JINNS -AS MENTIONED IN THE HOLY QU'RAN- BRIEF EXPLANATION

Jinns

And on the day when He shall gather them all together (and say):  "O’ assembly of jinn!  Ye increased your strength (by seducing a great number) from men;"  And will say their friends among the men:  "O’ Our Lord!  Some of us profited by others and We have reached our term which Thou didst appoint for us;"  He shall say:  "The (Hell) fire is your abode, be ye the dwellers therein, save what pleaseth God;  "Verily thy Lord is All-Wise, All-Knowing."  6:129

The actual meaning of the word ‘Jinn’ is the ethereal, invisible beings, i.e., the spirit of evil like the angels who are the spirit of goodness.  The existence of such beings is an accepted fact but the word ‘Jinn’ need not mean one and the same everywhere, as it is also used figuratively for the leaders of evil or the notorious persons among the infidels, as the word ‘Shayateen’ meaning devils, is used for the fellow-disbeliever’s.  According to Ibne Abbas, ‘Jinn’ in this verse means the infidels.
 

The word ‘Jinn’ is derived from the root word ‘Janna’, i.e., meaning he covered or concealed or he protected.  Since the leaders of the infidels, out of their pride kept themselves covered from the commoners and they also remained protected by their worldly positions, the word could be used for them in a figurative reference or address to the wicked beings. 
This clearly asserts the existence of unseen beings and agencies of responsible character like man, who have inter-relation in some way or the other with mankind and do influence the weak-minded ones among the human beings to divert them from the right path.

"O assembly of jinn and men!  Did not come unto you apostles from among you, relating to you My signs and warning you of the meeting of this day (of requital) of yours?"  They shall say, "We bear witness against Ourselves;"  And this world’s life deceived them, and they shall bear witness against their (own) selves that they were disbelievers."  6:131

The address in this verse both to the ‘Jinn’ as well as men, indicated that apostles among the ‘Jinn’ also must have come, though their names have not been mentioned in the Holy Qur’an.  And the verse ‘We have sent a guide to every people’ indicates that the people of the ‘Jinn’ must also have had guides for their guidance. Regarding ‘from among you’, relating to ‘Jinn’s’, the commentators differ as to whether ‘Jinn’s’ had prophets of their own or that the prophets who came for men were also for the ‘Jinn’s’.  When the existence of the ‘Jinn’s’ as a separate people, is a community, they also must have had prophets of their own and their prophets might have been subordinate to the human prophets, as it is proved from Qur’an that man is superior to all other creatures.  It is an accepted fact that the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) was for both men and the ‘Jinn’s’ alike.  This is the reason ‘Jinn’s’ are frequently mentioned and addressed in the Holy Qur’an and in no other scripture.

"And gathered together unto Solomon his hosts of jinn and men and birds, then they were arrayed in ranks."  27:17

The hosts at the disposal of Prophet Solomon (a.s.) consisted of all varieties of God’s creation.  For example, birds, animals, beasts, men, and the spiritual beings like jinn.  It is said that the hosts occupied a very extensive space on earth.

"Said (Solomon):  "O’ ye chiefs!  Which of you can bring unto me her throne, ere they come unto me submitting?"  27:38 
"Said an audacious one among the jinn;  "I will bring it unto thee ere thou risest up from they place; for verily I am strong (enough to do it) and I am (also thy) trusted one."  27:39

 The task which Prophet Solomon (a.s.) wanted to achieve was something which ordinarily seemed to be impossible, i.e., the bringing of the Queen single-handed arresting her and presenting her with her throne itself.  The offer to do it was from a jinn who said he would do it before Prophet Solomon (a.s.) rises from his seat i.e., Prophet Solomon (a.s.) disperses his court and gets up but even with that, Prophet Solomon (a.s.) was not satisfied.  The Ahmadi Commentator just to establish his own peculiar interpretation of the word of Jinn that was an Amalekite who was of a large stature.  It will be ridiculous to imagine that however huge a man may be, it could never be possible for him to go to the distant land of Sheba within the few moments and to single-handed arrest the Queen and bring her with her throne unless the jinn be a spirit and the one with some extraordinary spiritual strength and power to do it. 
 This proves that Prophet Solomon (a.s.) was not inclined to use the spiritual powers in all his affairs than use of any temporal one.

