Difference between Jinn and Angel

Discussion on doctrinal issues
Post Reply
nowroozalisabiti
Posts: 31
Joined: Sat Nov 11, 2006 5:29 am
Location: Afghanistan

Difference between Jinn and Angel

Post by nowroozalisabiti »

YAM
Is there any diffrence between Jinn and Angel? Some people say that Jinn is a phsical creation and is unvisible from the sight of human beings. And Angel is just a soul.
kmaherali
Posts: 25707
Joined: Thu Mar 27, 2003 3:01 pm

Post by kmaherali »

The following is a useful and interesting expalnation from Cyril Glasse's "The Concise Encyclopedia of Islam".

Jinn (from which the English word genie). The inhabitants of the subtle and immaterial - or subtly material — world, the 'alam al-malakut into which the material and physical world is plunged, as into a liquid. If we picture a room in our mind, the "medium" in which that imagined room exists supports form, but is itself subtle; it is the 'alam al malakut. In traditional cosmology, the physical world is a "crystallization", or projection, out of the subtle world, the "ether"; the "ether" is a projection out of the surrounding formless, or Angelic, world; and the Angelic world is projected out of Being (see FIVE DIVINE PRESENCES).

Jinn are the inhabitants of the subtle world, some of whom are "non-central" beings like the non-human creatures of this world, whilst others are "central" beings, like men, jinn with free will, endowed with the Intellect and capable of grasping Reality, and thus capable of being saved. The jinn who occupy this central state have therefore religions and
revelations, and some of their religions correspond to the religions of the world of men.

During the Prophet's journey to Ta'if he recited the Koran at night in the desert and a party ot the jinn came, listened, and believed. Later their chiefs came to the Prophet and made a bay'ah, or an allegiance, with him on the spot which is today the "Mosque of the Jinn" in Mecca.

Satan, considered to he a jinn who was originally an Angel, forfeited his Angelic nature by disobeying God. Angels, who belong to the formless world, the 'alum al-jabarut, and are formless as the odors of perfumes, have to take on a subtle nature in order to appear to men. In other words, they take on a substance of the subtle world, which is formal (in that what exists in that world has "form") and then they assume a visible "form". For example, magnetic helds are only "visible" when they work upon a substance that responds to them, and if Angels appear, they must do so in an "ethereal" form.

The Koran says that the jinn were created of "smokeless fire" (55:15) whereas man was created of clay, as by a potter; the Angels are created of light. Some Jinn are friendly to mankind, and others hostile; some are beautiful, and others, the 'ifrit and ghul (from which the word ghoul derives), are hideous. Solomon is famed for his power to command the jinn to his bidding, in building the temple, and in the working of prodigies (38:37-41). Islamic lore says, moreover, that the lives of certain jinn are incomparably longer than human lifetimes, and that there are jinn alive today in the subtle world who were alive in the time of the Prophet.

Sometimes the Koran addresses men and jinn together, as in the Surah ar-Rahman which is directed throughout to that duality. It says: "O ye two having weight" (thaqlain), meaning the two species of creation having form (55:31): and "O company of jinn and men, if ye are able to pass beyond the regions of the heavens and the earth, then pass beyond! Ye shall not pass, except by authority. Which then, of the favors ot your Lord, do the two of you deny?"

(55:33-34). Sec also ANGELS.

There has also been discussion on this subject in this forum at:

Doctrines --> Angels.
From_Alamut
Posts: 666
Joined: Tue Jan 22, 2008 8:22 am

Post by From_Alamut »

Can Iblis be Jinn too since they both made of fire without flame?
Where can Jinns be found? As, I heard from people, they can only be found in Jingals and the mountains, but now days, they too can be found in the cities and towns. I heard they will only harass only those people who are lack of faith and those who doesn't do Ibadat. WHERE WILL BE IBLIS NOW? Doesn't he dies? Or he lives until the end of the world?
goldfaizi
Posts: 74
Joined: Tue Feb 21, 2006 4:16 am

Post by goldfaizi »

Can Iblis be Jinn too since they both made of fire without flame?
Where can Jinns be found? As, I heard from people, they can only be found in Jingals and the mountains, but now days, they too can be found in the cities and towns. I heard they will only harass only those people who are lack of faith and those who doesn't do Ibadat. WHERE WILL BE IBLIS NOW? Doesn't he dies? Or he lives until the end of the world?
From_Alamut according to my point of view evil is present everywhere except holy places. You must know that Iblis was an angel of Allah, when Allah made human being and order all his angel to fall down their heads, Oblis denied to do it. Oblis said that Allah you have made me by fire and human being is made by sand. I am more superior then human being why should i fall down my head? I can't do it. Allah said that Now i am making you evil because you haven't followed my order/instruction. Our naf's is evil. I think there are 2 kinds of evils. First one which is our nafs. Second one those evil who lives in Mountains, Jungles, Trees etc.
Make me correct if i did mistake.

