The Angels and the Jinn
By Bilal Philips | 2026-01-15T18:25:08.367471+00:00 | Topic: Iman
Khutbah: The Angels and the Jinn
By Dr. Bilal Philips
Opening Greetings
السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ
(بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ - bismillahir-rahmanir-rahim)
"Say: I seek refuge with Allah, the Lord of mankind, the King of mankind, the God of mankind, from the evil of the whisperer who withdraws, who whispers in the breasts of mankind, of jinn and mankind."
Khutbah al-Hajah (Opening Sermon)
"All praise is due to Allah. We praise Him, seek His help and forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our souls and our bad deeds. Whomever Allah guides, none can misguide, and whomever He allows to go astray, none can guide. I bear witness that there is no god worthy of worship except Allah alone, with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger."
"O you who believe! Fear Allah as He should be feared, and die not except in a state of Islam."
"O mankind! Fear your Lord, who created you from a single soul, and from it created its mate, and from them both scattered many men and women. And fear Allah through whom you demand your mutual rights, and do not cut the relations of the wombs. Surely, Allah is Ever an All-Watcher over you."
"O you who believe! Keep your duty to Allah and speak words of truth. He will direct you to do righteous good deeds and will forgive you your sins. And whosoever obeys Allah and His Messenger, he has indeed achieved a great success."
أَمَّا بَعْدُ، فَإِنَّ أَصْدَقَ الْحَدِيثِ كِتَابُ اللهِ ، وَخَيْرَ الْهَدْيِ هَدْيُ مُحَمَّدٍ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ، وَشَرَّ الْأُمُورِ مُحْدَثَاتُهَا ، وَكُلَّ مُحْدَثَةٍ بِدْعَةٌ، وَكُلَّ بِدْعَةٍ ضَلَالَةٌ، وَكُلَّ ضَلَالَةٍ فِي النَّارِ
"To proceed: The truest speech is the Book of Allah, and the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (peace be upon him). The worst of affairs are the newly-invented matters, and every innovation is misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire."
Introduction
الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ، وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى رَسُولِ الْكَرِيمِ، وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ، وَمَنِ اسْتَنَّ بِسُنَّتِهِ إِلَى يَوْمِ الدِّينِ
All praise is due to Allah, and may Allah's peace and blessings be on the last Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) and on all those who follow the path of righteousness until the last day.
Part One: The World of the Angels
The Pillars of Faith
This evening's topic continues our series on the pillars of Iman (faith). We will be covering the world of the angels and the jinn. This is a topic which is often neglected when Islam is being presented. When the system of beliefs is being presented, it tends to be glossed over. As such, people tend to rely on folklore, myths, and misunderstandings as their source of knowledge in this area.
Belief in the Angels
First, the world of the angels. It is a part of Islamic faith to believe in the angels. What this means fundamentally is belief in their existence, and whatever Allah has revealed in the Quran and the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) has clarified to us about them with regards to their names, their attributes, and their roles. This is the basic belief that Muslims are obliged to accept.
Why Did Allah Create Angels?
For those who would question: Because as we're going to look at the world of the angels, and we see that they have such an intricate role within our own world, why did Allah need to have angels do the things that they have been assigned to do? We may as well ask: Why did Allah have the force of gravity governing certain bodies in
this life? Or other forces or laws of thermodynamics? Or biochemical principles? Why did Allah have these things?
Because surely Allah could have others. There could be other principles or other laws governing different aspects of nature. Similarly, if Allah had wished, He could have had other creatures or other principles governing the things that we now know as those governed by angels. However, Allah chose to have the force of gravity, and He chose to have angels. And that's the bottom line. He knows what is best, and what He has created is the best that could be created.
The Creation of Angels
He informed us about the world of the angels, though we would not be able to discover this world through our own scientific means. He informed us about this world for a particular reason. When we look at the relationship between the world of the angels and the human world, we can see what is the wisdom behind us knowing about the world of the angels.
First and foremost, we should understand that the angels are created from light. This is not stated in the Quran. This is stated in the Sunnah in Sahih Muslim.
Hadith: Aisha, the daughter of Abu Bakr and the third wife of Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said that Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) had said:
خُلِقَتِ الْمَلَائِكَةُ مِنْ نُورٍ، وَخُلِقَ الْجَانُّ مِنْ مَارِجٍ مِنْ نَارٍ، وَخُلِقَ آدَمُ مِمَّا وُصِفَ لَكُمْ
"The angels were created from light, the jinn from fire, and Adam from what has already been described to you."
(Sahih Muslim)
Three Species of Intelligent Beings
The angels and the jinn represent two separate beings from the spiritual world. From the Islamic perspective, there are three different species of intelligent beings: mankind, the angels, and the jinn. All of these having essentially a spiritual base. Human beings, though they may be visible and function in the visible world, their souls inhabit the world of invisible and rational beings.
