In our last session to the introduction to section Al-Jinn of the Quran, we looked into understanding the reality of the existence of creatures as counterparts to each other, yet complementing each other. It is not that only the Jinn exist but such beings must exist. As we see the material side of the universe to exist, so does the meaningful side of the universe exist, i.e. the meaningful side of the universe must equally exist. The existence of anything is the evidence not only in the material aspect but also in the meaningful aspect which does not have a material side. Human consciousness perceives the existence of meaning, communicates with their existence, benefits from their existence, educates their feelings with their existence. In fact, we are much more in contact with the meaningful side of existence including our existence than the material creation. How can we deny the existence of the meaningful side of creation?
For example, I am interested in beauty, cleanliness, attractiveness, spiritual satisfaction, human satisfaction in my living. If I am presented with a plate of food and I see some bugs in it, why would I not eat the food although the material side of food is not damaged? I would be disgusted to eat it. How come? The appearance of the food communicates with my feelings which do not like this appearance. It is not the material side of the food that communicates with my material body. Another example is when one does grocery shopping, we look for good quality produce, not the dying ones. What brings joy to me is to see beauty, harmony in existence; I find myself attracted to these qualities. If only we pay attention to the meaning of the things and not lose ourselves into just materiality, our lives will become meaningful. We are already connected to the meaning in the universe mostly through our feelings, which are not material beings but spiritual beings. We should have no doubt about the existence of such meaningful beings, regardless of what they are called. Jinn, angels and Satan are always with us; we are always in communication with them whether we realize this or not.
That’s what we emphasized in our last session that the universe exists with the dual nature of creation having contradicting qualities. One of them has a body, the other one does not, one has meaning and the other has nothing at all. For example, a pile of paper that has nothing written on it cannot be called a book. What we call a book is when there is information written in it. These creations coexist with each other even though they are contradicting each other in nature. We learnt that the pair of Humans and Jinn, one having a body and the other counterpart not having it, are similar in nature when it comes to spirit and usage of free will to either follow conscience or the non-existing whisperings. Satan is contradictory in nature to Angels although both have no bodily existence. The duty of Satan is to just whisper thoughts that have no reality. The Angels also have a duty such as “Azrail” (death angel) has the duty to separate spirits from the body and “Israfil” has the duty to announce the death of the universe, death of galaxies, of human beings, etc. The universe shows that such beings must exist. I cannot take them to a lab in order to measure and weigh them. By looking at this wonderful universe, would I be able to say that the Creator of this universe is incapable of creating something without a body? We are completely immersed with the existence of these bodiless beings. We are in contact with them while experiencing life in this world.
We should be careful not to confuse the matter with Jinn stories or evil spirits. Every spirit is pure but one can corrupt it and make it dysfunctional. How? By not paying attention to one’s spirit, closing the doors to the inspirations that it conveys. For example, those that are involved in harmful inhumane activities also have a spirit. Doesn’t their spirit inspire them not to do the wrong? They know it, but they say that “I was overcome by anger and did the wrong. I had to lie.” One has complete free will to do whatever they want. Doesn’t the conscience tell the person that this is a lie and wrong? Of course, it does. The surest person who knows it is a lie is the one who says this lie. This is if we let the conscience speak, which is also referred to as “Qalb” (heart) in the Quran under certain context and also the word “ruh” which is translated as spirit. The Qur’an is not ashamed of talking about the existence of angels, Satan and Jinn as they are part of the reality of the existence of the universe.
Angels are the representatives of the meaningful side of the universe also referred to as the angelic side of the universe. That means every being has an angelic side such as human beings in their spirit. This meaning is represented by the angel Gabriel who represents the message of God in different ways. One is by taking the command of God and giving meaning to creation and the other is by bringing the verbal speech of God to His appointed messengers.
Let’s summarize what we concluded so far:
- Even if the Quran did not inform us of the existence of Jinn, we can still understand that a kind of creature must exist to complete the counter pair of human beings.
- This is necessary because in the order of the universe we see that everything is created in pairs. These pairs are contradictory in nature at different levels but they are all complementary at the same time. They necessitate the existence of the other part of their pair. This is the miraculous nature of the creation of the universe.
- Like the north pole and the south pole, attraction and repulsion, false and truth, right and wrong, up and down, denial and confirmation, male and female, life and death, material side and the universal meaningful side, paper side of the book and information inscribed in it, paint of a piece or art and art side of it, body and spirit, dark and light, day and night, this world and the hereafter, human being and Jinn.
- The existence of these are not abstract notions but the reality of this universe.
- It is for us to choose. Neither human beings nor Jinn have any independent power to affect us unless we choose to follow them.
- We have free fill. We are fully free to make decisions within ourselves.
- As long as we do not follow the wrong offers from Satan and disbelieving Jinn, they cannot have any power or influence on us.
- External “causes” have no effect on us to believe in something. We may be carried away by egoistic psychology which promotes the opposite. For example, “I cannot get out of this trauma that I incurred in the past”. Although sincere therapists know that the patients are able to overcome these psychological problems, however the patients choose it, are happy to gain attention by keeping the labels: “I am this person, I was treated badly and cannot overcome it.” Some are successful in overcoming them while others will continue paying the therapists. We should understand that neither Satan nor disbelieving Jinn have any effect on us as long as we decide not to follow them.
- When we follow the offer of disbelieving Jinn and his counterpart follower human beings, we will be believing in false (non-existent) images, according to the teaching of the Qur’an. We can confirm this while living in this universe with the evidence that is available for me in the creation of the universe.
- The deniers exist but the content of their denials does not exist. For example, a man is lying, he and his telling a lie exist but the content of his lie does not exist. Satan represents the content of the lie, the denial, but not the person.