Goldfaizi.
kmaherali
Posts: 25707
Joined: Thu Mar 27, 2003 3:01 pm

Post by kmaherali »

From_Alamut wrote:Can Iblis be Jinn too since they both made of fire without flame?
Where can Jinns be found? As, I heard from people, they can only be found in Jingals and the mountains, but now days, they too can be found in the cities and towns. I heard they will only harass only those people who are lack of faith and those who doesn't do Ibadat. WHERE WILL BE IBLIS NOW? Doesn't he dies? Or he lives until the end of the world?
There have been discussions on this issue in the two threads below.

Doctrines --> Did Hazar Imam ever perform an exorcism?

http://www.ismaili.net/html/modules.php ... rits+jesus

Doctrines --> Ghost

http://www.ismaili.net/html/modules.php ... 31&start=0
From_Alamut
Posts: 666
Joined: Tue Jan 22, 2008 8:22 am

Post by From_Alamut »

Ya 'ALI' Madad

I have asked Mumtaz Ali the Ismaili scholar about Jinns and other stuffs too, here he gave me some reply which I would like to share with my Jamat to help them in order that they may have a further understanding of Jinns "the creation of ALLAH(swt)".

Before creation of Adam, there existed jinn and angels. Jinn elevated in their worship to such extent that one among them became superior than the angels, and he became the head of the angels. This jinn was Iblis, whose creation originated from fire. When God resolved to created human beings on earth, the angels were commanded to accept the superiority of the human being (means to bow before him), the angels followed but Iblis didnt, arguing that he would not bow before the dust because he himself was made from fire. He did not understand that both natures of the angel and jinn (light and fire) were in human being. He disobeyed and was turned out by God. Human is taught to follow the nature of angel or worship in such manner to become angel, not of jinn. This was the first lesson of the religion on earth for the human beings. Become angels, not jinns. Hence, the jinns began to harass the human being from being becoming them angels through worship. When their power became more on earth, Prophet Suleman (Solomon) was appointed for them and gradually their power became weak. They resided in barren lands, hardly in the cities, and now their existence became so weak that the people in the cities does not bring faith on their existence. In mountainous areas or desert, the jinns reside calmly and sometimes they harrass the human whose heart is weak due to lack of belief and faith. Presently, the world is different from the old world, therefore, we have been told from one to another generation about the stories of jinns. Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah has said, "Wherever is angels (in the form of men), there is no existence of the jinns."
kmaherali
Posts: 25707
Joined: Thu Mar 27, 2003 3:01 pm

Post by kmaherali »

From_Alamut wrote: Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah has said, "Wherever is angels (in the form of men), there is no existence of the jinns." [/b]
Can you provide reference for this Farman?

MSMS says in The Memoirs:

"Islam acknowledges the existence of angels, of great souls who have developed themselves to the highest possible planes of the human soul and higher, and who are centres of the forces which are scattered throughout the Universe. Without going as far as Christianity, Islam recognizes the existence of evil spirits which seek by means of their secret suggestions to us to turn us from good, from that straight way traced by God's finger for the eternal happiness of the humblest as of the greatest-Abraham, Jesus, Mohammed."

We say in our prayers: 'I seek refuge in God from Shaitan and Jinns' don't we?
kmaherali
Posts: 25707
Joined: Thu Mar 27, 2003 3:01 pm

Post by kmaherali »

A Castle Receives a Weekly Delivery of Delhi’s Secret Desires

NEW DELHI — Those wishing to know the secret desires of the people of Delhi can find them here, in petitions pinned to the wall of a 14th-century castle, addressed to supernatural beings created of smokeless fire.

The people who pour into Firoz Shah Kotla every Thursday hold a variety of views about the djinn, or genies, wish-fulfilling but capricious creatures described in Islamic cosmology and “The Arabian Nights.”