Angels Taking Human Form
Now, the angels, though invisible to us normally, we did mention in the previous session with regards to Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) and the prophets, that the revelation which was brought by Angel Gabriel (Jibreel), sometimes was brought when Angel Gabriel was in the form of a man. On occasion, that man was visible to the companions themselves. On other occasions, he wasn't.
However, there are amongst Allah's creatures those who are able to see the angels even when they are invisible.
Hadith: Abu Huraira reported in a narration collected by Abu Dawood and also found in Sahih Bukhari and Muslim:
إِذَا سَمِعْتُمْ صِيَاحَ الدِّيَكَةِ فَاسْأَلُوا اللهَ مِنْ فَضْلِهِ، فَإِنَّهَا رَأَتْ مَلَكًا
"If you hear a rooster crow, ask Allah for His grace, for it has seen an angel."
(Sahih Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Abu Dawood)
The Form of Angels
The general form of the angels is not as portrayed in the Greco-Roman legends, where angels like Cupid appear as little babies with wings on their backs flying around with a bow and arrow, or as a man walking around with a pair of bird-like wings on his back. When the angel appeared in the form of a man, he was a man, not with any wings. But Allah has described the angels as having wings.
The wings, we should not think of in terms of human terms or in terms of the wings of birds. Because Allah has described in the Quran, in Surah Fatir, chapter 35, verse 1:
"All praise is due to Allah, the Originator of the heavens and the earth, Who made the angels messengers with wings - two, three, or four. He increases in the creation as He wills. Indeed, Allah is over all things competent."
Hadith: Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, companion of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) reported that Allah's messenger had seen angel Gabriel in his natural state, in which he had 600 wings, each of which filled the horizon. And they were like multicolored drops of pearls and coral falling from the wings.
So the angels in their natural state are quite huge. In another narration, related by Jabir ibn Abdullah, with regards to the angels that carry the throne of Allah, Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said:
أُذِنَ لِي أَنْ أُحَدِّثَ عَنْ مَلَكٍ مِنْ مَلَائِكَةِ اللَّهِ مِنْ حَمَلَةِ الْعَرْشِ ، إِنَّ مَا بَيْنَ شَحْمَةِ أُذُنِهِ إِلَى عَاتِقِهِ مَسِيرَةُ سَبْعِمِائَةِ عَامٍ
"Allow me to speak about one of the throne bearers. The distance between his earlobe and shoulder is what a bird would fly in 700 years."
We're talking about a huge aspect of Allah's creation.
Gender of Angels
The angels, though they appeared in human form as males (because one of the appearances, the companions described that he looked like one of the companions whose name was Dihya al-Kalbi, and at other times he appeared like an unknown Bedouin), they are not considered to be either male or female. Nor is there any evidence in Islamic texts to indicate that they reproduce.
We have in Surah As-Saffat, verse 150, Allah saying:
أَمْ خَلَقْنَا الْمَلَائِكَةَ إِنَاثًا وَهُمْ شَاهِدُونَ
"Or did We create the angels as females while they were witnesses?"
(Quran 37:150)
This was rebuking the pagan Arabs for claiming that the angels were female.
Names of the Angels
With regards to the names of the angels, there are only eight names which have been authentically recorded in Islamic texts. There are many in folklore, but there are only eight authentic names:
- Jibreel (Gabriel) - the angel of revelation
- Mikail (Michael) - the angel responsible for rain
- Israfil - the angel who will blow the horn, signaling the end of the world
- Malik - the name of the guardian of Hell
- Munkar and Nakir - two angels who will question people in the grave
- Harut and Marut - two angels who were sent to the people of Babylon to test their faith
All of the other names that we hear of, such as Israeel and others, are either based on Israeli traditions (traditions taken out of the Bible, biblical sources), or they are based on weak narrations or fabricated narrations, or they are simply common folklore names which have been chosen.
Abilities of the Angels
With regards to the abilities of the angels, we have been informed that they are able to read human intent. They are able to understand what is going on in the human mind.
Hadith: Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) was quoted by Abu Huraira as saying:
تَقُولُ الْمَلَائِكَةُ لِلهِ: إِنَّ ذَلِكَ الْعَبْدَ يُرِيدُ أَنْ يَعْمَلَ سَيِّئَةً، وَهُوَ أَبْصَرُ بِهِ، فَيَقُولُ: ارْقُبُوهُ، فَإِنْ عَمِلَهَا فَاكْتُبُوهَا بِمِثْلِهَا، وَإِنْ تَرَكَهَا فَاكْتُبُوهَا لَهُ حَسَنَةً، فَإِنَّمَا تَرَكَهَا مِنْ جَرَّايَ
"The angels say to Allah that man intends to do evil, although He is more vigilant than them. He replies: 'Watch him. If he commits evil, record it in kind. But if he abandons it, record for him one good deed, for surely he gave it up for My sake.'"
