Satanic Tactics: Jinn

Walking the path to Allah is a type of war and its battlefield is the heart. To win, we must strengthen our army – our soul, and weaken the enemy – our lower-self and the devil. This is the second in a series of articles on Satanic Tricks: Seven Tricks of the Devil. 

Satan was amongst the jinn. The jinn are a different type of creation of Allah. Iblis rebelled against the command of His Lord. Allah calls Satan, Iblis. He is from the jinn, not from the angels.

In some other religious traditions, the devil is seen as a fallen angel, an angel who went bad. That is not a part of our creed as Muslims. Another wrong belief about Satan is that Satan is the god of evil. We do not have those types of beliefs. There is only One God. 

Part of our belief is that all evil and good are by divine decree only from Allah, and it is not from the creation, let alone from Satan. So Satan is not seen as the opposite of God because an opposite is a type of comparison and God is outside of the scope of any comparison. Comparing the Uncreated to the created is foolish.

Jinn Created from Fire

The jinn are created from fire. Allah says:

وَخَلَقَ ٱلْجَآنَّ مِن مَّارِجٍۢ مِّن نَّارٍۢ

“And jinnkind He created from a pure flickering flame of fire” [Quran 55:15; tr. Keller, Quran Beheld]

The jinn were created from the tips of the fire. When the flames are going, the tip is constantly moving around on the top,  The top is the highest point of the flame. They are created from that. If you look at it, you’ll see a kind of snake-like feature. 

The angels and the jinn are both able to change shapes. It is mentioned in the Sira that at the Battle of Badr, an old man came to the people of Quraysh and encouraged them to go out and fight even more. That was Satan.

In Ramadan, the devils are chained up. The rebellious amongst them are chained up, but not all of them. Satan himself is not necessarily chained up because Badr occurred on the 17th of Ramadan.

The Battle of Badr

When the Quraysh were trying to figure out what to do with Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace), this old man from Najd gave this idea that the young children from each tribe should all attack the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) at the same time, sharing the blood and the responsibility amongst all of the tribes, which would not lead to a war, because it would be impossible. You’d have to attack everyone. 

Generally, the encouragement is to not in any way, shape or form, interact with the jinn. The encouragement to the humans is to live their lives as a human and not interact with the jinn to the extent that is possible.

Certain etiquettes are recommended for humans to protect them from not falling into interacting with the others. If a person eats some chicken or something, when they throw away the bones, the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “It is the provision of your brethren of the jinn.” There are narrations that if you say, Bismillah, it will go to the Muslims of the jinn. But if you do not, then it will go to the evil.

Avoid Interaction

There are many hadith that each person has jinn accompanying them and if a person were to say, when they enter their home, Bismillah, then they have no share in that home. They cannot spend the night in that home. So they have no shelter. If they say Bismillah when they eat, jinn have no portion of the food. If they say Bismillah when they drink, jinn have no portion of the drink. The same thing with clothing and other things. 

One jinn who is quite plump and well-kept and healthy looking sees this other dishevelled jinn and says, “What’s wrong with you?” So the disheveled one said, “I’ve been appointed to someone who always says the name of Allah every time he enters the house so I have nowhere to sleep. Every time he eats, I have nothing to eat.” As for the other one, that human never said Bismillah. This is in a different realm that we do not see. 

The encouragement is to avoid interaction as much as possible. 

If someone is pouring hot liquids down a drain or something, they should say Bismillah first. There are many different things like that, which we tend to overlook. Allah says in the Quran, and this is actually in the context of the Battle of Badr:

وَإِذْ زَيَّنَ لَهُمُ ٱلشَّيْطَـٰنُ أَعْمَـٰلَهُمْ وَقَالَ لَا غَالِبَ لَكُمُ ٱلْيَوْمَ مِنَ ٱلنَّاسِ وَإِنِّى جَارٌۭ لَّكُمْ ۖ

“And mention when the Devil decked out fair their works to them, an told them, ‘No man shall defeat you this day, and I am your avowed defender.’” [Quran, 8:48; tr. Keller, Quran Beheld]

But Allah says:

یَـٰبَنِیۤ ءَادَمَ لَا یَفۡتِنَنَّكُمُ ٱلشَّیۡطَـٰنُ كَمَاۤ أَخۡرَجَ أَبَوَیۡكُم مِّنَ ٱلۡجَنَّةِ یَنزِعُ عَنۡهُمَا لِبَاسَهُمَا لِیُرِیَهُمَا سَوۡءَ ٰ تِهِمَاۤۚ إِنَّهُۥ یَرَىٰكُمۡ هُوَ وَقَبِیلُهُۥ مِنۡ حَیۡثُ لَا تَرَوۡنَهُمۡۗ إِنَّا جَعَلۡنَا ٱلشَّیَـٰطِینَ أَوۡلِیَاۤءَ لِلَّذِینَ لَا یُؤۡمِنُونَ

“O children of Adam: Never let the Devil tempt you, as he took your two parents out of paradise, when he rent from them their clothes to expose them their shameful parts. Verily he and his and see you from whence you see them not. Truly We have made devils the fond masters of those who will not believe” [Quran, 7:27; tr. Keller, Quran Beheld] 

Your two parents, meaning Adam and Eve. 

Just like there are righteous and corrupt humans, Muslim and non-Muslim humans, the same thing applies to the jinn. There are righteous Muslim jinn. In the Chapter of the Jinn, the jinn are quoted by Allah to say:  

وَأَنَّا مِنَّا ٱلصَّـٰلِحُونَ وَمِنَّا دُونَ ذَ ٰلِكَۖ 

“‘And verily some of us had been truly righteous, and some had been otherwise” [Quran, 72:11; tr. Keller, Quran Beheld]