Islam, Arabs, and the Intelligent World of the Jinn

2. Correspondences Between Jinn and Humans

13 CorrespondencesBetweenJinnandHumans We turned to thee [Muhammad] a company of jinn giving ear to the Qur’an; and when they were in its presence they said, “Be silent!” Then, when it was finished, they turned back to their people, warning. They said, “Our people, we have heard a Book that was sent after Moses, confirming what was before it, guiding to the Truth and to a Straight Path.” —Qur’an 46:29–31 The hierarchical Islamic view of the cosmos entails the imaginal realm just above our terrestrial domain impinges unswervingly on us and interferes in our lives in a subtle and hidden manner. Because of the staunch belief in this direct influence on humans, Muslim scholars, poets, and writers found themselves compelled to thoroughly research the link between humans and jinn who originate from the imaginal domain. They mostly relied on the fascinating and intriguing corpus formed by the Qur’an and the Hadith, where both intelligent species are sometimes coupled in this life and in the hereafter, and sometimes opposed. Chapter 55 of the Qur’an, entitled al-Rahman (the All Merciful), embodies at best the correspondence between humans and jinn. Throughout this chapter, written in the dual form to address its message to both jinn and humans, the following sentence is repeated ad infinitum, like a forewarning to jinn and humans: “O which of your Lord’s bounties will you [humans] and you [jinn] deny?” Jinn are addressed in the Qur’an as nations endowed with rational faculties.1 Jinn and humans have mental faculties that allow them to access knowledge, perceive the truth, and distinguish them from all other living beings in the universe . These two intelligent species are described as discerning the Word of God through reasoning, while the rest of Creation grasps it instinctively. 14 | Islam, Arabs, and the Intelligent World of the Jinn Shared Features Between Jinn and Humans Both Are Responsible Jinn share with humans an essential taklif (religious responsibility). This refers to their knowledge of the Revealed Law. It is believed both species will be accounted for their deeds on the Day of Judgment because they both have received the Revealed Law, and it is implicit they know it. It is maintained God will set up the scales to weigh their good and evil actions. Islam deems both fully capable of making choices that will determine their abode in the afterlife in paradise or hell. If the jinn misuse their rational faculties as humans may, God will equally condemn them on the Day of Judgment. Both are responsible beings in the sense they shahadah (bear witness).2 The Prophet’s companion, Abu Sa‘id al-Khidri, once advised a shepherd to raise his voice when he performs the call to prayer in the desert, for “whoever of the jinn and men as well as other living things, hears it, even from afar, shall bear witness to it on the Day of Judgment.”3 Prophets and Messengers of God Sent to Humans and Jinn The Qur’an and the Hadith argue if the jinn are considered responsible for their deeds, it is because many prophets and messengers were sent to deliver the Divine message to them. The Qur’an, in many instances, reminds both humans and jinn of this prophetic history: “Company of jinn and mankind, did not Messengers come to you from among you, relating to you My signs and warning you of the encounter of this your day? They shall say, ‘We bear witness against ourselves’” (Qur’an 6:130). But were some of these messengers from the side of the jinn, or were all the messengers from the human side alone? What does the Qur’anic expression “from among you” mean? Muslim theologians debated at length whether these verses indicate the messengers of God must have come from among jinn as well as from humans. The majority of Muslim theologians, however, concurred God did not send jinn messengers to the jinn; otherwise, they would have been mentioned in the Holy Book. Prophets were solely sent from humans. Another question surfaced: If the messengers of God were indeed from the human side alone, how did the jinn gain knowledge of these messages? Muslim theologians argued the jinn seem to have their own communication channels Correspondences Between Jinn and Humans | 15 that allow them to receive the Word of God. In one instance, they listened to a recitation of...