(Sahih al-Bukhari)
So they have the ability to read the human mind. Virtually all of the movement and activities which take place in the world are under their command or under their control or under their influence. This is deduced from the
verse in which Allah said:
فَالْمُدَبِّرَاتِ أَمْرًا
"And those who arrange [each] matter."
And other verses where Allah's command throughout the creation, because everything is by His command, is assigned to the angels.
Angels Assigned to Human Beings
They are also assigned to every human being from the time that they are formed in the womb to the time of birth.
(Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim)
"Allah the Exalted and Glorious has appointed an angel as the caretaker of the womb that says: 'My Lord, it is like an oily drop. My Lord, it is now like a leech. My Lord, it has become like a clump of chewed flesh.' Then if Allah wishes to complete its creation, the angel will ask: 'My Lord, will it be male or female?'"
(Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim)
"When the fetus reaches the beginning of the fifth month, the angel breathes the soul into him. At that same time, four things are recorded: his livelihood, his life span, his deeds, whether he'll be wretched or happy."
Besides that, each person has an angel assigned to him, or who may vary (not necessarily the same angel all the time), but an angel is with him throughout his life, encouraging him to good and guarding him from evil. This is part of that consciousness that we spoke of earlier, in terms of the human being having a consciousness of good and evil.
(Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim)
"Every one of you has been assigned a companion among the jinn, and one from the angels."
These angels who are with us encourage us to good, put good suggestions in our minds, and counteract the evil suggestions which would come from the evil source of the jinn.
Recording Angels
There are also two angels who are assigned to recording deeds. These are the ones most people know about. We can find in Surah Al-Infitar, verses 10 and 11:
وَإِنَّ عَلَيْكُمْ لَحَافِظِينَ . كِرَامًا كَاتِبِينَ
"Verily, there is assigned to you protectors, or guarders, guardians, who are noble and who record your deeds."
Outside of this, we have angels throughout our life span. These angels who are with us recording are constantly with us. The angels which are assigned as a support to us, which are giving us good thoughts, at sometimes, this angel may leave us.
(Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim)
"Angels do not enter a house in which there is a dog, or pictures, or statues of living beings."
Because the recording angels will not leave you at any time, we shouldn't think (or some people might ignorantly feel) that they can avoid their deeds being recorded if they keep a dog with them all the time.
Angel of Death
With regards to a person dying, an angel is also assigned to take the soul at the time of death. When the person dies, that soul is passed over to angels in the next life. The angels who receive that soul take the soul on a particular journey. Then, two other angels will come back to it while it's in the grave, in that state of the grave, and question it concerning its Lord, the Prophet who was sent to it, and its religion.
Significance of Knowledge About Angels
That basically summarizes the information, basic information, that has been revealed to us concerning the angels. The significance of knowledge of the world of the angels is basically for human beings to know that all of their deeds are being recorded. Their thoughts are being monitored. This would help them to reflect before acting, because it is through acting hastily that we fall into sin.
(Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim)
"Deliberate, careful action is from Allah, and haste is from Satan."
Part Two: The World of the Jinn
Creation of the Jinn
Regarding the other world, which is the world of the jinn, we said that the jinn were created from fire. As we said previously, though the jinn are created from fire, we should not think of the jinn as being little wisps of fire that are puffing around the place. No, they were created from fire.
Some people ask: If there is hellfire, then how are the jinn going to be punished? How are they going to be punished if they're already fire? This is why we have to realize that though they were originally created from fire, as we human beings were originally created from clay, we do not think of ourselves as being clumps of clay walking around. We don't think of the jinn in terms of the origin from which they were created.
Though they were originally created from fire, they're no longer fire. As we can be harmed by the earth from which we are created (you can take a piece of clay, harden it, make a brick out of it, and kill somebody with it, though people were made from clay), similarly, the fire can still be a source of punishment, and is a source of punishment for the jinn who are evil, even though they were originally created from fire.
Jinn Created Before Mankind
The jinn were created on the earth before human beings. Allah mentioned this:
وَالْجَانَّ خَلَقْنَاهُ مِن قَبْلُ مِن نَّارِ السَّمُومِ
"And I created the jinn before that, from a fiery wind."
From the narrations from Prophet Muhammad, we know that they had populated the earth, and corruption had begun amongst them. This is why when Allah informed the angels that He would create man and put him on the earth (man who had a free will, as the jinn had), the angels questioned: "Would You put someone on the earth who would spread corruption and murder?" This was based on what they had observed of the jinn. Whereas Allah told them that He knew what they didn't know.
Three Types of Jinn
The jinn are divided into three basic types, with regards to their modes of existence.
(Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim)
"There are three types of jinn: one type which flies around in the air all the time, which can move within our world and outside of our world; another type which exists as snakes and dogs; and an earthbound type which resides in one place or wanders about, when it attaches itself to people or objects."
Faith Categories of Jinn
With regards to faith, as we mentioned, the jinn come in two categories as human beings: either believers or disbelievers. The munafiqun (hypocrites) are considered to be a class of disbelievers.
