 The Invisible Beings The origin of the English term "genie" also comes from the Arabic term jinn, a creation of Allah ﷻ mentioned in the Quran. The term genie might recall for many, the story of Aladdin and his lamp originally recorded in 1001 Arabian Nights (Alif Layla in Arabic) - a collection of stories from medieval times in Arab and Muslim world. Jinns (invisible beings) are one of the creations of Allah ﷻ. Just like humans, they too have a free will. Unlike humans who are created of earth (or earthly substances) the jinns are created from a special sort of fire which is invisible to our normal sense perceptions and that is why they belong to the world of unseen. In Islam every word has a relation to its meaning and interestingly the same applies for the term jinn. It comes from the root j-n-n meaning "to conceal" also related to the term majnoon, one whose "ability to thinking is covered" i.e. someone insane. Jinn is also related to the Arabic term jannah meaning "paradise", also "concealing", which exists in hereafter, hidden from our sight and part of unseen matters. The Quran describes their creation with the word maarijin-min-naar (Al Quran 55:15) which means ‘"from a flame of fire" and nar as-samum (Al Quran 15:27), which means "fire of scorching winds". According to the renown early Muslims and scholarly figures such as Abdullah ibn Abbas (radiAllahu anhu) and others the meaning of the word maarijin-min-naar is the "extremity of the flame" or as "purest and best of fire". This makes us realize that jinns are made of a special kind of fire and not the fire as we know that we make use of. Just like how humans are made of earth, we carry earthly substances within our bodies but at the same time we are not made of pure earth, we have other substances mixed within us. Only Allah ﷻ knows their true form, however, reading these terms it seems as though they are created from a form of fire and carry heat, like radiation, which is invisible to humans. The Quran teaches us that they were created before humans: (Al Quran 15:26-27) AND, INDEED, We have created man out of sounding clay, out of dark slime transmuted. Whereas the jinn (invisible beings) We had created, [long] before, out of the fire of scorching winds. There are good ones and evil among the jinns just as how humans too have good and evil among them. The evil among them are referred to with the Arabic term shayateen in Quran and hadith which means "devils". Shaytaan or satan is one of the shayateen (devils) and is their leader. There are many types of jinns as explained in hadith and other Islamic literature. Such as the Prophet ﷺ said: “There are three types of jinn: one that flies through the air, one that are snakes and dogs, and one which stay in places and travel about.”[1] The subsequent topics shed light on their types and actions. References: [1] Tabarani & Bayhaqi – All About Jinn Pt. 1 - IslamAwareness.net n.d.
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