"And for Solomon (We made subservient) the wind which traveled in the morning a month’s journey and a month’s journey in the evening;  And We caused for him to flow a fountain of molten brass and of the jinn there were those who worked before him by the command of his Lord; and whatever among them turned away from Our Command, We will make him taste the chastisement of the flaming fire."  34:12 
  
"They made for him whatever he willeth of fortresses and statues, and basins (large as) reservoirs, and (huge) cooking cauldrons immovable from their places;  "Act ye gratefully, O’ family of David!  And very few of My servants are grateful!"  34:13

"And when We decreed death for him (Solomon), nothing did show them his death, but a worm of the earth which gnawed away his staff; an when it fell down, then came to know the jinn that they would have tarried not in the humiliating torment (of their toil)."  34:14

 Prophet Solomon (a.s.) had the jinn’s serving under his hands.  The jinn’s must naturally be some uncontrollable rebellious beings for the words ‘by the command’ indicates that some special control of God, needed to make them work duly and the punishment which is mentioned to be ready for the rebellious or disobedient among the jinn’s indicates that the jinn’s were by nature liable to revolt or disobey the authority of the men under Prophet Solomon’s (a.s.) rule.
 

 It may be remembered that the first one who disobeyed God to prostrate before Prophet Adam (a.s.), while all the angels immediately did it, was a jinn, i.e., being neither an angel nor any human being.  He was against the very first man, who was then yet in its creation.  And it is also said that the jinn was made of fire and not of clay.  Against such clear statements, the Ahmadi commentator interprets the meaning of the word ‘Jinn’ as the strangers quoting wherein chapter 2:12-18, it mentions the strangers among the workers of Prophet Solomon (a.s.).  The interpretation is against the clear evidence of the Holy Qur’an that jinn’s are the beings made of fire other than human beings.  The Ahmadi commentator is opposed to any belief in any kind of supernatural powers having been at the disposal of any of the apostles of God just to please to materialists of the West.  Hence, the Ahmadi commentator interprets every miracle of the apostles of God in his own peculiar way.  This is a denial of the special powers granted by God to His apostles.
 

 Of the structure erected by men and the jinn’s, is the Big Mosque at Jerusalem.  It is said that God revealed to Prophet David (a.s.), "I had convened with thy father (ancestor) Abraham (a.s.) that I would bless his seed and multiply it and make it a great nation for he (Abraham) had offered the sacrifice of his son at Our Command and I too have fulfilled my promise to him but his seed has turned ungrateful to My Grace and Bounties.  I shall send a chastisement on them."  They were visited by plague and by Prophet David’s (a.s.) prayer were relieved of it.  The Lord said, "O’ David!  Tell My servants to offer their gratitude and the prayer I heard, let there be a Mosque so that thy progeny and the others of the future generations might offer their prayers in it."  The construction of the Mosque was started and the righteous ones among the Israelites and Prophet David himself labored for it carrying heavy stones and mud on their heads.  When the walls of the Mosque rose to a man’s height, Prophet David was commanded by God that his share in the building of the Mosque was complete, the work was then left to be completed by his son Prophet Solomon (a.s.).
 

 The Eighth Holy Imam Ali ibne Musa Ar-Redha (a.s.) said that once Prophet Solomon (a.s.) told his courtier’s that, "Though God has blessed me with the greatest kingdom which none ever had and has favored me with unique gifts of control over men, jinn, animals, and birds, even the knowledge of the language of the birds.  I am not even for a moment happy over all these.  I want to get on the top of my palace and have a full view of God’s Kingdom around me, let none enter the place." Prophet Solomon (a.s.) with is staff in his hands got upon the step and while he was viewing the kingdom around him, a  young man beautifully dressed appeared from a corner of the palace.  Prophet Solomon (a.s.) asked him, "Who art thou?  I had ordered that none should be allowed to enter the palace.  Who permitted thee to enter this palace?" 
 The visitor replied, "The Owner of this!" 
 Prophet Solomon (a.s.) said, "I am the owner!" 
 The stranger said, "God is the Owner of the Universe!  And I am the Angel of Death and I have been set to take thy life out of thy body." 
 Prophet Solomon (a.s.) said, "Then get thou busy in thy duty to discharge which the Lord hath sent thee!" 
 

While Prophet Solomon (a.s.) stood leaning on his staff, his soul left his body and the body was caused by God to stay as it was for a year and the people from below the palace could see Prophet Solomon (a.s.) standing and thought him to be alive.  When some considerable time had passed, some thought Prophet Solomon (a.s.) to be God and said that they must worship him and some said that he was a magician controlling their perception to see him standing there.  God caused the white ants to eat away the staff, and it gave way and the body of Prophet Solomon (a.s.) fell on the ground.  It was then the people came to know that Prophet Solomon (a.s.) was dead and until then every one thought him to be alive and went on with the work entrusted to them by Prophet Solomon (a.s.).