People are either believers or disbelievers. Believers may be disobedient, committing acts which are displeasing to God, but the faith is still there; they're still in the class of believers. One who goes out of that faith, disbelieving in God, rejecting God's message, revelation, rejecting the prophets, rejecting other deeds which God has prescribed for His creatures—such are classified as disbelievers.
The punishment for them is Hell, whether they are among the jinn or among mankind.
Control Over Jinn
With regards to control of the jinn, because this is an area which people tend to get off into with mythology and a lot of folklore (people tell stories about having these jinns doing this and that for them, and it's quite common in any part of the world), the fact is that no human being can gain control over the jinn.
This was something specially given to Prophet Sulaiman (Solomon). He made a dua which is mentioned in the Quran, in Surah As-Sad, verse 35:
رَبِّ اغْفِرْ لِي وَهَبْ لِي مُلْكًا لَّا يَنبَغِي لِأَحَدٍ مِّن بَعْدِي إِنَّكَ أَنتَ الْوَهَّابُ
"O my Lord, forgive me and bestow on me a kingdom not allowed to anyone after me."
Control, dominion over the jinn, this was given as a miracle to Prophet Sulaiman, and to none after him.
(Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim)
"Verily an ifrit (a more powerful type among the jinn) spat on me last night, trying to break my prayer. However, Allah let me overpower him, and I wanted to tie him to one of the columns in the masjid so you all could see him in the morning. Then I remembered my brother Sulaiman's prayer: 'O my Lord, forgive me and bestow on me a kingdom not allowed to anyone after me.'"
So Prophet Muhammad was able to keep the jinn off him, to restrain it, but not to control it. Anyone who tells you that they have this jinn that is under their control, you know right away that this is not true.
What can happen instead is that a contract can be made. The relationship with the evil world of the jinn is through contract. There are no good jinns coming into our world and doing favors for us, because they are
banned from our world, as we are not allowed to interfere in their world; they are not allowed to interfere in our world. So it is only the evil among them that cross the barrier and interfere in our world.
Even though somebody will tell you, "Yes, I have this good jinn, he prepares food for me every day and cleans my house," if that is the case, the jinn (evil among them) may try to gain control over a human being by appearing to them to be in their favor and to be doing things for them initially, until they get their guard down, and then eventually they work them over into the area of shirk (polytheism). Because the main goal and effort on the part of the jinn is to draw human beings into disobedience of Allah, and ultimately into shirk.
Part Three: Fortune Telling and the Jinn
The Biggest Area of Havoc
The area in which the jinn play the biggest havoc in human life, in the human world, is in the area of fortune telling. This is one of the biggest areas, because human beings have a natural desire to want to know the future. Everybody wants to assure for himself or herself a good life. So knowing what is in the future would then give one an opportunity to insure for oneself good.
There have been people from the most ancient of times till today who sell information about the future. They come under the general heading of fortune tellers. Some of them are just guesswork, games, tricks. In fact, probably most of them are just guesswork. But there is a body among them that have given solid and reliable information, pieces of information which have made people believe in them as having these powers.
Those among them that have this type of information—we can understand how they can get this type of information by understanding the world of the jinn and its relationship to us. We have a verse in the Quran, or a number of verses, in which Allah speaks about the fact that the jinn, the class of them who are in the atmosphere and who move (can move in our world, outside of our world), go up to the lowest heavens, and there they steal a listening.
They listen in on what is discussed amongst the angels. When Allah commands angels, the commands go down through the heavens to the lowest heaven. As they discuss it amongst themselves, some among the jinn manage to reach up to the level of the lower heavens (not entering it, but up to that level) and hear some of that information. However, they are driven away from that by meteors, comets, etc. This is recorded in the Quran, in Surah Al-Jinn.
(Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim)
So the reality is that the information that these people convey will be a mixture of lies and a few truths. What happens with people in general is that when they hear the predictions of a fortune teller, all of the information
goes into their subconscious. The false information, which is not confirmed by having taken place, is forgotten. Whereas the one thing which they tell them which is true, which takes place, the person remembers that. This is reinforced by the information which was initially given. Then the person will swear by that person: "This is a fortune teller of the first class. This is a true fortune teller."
Examples of Fortune Tellers
You have somebody like Jeane Dixon (died just at the end of last year), who was a favorite fortune teller amongst the presidents of the United States and others. Every year she would give her predictions for the year; it would be in the national newspapers. People depended on her, her books—they would study them.
But the fact is, for her, as well as for people like Nostradamus and others, when you look at the totality of what they say, the vast majority of what they mention is false, and there are only a few pieces of information which is actually true. But human beings with that tendency to want to latch on to anything which would indicate knowledge of the future grab on to that small piece of information, and they end up depending on these people. In doing so, they end up falling into an area of partial disbelief or complete disbelief.
