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THE
CHARACTERISTICS OF JINN
Jinn
are conscious beings charged with
Divine obligations
The
word jinn literally means
something hidden or veiled from
sight. As mentioned earlier, jinns
are a species of invisible beings. A
short Qur’anic chapter is named
for them, and in it we learn that a
band of jinn listened to Prophet
Muhammad, upon him be peace and
blessings, and some became
believers:
Say:
“It has been revealed to me
that a company of the jinn
gave ear, and they said: ‘We
have heard a wonderful Qur’an,
which guides to righteousness,
so we believe in it and we
shall not join (in belief and
worship) any (gods) with our
Lord. And (we believe) that
He-exalted be the glory of our
Lord-has taken neither wife
nor son .... Among us there
are righteous folk and among
us there are far from that. We
are sects having different
rules .,”
(72:1-2, 11)
From
this, we understand that jinn are
conscious beings charged with Divine
obligations. Recent discoveries in
biology make it clear that God
created beings particular to each
realm in the universe. Jinn might
have been created while the Earth
was still a body of some sort of
fire. They were created before Adam
and Eve, and were responsible for
cultivating and improving the world.
Although God later superseded them
with us, He did not exempt them from
religious obligations.
Jinn
are created from smokeless fire
The
Qur’an states that jinn are
created from smokeless fire (55:15).
In another verse, it clarifies that
this fire is scorching and
penetrates as deep as the inner part
of the body (15:27).
Jinn,
like angels, are not bound by the
constraints
of
time and space within which we move
Like
angels, jinn move extremely fast and
are not bound by the time and space
constraints within which we normally
move. However, since the spirit is
more active and faster than jinn, a
person who lives at the level of the
spirit’s life and who can
transcend what we know as limits of
matter and the confines of time and
space, can be quicker and more
active than them. For example, the
Qur’an relates that when Prophet
Solomon asked those around him who
could bring the throne of the Queen
of Saba’ (Yemen), one jinn
answered that he could bring it
before the meeting ended and Prophet
Solomon stood up. However, a man
with a special knowledge from God
replied: “I can bring it to you
quicker than the blink of an eye,”
and he did so (27:38-40).
Jinn
can do more difficult things than
human beings
Nothing
is difficult for God Almighty. It is
as easy for Him to create the
universe as it is for Him to create
a tiny particle. He has provided
human beings, jinn, and angels with
the power and strength appropriate
for their functions or duties. As He
uses angels to supervise the
movements of celestial bodies, He
allows humanity to rule the Earth,
dominate matter, build
civilizations, and produce
technology.
Power
and strength are not limited to the
physical world, nor are they
proportional to bodily size. We see
that immaterial things are far more
powerful than huge physical
entities. For example, our memory is
far more spacious and comprehensive
than a large room. Our hands can
touch a very near object, but our
eyes can travel long distances in an
instant, and our imagination can
transcend time and space all at
once. Winds can uproot trees and
demolish large buildings. A young,
thin plant shoot can split rocks and
reach the sunlight. The power of
energy, whose existence is known
through its effect, is apparent to
everybody. All of this shows that
something’s power is not
proportional to its physical size;
rather the immaterial world
dominates the physical world, and
immaterial entities are far more
powerful than material ones.
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