DEMONOLOGY IN ISLAM: JINNS AND DARK FORCES

POSSESSION IN ISLAM: PRO and AGAINST 

DO DEMONS MAKE  SOME MUSLIMS BEING EXTREME AND RADICAL?

“Demons are like obedient dogs; they come when they are called.”

Remy de Gourmont

Demonology is a very interesting discipline because it is somewhere between science and abstract study of  occult phenomena. It is a substantial element of theology but with the main purpose to follow beliefs about  the demons. There are people who will immediately deny this approach under the excuse  that the 21st century doesn’t deserve primitive explanations of many challenging situations. However, there are many of remarkable scientists who will tell us that supernatural forces should be considered in the framework of understanding critical social experiences.

The evil spirits in Christianity are very well known because so many books and movies have found inspiration in  supernatural beings. When it comes to Islam, it seems that the story is a bit different one. It is not because there are no evil forces  in Islam religion or that they haven’t been enough attractive for deeper research. It is only because of the fact that  the Islamic demonology is complicated for understanding and presenting. One must have specific knowledge and educational capability to swallow the darkest parts of Islam.

As a counter terrorism research writer, with the special interests in analyzing Islamic aspects of terrorism nowadays, I must admit that I am curious to question  this supernatural ingredient in  my study because I was told by many sides that jiins in Islam have big influence. I am still not so sure if they really exists and if they do , on what or on who do they influence. That is why I am here.Now. Travelling to the underground of Islam, with no fear but with my devotion to highlight the darkness and to offer the answers.

Jinn (Arabic : الجن‎, al-jinn), also known as djinn or genies, are supernatural beings or spirits, probably  with ancient origin in Arabian pre-Islamic mythology and later in Islamic theology. They belong to unseen dimensions and they live in parallel universe so the Holy Qur’an is talking about them in 72nd sura, which has the name Surat al-Jinn. It is interesting to mention that rich Arabic language chose the name  Janna as a verb which means ” to hide” and that describe the nature of those creatures: they exist but they can’t be seen. Those who deny them, as Muslim theologians say, cant deny their strong influence upon this world.

“Indeed We created man from dried clay of black smooth mud. And We created the Jinn before that from the smokeless flame of fire” 
(Surah Al-Hijr 15:26-27)

This tells us that Allah made them from “smokeless fire”  as He made angels from light. But, the exciting part of it is that all of them were made to worship their Creator not to confront him.Jiins are intelligent beings, so they are free to choose between good and evil. They can do all they want.

“I did not create the Jinn and mankind except to worship Me” 
(Surah Ad-Dhariyat 51:56)

The mentioned verse should convince us that jinns are made by God and for God. Because of their fire emanation, their temper is also fiery so many of them are wild and they are hard to be controlled,and they start conflicts very easy. They are obligated to follow Islam, according to Qur’an quotes, but only some of them accepted that and some refused and organized the army of non-Muslims who follows the most famous demon, Iblis or The Shaytan. It is hard to imagine but Islam believes that jinns are like humans. They live longer in their worlds but they also eat,drink, marry, have children and they are also being chosen for the hell or for the paradise, depending on their life purpose. They are same but they aren’t.They are more powerful than people and they can change people and people’s destiny:“That which clearly distinguishes the Jinn from mankind, are their powers and abilities. Allah has given them these powers as a test for them. If they oppress others with them, then they will be held accountable. By knowing of their powers, we can often make sense of much of the mysteries which go on around us. One of the powers of the Jinn, is that they are able to take on any physical form they like. Thus, they can appear as humans, animals trees and anything else.” In other words, there are some classifications of jiins, based on their strength:1.the demons-Marid (the strongest order); 2.the Ifrit; 3.The Shaitan; 4.the Jinn; 5. the Jann( the weakest one). The Hadith writes that there are jiins which can fly or take different animal form and misuse human trust and hurt or mislead. It is all about their capability and their ability to be good and follow the God or to oppose Him and to torture the humans:“They are also responsible for their own actions, and they have received ordainments from Allah to perform certain deeds and abstain from others. Although several eyewitness accounts are heard every now and then of people who are reported to have seen the jinn, we humans do not have the ability to see them. However, such animals as dogs and donkeys can see them. It is recorded in Musnad of Ahmed and Sunan of Abu-Dawud that the Prophet, sallallahu alayhe wa sallam, said:’If you hear the barking of dogs or the braying of donkeys during the night, seek refuge in Allah from Satan, because they can see what you cannot’.”