Immediate Information from Jinn
The jinn can also help fortune tellers with immediate information. Somebody is coming to them, and they may get information about that person before the person reaches there. So you may go to see a fortune teller, and he will tell you (or she will tell you) what your name is, what the name of your parents are, how old you are, what country you came from, etc. That type of information is quite easy and quite accurate for them to get.
Also, they can give information about things which are over distances, because we know the jinn are able to travel over the earth, over huge distances, in short spaces of time. We know in the Quran, in Surah An-Naml, with regards to the Queen of Sheba, when she was coming, Prophet Sulaiman asked one of the jinn to go and get her throne. And he said that he would get it for him before he even got up from the place where he was sitting.
Islamic Stance Against Fortune Telling
Because of the sacrilege and the heresy that is involved in dealing with the jinn, those involved in fortune telling, Islam has taken a very strong stance against it.
Hadith: Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) was reported by his wife Hafsa to have said:
(Sahih Muslim)
"The salah of whoever approaches a fortune teller and asks him anything will not be accepted for 40 days and nights."
This is a question out of curiosity. It's not necessarily believing in what they're saying. The salah will not be accepted for 40 days and nights.
This includes all of the different forms of fortune telling that are available in our society today. One of the major ways is through the astrological signs. In almost every newspaper in the world today, you'll find a page which gives the zodiacal signs, the zodiac, signs of the zodiac, your astrological predictions for the day.
If you're a Cancer or Taurus or whatever, this is a good day to do this, or bad day; you shouldn't do this, delay it until tomorrow, or whatever. All of that—if one turns to that page, if you're opening the newspaper and you just happen to see it and you keep reading, no problem. You don't read the page; you just pass over it, no problem. But now, if you're flipping open that newspaper looking for it, and you're saying (people say, "Don't read this"), you say, "I don't believe it; it's just for fun"—this is no "for fun" here. This is something very serious.
As long as you're opening it and looking to see what your sign is, and you're looking to see what it has to say, then you fall under this statement of the Prophet (ﷺ). Your salah is not accepted for 40 days and nights. Now, this doesn't mean you've got a vacation for 40 days and nights from prayer.
Some people say, "Okay, no point. If it's not accepted by Allah for 40 days and nights, no point in praying." No, because when a person prays, two things take place. One, they remove from themselves the obligation of prayer. And two, depending on the level of concentration in their prayer, they earn a reward.
Hadith: As Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) said:
"Some people pray and only a tenth of the prayer is rewarded. Others only a fifth, etc."
So though this is the case, if you read your astrological page today, you still have to continue to pray for the next 40 days. But the value, the reward for the prayer, has been lost.
The Greater Sin: Believing Fortune Tellers
Whoever goes looking for that page, believing in what it says, or goes to a fortune teller, palm reader, or whatever (getting their tea leaves read), believing in what the person is saying:
Hadith: Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) said, as reported by Abu Huraira and Al-Hasan (his grandson):
"Whoever approaches a fortune teller and believes what he says has disbelieved in what was revealed to Muhammad (ﷺ)."
This is an act of disbelief. This is how serious Islam regards it.
Part Four: Magic and Demonic Possession
The World of Magic
There is another aspect of the world of the jinn which has significance to us. Beyond the world of magic—this has also become a popular area in Western society today. People like David Daniels and David Copperfield and others are dazzling people with feats of magic.
We know this is also a forbidden area. Those that are seriously involved in it are involved in using the jinn. The jinn help them. Islam is strictly against them. In fact, the instruction that the companions followed when they went into the lands as Islam spread out of Arabia was to execute magicians.
The use of magicians is something forbidden even in the Old Testament. You can find, still in what they call the Torah, in Deuteronomy 18, verses 9 to 12:
"When you come into a land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you those who burns his son or daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination (that is fortune telling), a soothsayer (another term for fortune teller), an augur (another term for fortune teller), a sorcerer or charmer (these are magicians), or medium (one who acts as a tool for the jinn to communicate with this world), or a wizard (a form of magician), or necromancer (other forms of magicians). For whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominable practices, the Lord your God is driving them out before you."
(Deuteronomy 18:9-12)
So it is something forbidden in the religion revealed to the prophets and revealed to mankind, though it has become very popular today.
Demonic Possession and Apparitions
But the area which is probably the most critical to note, besides this area of fortune telling, is that of demonic possession, wherein the jinns (because some among them are able to take different forms) are able to appear as apparitions and visions to people.
Every year, people will see visions of Mary, or the Christ child, or whatever, in different parts of the world, and this place becomes an area of pilgrimage. Or the statue, like in Ireland some years back, the statue of Mary started to rock back and forth. They thought maybe there was some seismic activity there. They brought geologists to check it out—no seismic activity, but the statue was rocking.
They couldn't find any explanation but to analyze it as being a miracle. These people are worshipping Mary anyway as the mother of God, and this became a place of pilgrimage. A small little village in Ireland—they made a big international airport there for 747s to come in. It's good business.
