1240), for example, argued the composition of these spirits includes some moisture as well, because “creatures of fire by themselves could not breathe . . . God Almighty is capable of creating humidity in fire to make life possible in it.”5 The majority concurred, however, that the pure flame in the jinn is lighter than wind itself, which enables them to cross all barriers, walk on water, and twirl in all environments. Wind and fire are, in any case, looked upon as violent forces. In general, the elements of fire and air of which the jinn are composed appear to be greatly compatible, as Paracelsus the Great (b. 1493), German mystic and alchemist, maintains. “The element of fire is placed in the element of air. For as the water and the earth are comprised in one globe, so the fire and the air are mingled in one, neither injuring the body of the other. They move freely in the air, not leaning or propped up on any foundation.”6 Despite their apparent compatibility, as Paracelsus has asserted, the two elements that compose the jinn are paradoxically in opposition as well. Although air tends toward heaven, fire pulls down toward Earth, thus creating the intermediary state that distinguishes these spirits half way between the upper realms and the sublunary world. The jinn are subtle and secret beings whose extremely refined elements veil them from us, fire being a pure energy, and wind being the vital breath of the universe, the vehicle of light par excellence and of the invisible; it is that which we feel around us without being able to touch, almost an intelligent power that appears to direct things. In approximately all traditions across the world, wind represents the ineffable; a force we cannot apprehend by the senses alone, but still has an undeniable existence. It is a spiritual power that dwells in the human and outside of him as well. Fire often has been pictured as a fierce beast. The [3.147.104.120] Project MUSE (2024-04-24...

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