"And assign they between him and the jinn a kinship, and indeed the jinn to know that they shall surely be brought up (to account on the Day of Judgment)."  37:158

Some of he infidels believed that the angels are the issues of God, through His alliance with the selected women of the Jinn’s.  And the fire-worshippers thought that God and Satan are two brothers, one works goodness and creates light and the other works evil and causes darkness.

And when turned We unto thee a party of jinn who (quietly) listened to the Qur’an when came they unto it, said they:  "Be ye silent!  (and listen)?"  Then when was finished ( the recital), returned they unto their people warning (them against the wrath of God)."  46:29

Said (the Jinn’s):  "O’ ye our people!  Verily, have we listened unto a Book sent down (from God) after Moses, verifying what is before it, guiding unto the truth and unto a path straight aright."  46:30

 The jinn’s are exceptionally some spiritual beings.  One of such beings is referred here.  After the death of Abu-Talib, the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) had become totally helpless and was exposed to open attacks from the people.  When he went to Taif to the tribe of Saqeef, he first met three chiefs of the people there:  Abdul-Lail, Mas’ood, and Habib who only ridiculed him (s.a.w.) and treated him (s.a.w.) with derision and laughter.  They set the mischievous one and the lads of the place, began to make noises and make a fool of him (s.a.w.) in the streets of the towns.  They even pelted stones on him (s.a.w.).  He was wounded in his legs and at last he (s.a.w.) went and stood under the shade of a wall and then sat down under a date-palm.  There were Utba and Shaiba, the two sons of Rabiah and they turned him away from the place.  The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) raised his hands and prayed to God about his (s.a.w.) helplessness.  Seeing him praying, the two men sent some grapes through their Christian slave named Adas who was from Nainawah.  When the slave heard the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) reciting, ‘Bismillah hir Rahman nir Rahim’ (In the name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful), before he ate the fruits, a clause which the slave had never heard before from anyone in the town, asked the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) as to what place he belonged.  The reply was Mecca, and when the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) asked the slave about his nativity, the slave said that he belonged to Nainawah.  The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) said, ‘It was the native place of a righteous man of God, named Younus bin Mata (Jones, son of Matthew)!  The slave in surprise, asked the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.), ‘How dost thou know about Younus bin Mata?’  In reply the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.), "He was my brother, an apostle of God like myself."  Saying this he related some details about Younus bin Mata. 

The slave who was a good Christian, understood the actual position of the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) and bowing to him and kissing his hands and feet, embraced Islam.  When the slave returned to the two men Utba and Shaiba and on their inquiry about his conduct with the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.), he said that "Muhammad is the awaited apostle of God and I have embraced his faith Islam."  The two men warned the slave against his deserting his original faith saying that the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) was an enchanter.  The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) left the place and staying in the night in a garden for his midnight prayers, he returned to Mecca.  While he was reciting the Holy Qur’an, a group of the jinn’s passed the place and that one of the jinn’s conveyed to his tribe, is referred to in this verse (46:29). 
 

Ibne Abbas says once the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) said that he was commanded by God to recite the Holy Qur’an to the jinn’s and to warn them.  He asked his companions as to who would like to accompany him to the recital.  None uttered a word save ibne Mas’ood.  The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) asked thrice but every time there was silence and none replied.  Ibne Mas’ood says that he was taken to the cave called Sheb-e-Haihoon which is on the top of a mountain near Mecca.  Arriving at the place, the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) drew a circle round ibne-Mas’ood and commanded him never under any circumstances to step out of the circle, until he (the Holy Prophet ‘s.a.w.’) returns to him and going forward stood there and started reciting the Holy Qur’an and it was night.  Ibne Mas’ood says that he saw huge birds and huge serpents that began to gather and started making peculiar noises and he got frightened and became anxious for the safety of the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.).  In the sky, he saw a black patch of a cloud like smoke and at dawn everything parted away and the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) returned to Ibne-Mas’ood.  The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) asked Ibne-Mas’ood as to what he saw and Ibne-Mas’ood related his experience.  The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) said it was a gathering of about 12,000 jinn’s to whom Chapter 113 of the Holy Qur’an was recited.