At any rate, it became an area of fitna (trial) for those people, because of course this confirms their belief in Mary being the mother of God. You also find other instances. I know in Israel, I think last year, there was one picture of Jesus where the eyes were supposed to have closed or tears came from the eyes.
It's happening all around the world, which all of this tends to confirm in people's minds that Jesus was God, Mary was the mother of God. But we understand that the jinn are able to possess objects; they are able to enter into objects and to cause movement in them or to cause sound from them. This is already recorded in Surah Taha and other chapters of the Quran.
The Story of the Golden Calf
With regards to Musa (Prophet Moses), when he left his people and went to receive the commandments from God, in his absence, an individual amongst them who was referred to as the Samiri asked the people to gather their gold jewelry. He took up some dust, which he claimed to have been the dust remaining from the footprint of an angel, sprinkled it along with it, mixed it up, and from it, he created the shape of a calf.
As Allah says in the Quran, with regards to him:
"He took out for them a calf, in a bodily form, which moved."
(Quran 20:88)
Because the people were not going to take this as a God if it was just a statue. So what happened is that after creating the statue, the statue said "Moo" as cows do. And of course, this is what shocked them and made them accept this was in fact God. So they bowed down; they took it as a God besides Allah.
Now, we know it wasn't the statue which was moving; it was the jinn that had entered the statue and gave that sound.
The Legend of Hallaj
Similarly, we have events like that of Hallaj's head, according to the legends, the Sufi legends. This was the individual who claimed that he was Allah. When he was asked to recant, to give up this statement, he insisted, standing up and opening his garment, saying, "There's nothing inside of this garment except Allah."
So the Muslim judges had nothing else to do but to order his execution. They took him and cut off his head. According to Sufi legends, if it's true, when they cut off his head, as his head hit the ground and rolled, it continued to say, "Anal Haq, Anal Haq, Anal Haq" (I am the Truth/God). According to their legends. It may be true; Allah knows.
The point is that for them, this is confirmation that whatever he said when he claimed that he was Al-Haq (he was Allah), this was true. But the fact of the matter is that it could very well have been the jinn saying this out
of his mouth and convincing the ignorant among them that in fact this man was speaking the truth.
Understanding Modern Phenomena
By understanding that the jinn can possess objects and even human beings, we can understand also many of the things which are taking place in the world today. We spoke about flying saucers before—that what is true amongst it may be from the world of the jinn. The jinn taking different forms: little green men or whatever, or things which appear to fly at amazing speeds. As well as the things of what they call haunted houses, ghosts, etc. All of these experiences that people experience around the world, which they have no explanation for— easily we can understand the role of the jinn in this matter.
Apparent Reincarnation
Even in the cases of apparent reincarnation. They have a case which took place, and they have them every so often—you find cases similar to this. There was a girl in India back in the 70s; her name was Shanti Devi. She was 7 years old, and she described a place where she had lived previously, in a previous life, in a town called Mutra, in a province far away from where she lived—the people, the house, etc.
When people went there, they found in fact there was somebody who lived there, and the house did look like that, and all this type of information. Now, for these people, this became a confirmation for them of reincarnation being a fact. The same thing happens amongst the Druze in Lebanon. From time to time, you'll find some young Druze kid who claims to describe a previous life. The details may be very accurate when you go back and check the places. What he describes or she describes will be very true. For them, it confirms reincarnation.
Because the belief in reincarnation, of course, is false belief. It's based on the concept that the human soul is divine, that the human soul is a part of God which is coming to this world, which continues to go through different cycles until eventually it rejoins with God. This is false. Human beings are not God in any way, shape, or form.
What happens, how this takes place, is that, as Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) explained the jinn (as we talked about dreams before) are able to come into our dreams. They're able to give us bad dreams. They're able to implant ideas and thoughts which we might think are our own. So they may put this information about this previous child or person in that mind of the child. The child thinks it's relating what is from its mind, as its own. People assume that it is his own memories. But in fact, it is not.
Regression Therapy
Similarly, when people do this regression therapy, where people go into a hypnotic state and they go back to previous lives (they used to be in the Roman Empire; they were a centurion or whatever, back to the cave days; they were a Neanderthal), people describe all these previous lives. It's a big, big fad in America today and in the West in general.
Part Five: Exorcism in Islam
Possession is Recognized
What is related to this, of course, is the actual possession of human beings. This is something which is well known in the Christian tradition. People have been exorcised over the times, from the time of Prophet Jesus till now. Exorcisms have taken place in other religious systems also.
From an Islamic perspective, it is recognized as being valid that people may be possessed. In fact, in the Prophet's time, a child was given to him who was possessed, and he blew in the child's mouth and told the being that was in the child to get out: "Get out, enemy of Allah!" Later the child was cured. This is clear evidence of exorcism. It exists also in the time of Prophet Jesus, the records remaining in the Gospels of Jesus exercising people who are possessed.
Three Methods of Exorcism
When we look at the process of exorcism, the exorcism may take place basically in three ways:
First: Those who are involved in calling on the jinn may call on another jinn to drive out that jinn. Of course, this is forbidden because it involves also sacrilege.