There are those who believe that djinn take the form of talking crows, or airborne fireballs, or bearded men in white robes. Some contend that they number 40,000, and that they have their own prime minister, or that they register their presence with a peculiar scent.

Everyone agrees that djinn are very fast readers, which is good, because by sunset on Thursdays, when the humans stream out of the castle onto the Grand Trunk Road and leave the premises to their rightful owners, they are drowning in paperwork.

“Oh Allah, my sister should never talk nonsense and should not answer back,” reads one letter, left for a famously magnanimous djinn known as Nanhe Miyan, or “Little Mister.”

One female applicant, after some prefatory flattery, asks Little Mister to knock down the charges against her sons so that they can make bail. Another asks the djinn to provide for the construction of a new latrine, and also to do something about her husband’s disposition.

“Please seal his lips,” the letter reads. “He spits dirty abuses. He should become gentle and stop consuming liquor. He should not keep bad company. He wastes money like anything.”

And so it goes. A woman clad all in white, who estimates her age at 80, or possibly 90, visits every Thursday to petition for improvements in her “three nasty daughters-in-law.” A snub-nosed tailor from Old Delhi visits when he is racking his brain, unable to complete an especially difficult dress, and wondering why he calls himself a tailor at all.

“When I go home, I find that I can make the dress,” he said happily. “That happens because of the djinn.”

Delhi has been reinvented so many times by so many powers that it can be difficult to know where its heart is — in the edifices left behind by the British or the austere medieval tombs of the Mughals. By comparison, there is nothing so extraordinary about the ruins of the castle, built by the sultan Firoz Shah Tughlaq, now squeezed between a cricket stadium and the Ring Road, except that they have survived the metastasis of the city for 700 years.

But if you sit long enough on a Thursday, you can see the past in living people. Anand Vivek Taneja, an anthropologist at Vanderbilt University who is writing a book about djinn veneration here, traces the letter-writing tradition to a form of governance that was common in 14th-century Delhi, when royal guards were removed and subjects were allowed to enter the palace to directly petition the Tughlaq sultan.

And it is true: The letters to the djinn are more bureaucratic than worshipful, often requesting action where human governance has disappointed. They include detailed contact information and are often photocopied and deposited in multiple alcoves, as if addressed to the different departments of a modern bureaucracy, Mr. Taneja says. Some petitioners put copies of police reports for the djinn’s reference.

Then, after the Thursday crowd has come and gone, the groundskeepers collect the letters into a huge pile and burn them. The crowds seem to swell every year, encountering neither assistance nor interference from the state.

Technically, religious practice is forbidden at properties like this one that are overseen by the Archaeological Survey of India, said Praveen Kumar, a caretaker. “But if we tried to stop them ...” He gestured helplessly. “There are so many of them,” he said. “There will be a riot the moment we try to stop them.”

Among the most faithful is Shyam Lal, 63, who has been coming on Thursdays for 45 years. He credits the djinn with a series of wondrous occurrences, including the great luck of getting a job with the Railways in 1973 and the blessing of his retirement in 2012. He acknowledged, with a shrug, that he is Hindu, as are many of the visitors.

The letters can include detailed contact information and are often photocopied and deposited in multiple alcoves, as if addressed to the different departments of a modern bureaucracy.“I know djinn are Muslim, but I have faith,” he said. “I don’t care. The distinctions are meaningless.”

Last year, after his son and daughter-in-law were catastrophically wounded in a motorcycle accident, Mr. Lal’s requests to the djinn were reduced to one: That, though his daughter-in-law had died, his son, Deepak, a 34-year-old software executive, should somehow live. To pay for treatment, Mr. Lal sold his house. He lost 37 pounds. He came to the djinn every Thursday.

In March, after Mr. Lal had emptied his savings to pay for 10 months of care, Deepak died. Asked if the djinn had failed him, Mr. Lal replied that the thought had not occurred to him. Instead, he noted a piece of amazing luck. On the day of the accident, perhaps because it was so hot, his son and daughter-in-law had left their baby at home.

“We see our son in that child,” he said. “We spend the whole day with him.”

It was getting late. Shadows were slanting down over the blackened walls of the castle, and in a row of cavernous, smoke-filled alcoves where people go to establish contact with the djinn, bats chirped at frequencies inaudible to the human ear. Mr. Lal stirred and rose to his feet; he was expected home for dinner.

“Now I will take my scooter and I will go to my home,” he said. “I cannot say what will happen tomorrow.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/09/world ... d=71987722
Post Reply