The Holy Qur’an relates in Chapter 18, verse 51, concerning Iblis that
“He (Iblis) was one of the jinn (a secret creation); then he chose to disobey God’s order.”
We also read in Chapter 51, verse 57, that
“I have created the jinn and men only that they may serve Me.”
So who and what are Jinn?
Many people believe (due mainly to the stories in Arabian Nights) that Jinn are mighty and powerful Genies (as depicted in the film Aladdin). This concept of jinn that they are ghost like creatures which are part human and part hobgoblin and can adopt as many shapes and forms as they please is largely superstitious. Some people feel that they are particularly prone to haunt and possess women and the weak and that they can be mastered and pressed into service and perform fantastic tasks at their command, such as materialising anything they like out of thin air and can be trapped in a lamp, but this is just human fantasy. But it can sometimes be very dangerous. There was a case only a few years ago in England, where a Muslim religious leader beat a poor woman to death, believing that she was possessed by an evil jinn!
The word Jinn means he covered up or concealed, invisibility, seclusion and remoteness. It has a wide variety of applications in the Islamic teachings. It has been used to mean snakes, which live a life secluded from other animals and tries to remain hidden from common view. Jinn can also be applied to women who observe segregation and to such chieftains who keep their distance from the common people. It could also relate to people who live in remote places like in the mountains. In other words it could be used to describe anything which lies beyond the reach of common sight.
The Holy Prophet Muhammad, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, strongly admonished people not to use dried up lumps of dung or bones of dead animals for cleaning themselves after attending the call of nature because they are food for the jinn. Here jinn could refer to ants or even bacteria. There are also many verses in the Holy Qur’an which refer to powerful people; people of great influence and authority. We also understand that jinn are made of fire. They may be some kind of spiritual being similar to angels which Allah has created, maybe Iblis was from this kind of jinn, but of these kind of jinn, we know very little about. Certainly the Holy Qur’an does not support the idea that there is some sort of creation which ‘occupies’ women, or whose service can be utilised through charms for gaining another person’s love, etc. These seem to be superstitious tales used on the ignorant to play on their weaknesses.
CAN WE HAVE CONTACT WITH GHOSTS, SPIRITS ETC?
The question that has most probably come to your mind is ‘what about ghosts and spirits, can we contact them, can they possess us? According to the Holy Qur’an, the traditions of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, and the experience of many pious saints, it is possible for a person to communicate with the souls of the dead, but only through visions.
The Holy Qur’an states in Chapter 23, verse 100-101:
“Until when death comes to one of them, he says entreating, ‘My Lord, send me back, that I may do righteous deeds in the life that I have left behind’. Never, it is but a word that he utters. And behind them is a barrier until the day when they shall be raised again.”
Here is a very clear declaration of the Holy Qur’an that they, ‘the parted souls‘, shall never return back to this world. However, it is possible that they can ‘return’ in a vision. There has been numerous incidents when conversation took place between man and a vision of a soul. The body or the soul does not return, but like in your dreams when you meet people and talk to them, but they are not there, it is a dream; likewise, the same can happen in a waking vision or Kashf. In a vision what is seen is not the actual thing or being, but you may converse with the vision or form of the person.