Islamic theology or demonology is divided about the nature of jiins and especially regarding its relations with Satan.If jiins worship Allah then they shouldn’t make evil deeds against humans or they do if they are free to choose?According to theologians, jiins are testing their ability to destroy and there are thinkers who firmly believe that Satan(Iblees-Azaazeel) is origin of all jiins:“The ability to possess and take over the minds and bodies of other creatures is also a power which the Jinn have utilised greatly over the centuries. This however, is something which has been prohibited to them as it is a great oppression to possess another being. Human possession is something which has always brought about great attention. But the true knowledge of this subject is rare amongst the people. We know as Muslims, that Jinns possess people for many reasons. Sometimes it is because the Jinn or its family has been hurt accidentally. It could be because the Jinn has fallen in love with the person. However, most of the time possession occurs because the Jinn is simply malicious and wicked. For this reason we have been told by the Prophet (saws) not to loiter in those places where the Jinns reside, e.g. graveyards, ruins, deserts, market places etc. We have also been commanded to recite the Qur’an frequently in our houses as the Prophet (saws) said.If a person does become possessed, then the name of Allah has to be used in expelling the Jinn.” These words of Islamic theoreticians let us face with the facts that jiins could be good which is rare and evil if we meet them accidentally,call them or provoke them. Islam admits the existence of possession but not in the movie manner as we have in Christianity. Muslims don’t miss a chance to warn that only real belief, Islam, can make demons go and leave possessed human being.Everything else is a shirk. It is obvious then why Islam totally stand up against occult activities  and consider it as cooperation between humans and jiins against Allah. Jiins are capable to do impossible things and they cause all kind of witchcraft, black magic, poltergeists and fortune-telling. As every religion claims, Islam too, only God can know the final destination and those who state that they know sold their souls  to  the demons for information.I found nice the legend that if you want to discover  where are the jiins located in big number, you just need to count the fortune-tellers and then to see the sky full of falling stars. Falling stars are, based on myths, the defense shield of heaven to protect angels and their whispering about human destinies. Demons usually come there to hear something and to kidnap the news and trade them for human souls. That was the case with Morocco. The another reason to think of jiins is oujia boards or seances of calling the spirit of lost beloved person when evil emanation is coming to our world and fool us or make us doing some evil things. This is directly connected with the theory of Qarin (Arabic: قرين‎ qarīn-constant companion ) which means that every person has own special jinni. If that qarin is evil, people will be motivated to make sinister deeds. Qarin can be neutral and good too.

When it comes to the Islamic terrorism, it is intriguing to see the possible theory for Islamic terrorists and their qarin. The terrorists are quoting Qur’an and hiding themselves behind worship of Allah but their belief  is everything but not religion. I would rather say it is a kind of death cult, which is on the border to be called satanism. So many deaths, so many sacrifices, so many hate. Those people do not work for God because there is no God who hates, they work for One who opposes the God or who challenge Him. I am not familiar with religious feelings and for me it is so abstract to put  good and evil into the terms God and Satan, but in referring to this topic, I simply have no another option.I believe that Islamic terrorists worship the darkest elements of Islam’s underground.They picked the jiins and they are playing with them. Something like possessed souls by evil forces and evil motives. Even if I don’t choose this supernatural platform to define the roots of Islamic terrorism today, there is no good and God in everything what they do. Such a high level of violence and psychopathology transferred on social and political relations could be described as an absence of any common sense, morality, patriotism or health religion. It is malicious force which drives humans to do  something what the Azaazeel  would be ashamed of.

There are areas of this world we should not enter in or the questions we should not answer. Digging into the Islamic demonology hole wont bring us closer to the explanation what mad minds of Islamic terrorism are doing and why they are doing that but they will enable us to compare all possible facts and factors and to unite them in the whole picture.Famous Italian thriller novelists, Donato Carrisi once said “Evil is the rule. Good is the exception.Find the anomaly”. It is all about finding the anomaly in the whole picture. It is not easy to search for it but it is the only way to start solving the problem or at least limit its range.

Allah or Iblees….i always believe in: HUMAN.