- When we follow the offer of Angels (believing Jinn and human beings, angelic side of creation, human soul/spirit) We will be believing in Truth (existent). For example, there must be an author to the book, who can deny it? There must be a creator to this meaning in thel universe, who can deny it? There must be a source of the existence of everything, who can deny it?
Let’s look into the following verses in the Qur’an:
قُلْ أَعُوذُ بِرَبِّ ٱلنَّاسِ
مَلِكِ ٱلنَّاسِ
إِلَـٰهِ ٱلنَّاسِ
مِن شَرِّ ٱلْوَسْوَاسِ ٱلْخَنَّاسِ
ٱلَّذِى يُوَسْوِسُ فِى صُدُورِ ٱلنَّاسِ
مِنَ ٱلْجِنَّةِ وَٱلنَّاسِ
114: 1-6 “Say, ‘I seek refuge with the Lord of people,
- the Sovereign of humankind,
- the God of humankind,
- from the evil of the elusive whisperer,
- who whispers in the hearts of people
- whether they be jinn or people.”
This verse is placed towards the end as the last verse in the Quran. When this verse was revealed is a matter of dispute among scholars where some say during the Meccan period and the majority says the later Medinan period. When the verse says “Say”, it means to digest what is being said and not only to say it by the tongue like a parrot but see what it says. Work on what it says, think about it, come to a conclusion, and then bring it to your tongue as a human being. The thing to notice is that the Qur’an mentions the Jinn and people together in the last verse as having common characteristics.
The verses mention seeking refuge with God from the evil of the elusive whisperer who whispers into the hearts of people, whether they be jinn or people; this tells us that the whisperings are going on in the universe. When we say, “I seek refuge with God from Satan the accursed”, the word “رجيم” literally means to be stoned which is to be completely rejected. It is to say: “go away, I choose not to follow you”.
I can also seek refuge with God from the disbelieving Jinn and people, “مِنَ ٱلْجِنَّةِ وَٱلنَّاسِ”. This category also has something to do with us where we see a lot of propaganda, media, books that promote atheism and denial of God. We should know that disbelieving Jinn and people whisper to our “صُدُور”, our breasts in which our heart is preserved representing our feelings.
There is no disbelieving Satan in this world but there are disbelieving Jinn and disbelieving men. This brings us to the following verse:
وَقَالَ ٱلشَّيْطَـٰنُ لَمَّا قُضِىَ ٱلْأَمْرُ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ وَعَدَكُمْ وَعْدَ ٱلْحَقِّ وَوَعَدتُّكُمْ فَأَخْلَفْتُكُمْ ۖ وَمَا كَانَ لِىَ عَلَيْكُم مِّن سُلْطَـٰنٍ إِلَّآ أَن دَعَوْتُكُمْ فَٱسْتَجَبْتُمْ لِى ۖ فَلَا تَلُومُونِى وَلُومُوٓا۟ أَنفُسَكُم ۖ مَّآ أَنَا۠ بِمُصْرِخِكُمْ وَمَآ أَنتُم بِمُصْرِخِىَّ ۖ إِنِّى كَفَرْتُ بِمَآ أَشْرَكْتُمُونِ مِن قَبْلُ ۗ إِنَّ ٱلظَّـٰلِمِينَ لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌۭ
14:22 “When everything has been decided, Satan says, ‘God gave you a true promise. I too made promises but they were false ones: I had no power over you except to call you, and you responded to my call, so do not blame me; blame yourselves. I cannot help you, nor can you help me. I reject the way you associated me with God before.’ A bitter torment awaits such wrongdoers.”
The phrase “everything has been decided” is relating to the next creation where there are no “causes,” no confusion whatsoever and everything is clear. This verse is speaking to me while I am living now and not in the hereafter, I must thus understand it now in this world. The “true promise” from God is to see the angelic side of creation in the universe, whatever news I get from the universe and my spirit. When I get this news, that is the “true promise” that I receive.
The angel “Azrail”, the death angel has the duty to take the spirit away from our body which is our death. We may think that death is bad but it is not bad at all, we will be under the protection of God through the angel “Azrail”. We are created with no desire to die, which is for wisdom. I don’t want to die but I am dying. Who is giving me this sense to not die and at the same time is giving me death. These two realities are contradicting but the sense in me to not die is given to me by the same source that creates death is the promise for the next creation.
Satan says that “I too made promises but they were false ones”, i.e. “I couldn’t keep my promise as they were not real.”. The verse continues Satan saying “I had no power over you except to call you”. The mission and duty of Satan is to call others. Just like the duty of a virus, as a small creature, is employed to spread. We are given the sense to protect ourselves from danger. The verse beautifully says it is just a call, I don’t have to follow Satan’s call, as it has no power over me.
The verse continues by mentioning that Satan says not to blame him but to blame yourselves: “I cannot help you, nor can you help me. I rejected the way you associated me with God before”. The verse is telling me you as a human being have been given the sense to understand the reality out there in the universe but choose to become a partner of Satan. Be careful not to be carried away by the material scientists’ interpretations that the universe exists by itself, by “blind nature”. Very bright and smart scientists may talk about blind nature. If you want to be proud of your publications, claiming ownership of the research, then you choose to be a self-centered person. By Satan saying that you associated me with God is not meant to say that Satan is a creator like God. What it means is that God offers you the truth and rather than taking it, you choose to partner with Satan and his false whisperings. This is what “shirk” entails, giving divine power to something that doesn’t have it at all. The things of this universe are nothing but senseless beings. They have no quality of themselves but they must be employed by the Creator of the universe to be a means of manifestations of His qualities on them. We can understand this by looking at a piece of art and seeing that the particles of the paint there are just a means of demonstrating the qualities of the artist manifesting on them.
When we follow the false suggestions of Satan, then the bitter torment awaits us.