JINN AND THE UNSEEN REALITY

Every civilization, whether past or present, has myths and legends about intelligent, willful entities beyond the human world. Everyone knows about angels, demons, fairies, elves, trolls, and the like. A few weeks ago there was a U.S. congressional hearing about nonhuman intelligence and unidentified anomalous phenomena. The modern world has a scientific outlook, which means that intelligent life has to be on the same horizontal plane of physical reality to be taken seriously by the powers that be. So when you're talking about space aliens, multiverses, and other dimensions, it's all in the same material "space" as us—an extension of our physical reality. If they didn't belong to our physics, they couldn't be objects of modern science. But modern science has nothing to say about other qualitative realms and metaphysical spaces that are non-physical; although traditional societies have lots to say about unseen, immeasurable spiritual worlds.

The Nature of Jinn

According to Islamic and pre-Islamic Arabic thought, the jinn are intelligent life created before humans, made elementally from a fire that has no smoke. They exist mainly in nonphysical space but can materialize in the human world. The main texts of the Islamic religion, the Quran and Hadîth (pr. ha-deeth), affirm the jinn's transphysical reality without much elaboration. Much of the Islamic world's understanding of jinn comes from folklore and legends. Stories about the jinn suggest that when they materialize in our world, they have characteristics of energy, capable of moving at lightspeed, able to pass through walls, formless but able to collapse to singular forms when necessary. These physical characteristics are shared with energy, such as radio waves that we use to send signals such as internet wifi or cell phone connectivity, coming through the walls wherever you may be. Some people have posited that jinn manifests in our physical world on the energy spectrum.

Etymology and Meaning

The term jinn, also spelled djinn, comes from the Arabic language. Its etymological root means to conceal or hide something from the eye. So, for example, a shield in Arabic is called mejen because a person hides behind it from the enemy. The term jeneen describes an embryo in the mother's womb, as it is hidden and concealed from the outside world. The verb jen-na means enveloping by the darkness of the night. The noun jannah is Islam's name for Heaven, literally meaning a garden enclosed by a surrounding wall—so outsiders cannot see in, nor can insiders see out. Thus, the term jinn refers to a category of nonhuman living beings who are normally invisible to human sight.

Beyond the Physical World

Human beings do not see jinn because they live in a world that is outside or beyond the physical world but at the same time can touch and affect the physical world in certain circumstances. Einstein referred to "spooky action at a distance" to explain the results of experiments that showed linked particles communicating faster than light speed. After Einstein, the famous physicist Wolfgang Smith invoked a corporeal realm above and beyond the physical realm, like a kind of spiritual reality in which the particles' Platonic archetypes communicated instantaneously. Such a metaphysical reality would be out of modern science's reach, so to explain this spooky action at a distance, physicists invented the multiverse and hypotheses about state-vector collapses and faster-than-light travel.

Stories and Folklore

Many different stories of jinn circulate among families, communities, and cultures. Aladdin represents a jinn story that's gone global. Other stories such as "The Fisherman and the Genie" tell us of a jinn being, known commonly as a genie, grateful for being released from his copper bottle after years of captivity. Recounting the jinn's intentions of rewarding his rescuer followed by his becoming so weary that he resolved to kill whoever released him, the story cautions us about jinn's intelligence and psycho-physical states, warning us that they do not belong among us. The fisherman uses trickery to get the genie back into the bottle: "I'll only believe it [the jinn's ability to fit into the bottle] when I see it with my own eyes"—the power of reverse psychology! Then he threw the jinn in the bottle back out to sea.

"I'll only believe it when I see it with my own eyes" - The Fisherman and the Genie

Solomon's Power Over Jinn

According to folklore, the jinn's confinement in said bottle happened because of the Prophet Solomon. According to the Islamic tradition, God gave Solomon power over the jinn. As some of the jinn remained true to Solomon and God, others resisted and rebelled. To punish the evil ones, Solomon used his power to trap them in various flasks/bottles. Thus the warning is that when a person discovers a jinn trapped somewhere, releasing the jinn does not automatically guarantee one a grateful, wish-granting servant. Instead, you may have to fight cleverly to save your life.

Human Encounters with Jinn

Encounters between humans and jinn seldom happen, and from the human perspective, can be terrifying. Both Islamic and Christian traditions accept the possibility of jinn possessing human beings in exceptional circumstances, which has to do with their habitual inhabitation of psycho-spiritual spaces. Several ayats (verses) of the Holy Quran have some form of protection from jinn who seek to harm. When they manifest in the physical world, jinn is known for inhabiting places that are not often visited by humans, desolate places such as caves, deserted ruins, graveyards, and spots of continual darkness.

The Prophet Muhammad and the Jinn

The Islamic tradition does contain a few authenticated accounts of interactions between the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and spiritual beings, whether angels or jinn. On a return trip from the town of Ta'if, the Islamic Prophet passed near a small valley called Wadi-e Jinn. As he passed the area, he chose to stay overnight there as there remained a long way to his destination. Before dawn, the Prophet began to perform his prayers and recite verses of the Holy Quran. There were jinn inhabiting that valley who heard the Prophet's recitation. They were captivated and approached the Prophet. They communicated with him and asked to hear more Quranic recitation. Shocked by the scripture's beauty, they told the Prophet they had never heard anything like it.

Jinn, Magic, and Free Will

Because jinn possess both intelligence and will, they can be either well-intentioned or ill-intentioned. They can embrace religion—in fact, the Quran sometimes addresses them directly. Or due to complicated factors, they can stand in opposition to religion or any human embrace of religion. There are folkloric and family hand-me-down stories of jinn who delighted in tormenting humans, often in retribution for harm done unwittingly. Jinn has been said to be responsible for the sudden circulation of disease and all kinds of freak accidents. Magic in Islam is said to be impossible without the aid of jinn. Incantations, rituals, and other formulae are the price humans must pay in subordinating themselves to jinn who agree to help the magician or sorcerer perform supernatural or superhuman feats. Thus, human beings knowing magic can exploit jinn to their advantage, although the Islamic tradition warns that in those situations it is jinn who are exploiting human beings for sport.

The Imaginal World

It is fascinating to consider there are veiled worlds beyond our own, existing right here and now, but beyond the power of our eyes to see—that's where the jinn usually are. Early Islamic thought was quite familiar with Plato's world of forms, which Plato posited as the highest and most real, while the physical world is at the bottom of this hierarchy, being less real and more subject to change and imperfection. The great Islamic philosopher and mystic Ibn Arabi, known in Latin as Doctor Maximus, introduced the concept of an "imaginal world" as an intermediate realm between the physical world and the spiritual world. It is called "imaginal" because it is not purely physical or material, nor is it purely spiritual; rather, it is a realm of images, archetypes, and symbolic representations. It is the realm of literal dreams, the psychic space where humans intrude into Jinns' space.

Conclusion

Every civilization and culture has a different interpretation of supernatural beings. Some have their perception of evil entities that exist in the other realm – demons. Simply watch a Japanese anime or Korean drama about demon slaying or a Western film about exorcism. Islam views itself as the final revelation that unifies and clarifies all previous religions and traditions, at once perennial and primordial, the Islamic explanation of jinn serves the same purpose in bringing out and explaining the nature (or super-nature) of the diversity of nonhuman beings such as fairies and ghosts. As with so many modern ideas, unidentified anomalous phenomena and alternative dimensions end up being science-sounding shadows of metaphysical realities long known to the world's nonmodern traditions.