Throughout human history, explanations of something mystical and unseen have always attracted the attention of many people. Life in other dimensions that are parallel to human life on the surface of the earth has become one of the topics that have captured a lot of human attention, even many humans are always looking for ways to connect with other creatures in the invisible world. This other unseen world is the world of the jinn. In Islam, believing in the unseen is something that is obligatory, meaning that there is indeed life other than the visible human life. Not only Islam, various religions in this world believe in this, even many of them have relationships with jinn for various purposes.
The Jinn in Islam
Islam explains many things about the life of the jinn, even in the Koran itself there is a letter called “al-Jin”. Islam believes that Jinn are spirits whose existence is the same as humans from the point of view that there are orders from Allah and there are prohibitions. That is why, there are jinn who are Muslim (good jinn) and there are also kafir jinn. Human life in modern times cannot be separated from creatures called “jinn”, even many people who do not believe ask the help of the jinn to achieve their goals, so they cooperate with the jinn, and obey all the orders of the jinn to him so that the jinn will help him.
Also see: Description of Hell in the Qurʾān (Islam)
In this article, we will explain at length about jinn in Islam. How exactly is this genie, keep on reading the following reviews.
Existence
Jin is a creature that is created freely and it can change its shape. They also live on earth like humans, whether on the mountains, in the sea or with humans in one place. The word Jinn in Arabic is from the word Janna which means to hide. So, physically, jinn cannot be seen by humans unless it shows its form to humans. Their unseen situation has caused some people not to believe in them. In fact, they exist. In Islam, jinn is clearly explained in the Koran and the hadith of the Prophet Muhammad. Among them are the words of Allah in Surah 15: 26-27, which means:
“Indeed We created man from dried clay of black smooth mud. And We created the Jinn before that from the smokeless flame of fire ”(Quran 15: 26-27)
So, the creation of the jinn was long before humans were created. In this case, Rasulullah SAW confirmed that the verse was indeed true in a saying which means:
“The Angels were created from light and the Jinn from smokeless fire.” (Saheeh Muslim)
The explanation of jinn in the Koran makes us know a lot about jinn. They were created from fire in contrast to humans who were created with black earth. This is related to their fiery nature so that when someone is angry, Rasulullah SAW told him to perform ablution because the nature of anger is from satan created with fire. Fire when exposed to water, it will be extinguished, as well as human anger, by being exposed to ablution water, it is expected that he will return to normal and lose his anger.
From the above verse it is also known that the life of the jinn is also the same as human life, that is, both seek the pleasure of Allah. Jinn were also ordered to carry out Allah’s orders and were also ordered to abandon the prohibitions of Allah SWT. So, among the jinn, there are those who are obedient and some are immoral, just like humans.
Also see: Parents In Islam | The Importance of Parents
“I did not create the Jinn and mankind except to worship Me.” (Quran 51:56)
So, they were created to worship Allah just as humans were created. So there are those who are Muslim and some are non-Islamic. However, most of the jinn are non-Muslims because of their fiery nature, they tend to violate Allah’s rules. All of the majority of these jinn are troops of Satan (demons). Thus, kafir jinns are also referred to as “devils”. Jinn also sometimes convert to Islam, such as during the time of the Prophet Muhammad where they heard the recitation of the Koran and then a group of jinn converted to Islam. Allah commanded the prophet to tell this to humans.
“Say (O ‘Muhammed): It has been revealed to me that a group of Jinn listened and said; ‘Indeed we have heard a marvelous Quran. It guides unto righteousness so we have believed in it, and we will never make partners with our lord ‘. “(Quran 72: 1-2)
If we look at many aspects of life, jinn have a lot in common with humans. Jinn eat and drink, marry, have children and they die. However, the life span of a jinn is much greater than that of humans, sometimes some of them are 600 years old or a thousand or even 5000 years old etc. Jin also counts his deeds on the Day of Resurrection just like humans. Furthermore, the jinn will be entered into heaven or hell.
Abilities
Speaking of abilities, jinn have different abilities from humans, they are given more strength by Allah as a form of testing for them. If they use that ability in an inappropriate manner then on the Day of Judgment they will be held accountable. Jin can change his shape or can appear in any shape he likes. He can form himself like humans, like trees, animals and others. There is only one thing that he is unable to form, namely the form RASULULLAH SAW.
In everyday life many, even thousands of people have seen creatures with various forms, and it is not strange because Islam has explained about the ability of these jinn. Various forms have been seen by humans, and it is a genie who is parading or performing a ceremony.
Another ability of the jinn is the ability to take over the forms and thoughts of other beings. This is a genie ability that has been used for centuries. But taking over the forms and thoughts of other beings is prohibited by jinn because this is oppression of other beings. The thing that happens most is where the jinn controls the human mind and forms themselves like humans.
Jinn can possess humans and take over humans so that the genie speaks and can do something that can be understood by other humans. In fact, actually it is the jinn, not the owner of the body (human). In Islam it is explained that jinn can possess humans for various reasons. Among them is because the genie or family is injured because of someone he possessed, or because the jinn loves that person too much. However, many events, this takeover is done by evil genies. Therefore, humans are encouraged to reproduce and recite the Koran either at home or in other places.
In a hadith the Prophet Muhammad said:
“Indeed, Satan flees from the house in which Surah Al-Baqarah (the 2nd chapter of the Quran) is recited.” (Al-Tirmidhi)
If someone is continuously possessed, the only way is to expel the jinn in the name of Allah, or by reading the holy verses of the Koran. However, this is different from the many things that exorcists do in modern times. They often call names other than the name of Allah to expel the jinn, but the jinn leave so that they think what they do is successful and right. In fact, the jinn deliberately did this to mislead humans. When humans call names other than the name of Allah, the jinn run away and leave, even though this is a form of deceiving humans so that humans believe more in creatures than in their God. With this kind of treatment, the evil genie hopes that the person will worship Allah.
There are also many forms of medicine that can heal humans are done by humans who maintain evil jinn. So that whatever is treated heals, even though it is the act of the genie. This causes many people to believe in the actions of these healers, even though these are genie stones. Finally, many people learn witchcraft to have magical abilities, even though they are all forms of deceit from evil genies. May Allah protect us from polytheism.