Second: The jinn may leave by choice when idolatry is confirmed in its presence. That is, the priest waves the cross, or the Buddhist priest recites their scriptures, and the jinn leaves, confirming in the mind of that priest or the people around that their scriptures or their practices are true.
This includes people who may call on the jinn to leave in the name of Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) or the name of saints, and people are cured. This is because shirk has taken place in their presence.
Third: The only acceptable way, according to the Islamic way, is the recitation of the Quran or different prayers seeking refuge in Allah which have been taught to us by Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam).
Importance of This Knowledge
If we look at knowledge about the world of the jinn, Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) explained to us so
much information. Allah has revealed so much in the Quran about it. Even a chapter of the Quran is referred to as the chapter of the jinn (Surah Al-Jinn). If it wasn't important, all of this effort would not have been made.
It is important for us to understand that world because of its influence over our world. The evil from that world comes into our world and draws people into disbelief, into shirk, into idolatry. We are informed about that world to be prepared, to be aware, when we hear information, when we have personal experiences.
These experiences or the information will not drive us into seeking illegitimate means of protecting ourselves. The illegitimate means is through using fortune tellers or magicians or those involved in other forms of exorcism which are pagan in origin. You find Muslims—I've heard of Muslims in the Philippines going to Catholic priests to be exorcised, and in other parts going to Buddhists for exorcisms. This is a form of shirk, and it destroys the human belief.
Conclusion
So Allah has informed us about the world of the angels and the world of the jinn in order for us to be conscious of that world and its relationship to us. In order for us to improve the quality of our deeds. Realize the source of good that is around us. Realize that our deeds are being recorded and be more deliberate in our actions. Know about the evil from that spiritual world, the world of the jinn, that can affect our lives and can delude us through apparitions, through visions, and draw us into these different forms of shirk.
That is basically what I would like to share with you this evening with regards to the world of the angels and the jinn. Hopefully, if there are any other areas with regards to it that you'd like to get clarification, you can present it in the form of questions, and we'll include those along with the questions from yesterday's session.
Questions and Answers
Can the jinn physically cause us harm? If so, can we physically protect ourselves?
Yes, it is possible the jinn may cause us physical harm. We protect ourselves by living Islamic lives, by doing what God has commanded us, by using the various prayers which the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) taught us to protect ourselves. These things may go away. If they don't, if one is patient with whatever harm that may come to one (physical harm that may come to one by way of the jinn), then Allah rewards that person.
We have the case of a woman who used to clean the masjid of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam). She used to be overcome from time to time by the jinn. She asked the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) to pray to Allah to remove it from her. He said, "I can pray to Allah and remove it from you, or you can be patient with it, and your reward will be Paradise." So she chose to be patient with it, but she asked the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) that whenever she's overcome, that she wouldn't tear at her clothes and expose herself. So he prayed to protect her from that.
Can I have a good friend who is a fortune teller, with the jinn or something else?
It might very well have been.
When me and my mother get together with friends and drink Turkish coffee, we turn the cups upside down, and one of us reads the cups for fun. But we don't believe it. Is this wrong?
Yes, it is wrong.
Does magic have something to do with the jinn?
Yes. The effects of magic are through the agency of the jinn.
Do humans become angels when they die?
No.
Can we keep a dog in the house for the purpose of protection? If a dog enters the house, do we need to wash it for the acceptance of prayers?
The dog which is kept just for a friend, as is common in some societies where the dog becomes man's best friend (people make clothing for the dogs, even shoes; people die and leave all their inheritance to dogs)—this kind of approach to the dogs is prohibited in Islam.
A dog may be kept for protection purposes (a guard dog), or a dog which is used for herding sheep, or a hunting dog. These are the basic types of dogs which may be kept. But the dog is kept in its place. You don't take the dog to bed with you. This whole type of approach to the dog is not acceptable Islamically.
As long as he's kept in his place, he has a kennel, a little spot where he stays, then it's not necessary to clean the home or clean him. The dog, of course, should be cleaned regularly anyway, but it's not a requirement for prayers to be accepted in the home.
One thing to note about dogs: If a dog licks or drinks from the vessel which we have eaten or which we are drinking from, we should pour out the content, let the dog finish eating it, and clean that vessel seven times. One of the times we clean it with clean earth. This is the mode for cleaning vessels which have been in contact with the saliva of the dog. This is specifically for vessels for eating.
Because there is some harm that the dog possesses which is conveyed to us through this means. Why we use clean earth? Any biochemist can tell you that the vast majority of antibiotics are taken from earth sources, from the earth. We know that earth, clean earth, has these properties.
Now, this is specifically for eating and drinking vessels. It doesn't mean that if a dog licks you, now you have to wash your hands seven times, one of the times with dirt. No. If he licks your clothing, same thing—no.