"And whosoever respondeth not unto the Summoner unto God, yet he can frustrate not God’s will in the earth, and there shall not be for him, other than Him, any guardians; these are in manifest error."  46:32

 Qummi says that the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) once went to the market place, Akkaza, along with Zaid bin Haritha to preach the message of Islam.  On his (s.a.w.) way back to Mecca he stayed in the valley of Najbah for the night and when he recited the Holy Qur’an, there also assembled some jinn’s, one of the groups carried the message of Islam to his kind.  It is said that among the jinn’s there are believers and disbeliever, good and wicked.  It is a proof positive that the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) was a Warner to the jinn’s as well as to mankind.

Say, "It hast been revealed unto me that a party of the jinn hath heard (the Qur’an) and said:  "Verily, we have heard a Recital (Qur’an) (which is) Wonderful. (72:1)

Guideth it unto the Right (Way), wherefore believe we in it; and never will be associate any one with our Lord!"  72:2

"And that He, exalted is the Majesty of our Lord! Hath taken not a wife nor a son."  72:3

"And that want to speak the foolish ones amongst us, against God, atrocious things."  72:4

"And that thought we that never utter the humans and jinn any falsehood against God."  72:5

"And that individuals from among the humans used to seek protection of the individuals from among the jinn’s so they increased them (only) in rebellion (against God)."  72:6

"And that they (too) thought, as ye think, never would God raise (from the dead) any one!"  72:7

"And that we sought the heaven but we found it filled with strong guards and flaming darts."  72:8

"And that sat we on some of the seats (there) to (steal) a hearing; but any who would (try now to) listen, findeth a flaming dart in wait for him."  72:9

"And that we understood not (by this) whether evil be meant for them that are on the earth, or whether willeth their Lord to guide them aright."  72:10

"And that some amongst us are good ones, and the others of us are other than that; we are sects following different ways."  72:11

"And that knew we that never can we defeat (the will of) God in the earth, and never can we defeat Him (in His will) by flight."  72:12

"And that, when heard we the guidance, believed we in it;  and whosoever believeth in his Lord, he thereafter feareth neither loss nor oppression."  72:13

"And that, of us some are Muslims and of us are the others who are the deviator’s (from the right path), and whoever submit these pursue the right guidance." 72:14

"And as for the deviator’s, they shall be for the hell, a fuel. . ."  72:15

 ‘Jinn’, i.e., the ethereal beings are quite different from the angels.  Angels are pure energies created for fixed duties allotted by God and ‘Jinn’s’ are similar beings created of the element of fire generally functioning as the agencies of evil while the angels are the actors of good.  But the jinn’s are capable of getting their evil corrected and amending their activities for good.  Though jinn’s are generally wicked or evil beings but there are good and the righteous ones also among them.  With the birth of the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.), the ways or the means for the jinn’s to rise into the higher spheres were stopped and hence they were disabled from stealing any news from the heavens above and hence could no more inspire their victims with the information about the future to mislead mankind, by attracting their attention and faith in them against God and godliness.  The jinn’s were spread all over the atmosphere in quest of any particular event having occurred on earth to have created this effect detrimental to their activities.  A party of the jinn’s passed the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) while he was in prayers reciting the Holy Qur’an.  They listened to it and wondered about the contents the recitation conveyed, i.e., about the Unity of God and the purity of faith and conduct which ideas were unknown to the people for centuries together and any thing like that was never heard by them ever before.  This party of the jinn’s returned to their people and this Sura (chapter 72 ‘Al-Jinn’) contains what they reported to their kind about what they heard and about their embracing Islam.
 

 However, Qur’an and Islamic traditions assert the existence of intelligent beings with eternal bodies other than angels capable of being charged with responsibilities.  And due to the fineness of the structure of their bodies, they are capable of doing things beyond the ordinary human power. Jinn’s glorify the Unity of God against the belief in, God having a wife and a son for Him for the Christian belief in a begotten son of God, necessitates also the partnership of a wife for the issue to be born of her.  People believed in the protection of the Jinn and used to seek it.  Whenever they happened to be in the wilderness or in any dreadful forest, they used to invoke the protection of their own imaginary jinn as the chief of the jinn’s of the place saying, "O’ Chief of this wilderness, I seek refuge in thee, against the mischief of any of thy wicked subjects."  By saying so, the people thought that they were safe.  Such false praises had infatuated the jinn’s and made them proud to foolishly think that they could be believed as the real guardians of mankind, having authority over their destiny.

This source of information was taken from: 
1.  Ali Ahmed, Mir.  The Holy Qur’an.  Published by Tahrike Tarsile Qur’an Inc.  New York, 1988.