Actually, if a dog licks you, it doesn't break your state of ablution. If he touches your clothing, it doesn't break your state of ablution. These are not among the things which break the state of ablution.
This is a misconception amongst many Muslims. What it does is turn Muslims into having this sort of phobia about dogs. If a person comes with a dog, Muslims are running in all directions. Nobody wants to be anywhere near this dog. For a lot of non-Muslims, they really think this is very strange—Muslims have this phobia about dogs. Because the people have gone to extremes with regards to them. As I said, it is only regarding vessels from which we eat and drink.
Can we do palm reading?
No. Palm reading is a form of fortune telling.
In India, we go to some sheikhs who will tell us where lost things are. These are righteous- looking sheikhs with big beards and turbans. They tell us where lost things are. Or if you need somebody to like you, they will tell you what to do. Or people can't get their daughter married; they go to the sheikh and he prepares some potions.
This is all shirk. This is all involving the jinn. Knowledge of the unseen, of where things are, which was legitimate—this was in the case of Prophet Jesus. It's one of his miracles that he could tell people where items were, what were in their homes. Beyond that, people are dealing with the jinn.
What is the difference between the soul that inhabits a female and one that inhabits a male?
No difference. The soul is the soul. Female, male—this is an external difference.
If a jinn possesses me and can force me to do certain actions against my will, am I then responsible?
No. But this doesn't mean people can run around and say, "A jinn made me do this; a jinn made me do that." Before Allah, if a person is possessed and they did certain acts, then they are excused.
This is very important in terms of Islamic law, where you have a state which is referred to as temporary insanity in Western law. In the Muslim legal system, yes, insanity, which in Arabic is referred to as being junoon. A person who is insane is called majnoon, which means they have been "jinned." This is what it literally means.
Meaning that they could be under the influence of the jinn, or it could be something biological also. But in any case, a person who is known insane, if they commit a crime, murder, or any other type of crime, they are not punished according to Islamic law. They may be put in an institution or whatever, but not punished.
This is the same basically in Western law. However, Western law has this other category what they call temporary insanity, where a person could be sane, but for that moment he went insane, he killed somebody, he
raped somebody, he did whatever, and after that he regained his sanity. This is a plea which people use to get out of crimes. In Islamic law, this is not accepted.
A person who is insane is a person who is insane before the act and after the act. Insane doesn't mean a person who may have extreme behavior. A person who is insane is a person—when you speak to this person, you speak to them, "What's your name?" they say, "The sky is blue." Their response has nothing to do with the questions that you are asking them. This is a person who is insane, not a person who just gets very angry at certain times. Because people refer to these people as being mad. But this is not acceptable according to Islamic law.
Is it true that Satan was a pious jinn before the creation of man?
Iblis was among the angels. It is assumed that for him to have reached that elevated state was due to his obedience or due to certain knowledge which he had. Through his disobedience, he lost that status and became cursed eternally.
Why do jinns enter pictures? Also, does this extend to mirrors? Are our reflections in the mirror jinn-inhabited?
If you ever look in the mirror and see it doing things that you are not doing, then you can believe it. What we said before about the jinn entering pictures or things like this is to create in the minds of people that these pictures have special truth to them or special holy nature or holy qualities, like the picture where the eyes closed or tears came from it. If there are good jinns, would they have in their world meetings, lectures, etc. like we practicing Muslims do?
Yes. Why not? Also, the Quran refers to gatherings of the jinns reading the Quran, so we know that they do actually.
In relation to people being possessed, how can we tell if one is?
There are signs which have to do with changes in people's character. It may involve changes in their voice patterns at certain times. They may take on very filthy-type habits. Generally speaking, it's somebody who goes right out of character. They seem to have taken on another personality altogether.
In the West, you have a category of what they call multiple personalities, which are one of the examples of jinn possession.
What do jinns look like? And what would they look like in the hereafter?
Allah knows. The jinn—we don't have any definition of them, what they look like in their normal state, that is, when they don't take on human form or some other forms in our world. I know that people have in the folklore that they have eyes like cats, they have feet like goats, and tails, and all kinds of stuff, but this is not authentic information.
Why can't we see the jinn but they can see us?
This is how Allah has created them. Until we develop the microscope, all the microbes could see us and we couldn't see them too. The fact that some of Allah's creation have certain abilities which are beyond our abilities doesn't mean that they are more powerful than us, because we have been given a status over the rest of creation, and Iblis being instructed to bow was in recognition, along with the angels, to that status.
Some places I go, I see things moving about and hear things. How am I supposed to react to this?
Seek refuge in Allah. That is your basic reaction. Don't fear it, because ultimately nothing can happen to us except what God has written to happen to us.
In the Quran it mentions the speed of angels as they travel in one day, which is equivalent to 50,000 years of ours. Please explain.
Really, there is no real explanation because when you go into the issue of what is it referring to in terms of one day — is it one 24-hour day? Because a day is 24 hours on our planet; a day on Saturn may be so many years. When in a day, in a