Section The Jinn – Part 5

We will continue with our study of Section Al Jinn of the Qur’an. This section apparently seems to be talking to Jinn but we have to see that through the Jinn, God is talking to us. Every individual being is being addressed to what may seem to be addressing the Jinn. I should bear in mind that God is speaking to me, addressing me directly in the Qur’an. I have to take the same message that is addressed to Jinn for myself. I cannot say that these verses do not concern me and are meant to address Jinn only.

This Section is in fact telling us about the unseen counterpart of human beings in terms of how they respond to the message of the Qur’an. I would check myself and see if I have the same response or not? We are expected to respond back to the Qur’an as the believing Jinn are doing here. We cannot claim that there is no such thing as Jinn, because we humans have feelings, consciousness and intellect which form the spirit that does not have a material body. In Section Rahman of the Qur’an, humans and Jinn are treated equally and in the same manner. Although Section Rahman addresses Jinn and humans at the same time, it does not go into the nature of Jinn and the reaction of the Jinn to the Qur’an. We can understand that Jinn must have been given a spirit (ruh) like human beings appropriate to their nature, any kind of potentiality which does not have a physical body, to recognize the difference between Truth and Falsehood.

We can summarize what we had covered about the introduction to Section Jinn:

1. We have our counterparts with no bodily existence
2. The Jinn have the same qualities and responsibilities that we humans have.

There is communication between us and Jinn. We have not studied the reality of Jinn so we have no knowledge about them except what the Qur’an teaches us. We also don’t know the real existence of the human spirit. They all need to be studied if scientific research is not restricted to only the material body of the things. However, the Qur’an gives the examples of Jinn in the miraculous narration of prophet Solomon. Through these verses, the Qur’an is inferring to human beings that just as prophet Solomon was able to communicate with and use the Jinn, you humans can also do the same if you investigate the existence of  everything in the universe. For example, we heard that prophet Solomon was able to fly in air; this event is taken as a miracle. However, we have discovered air travel is now made possible with even heavier loads. If someone had never heard of the existence of airplanes, never seen them, would regard the miracle of Solomon flying in air as simply a prophetic miracle which has nothing to do with him. We are in the same position with respect to the human spirit communicating with Jinn. We are receiving invitations (whisperings) from their Satan representatives. They actually have something to do with us and we are communicating with them whether we are aware of it or not.

The angel-like ones are also giving messages to us but we do not recognize them because we have a spirit which already recognizes the Truth. We do not notice the believing Jinn, nor are we aware of them. We only notice the non-real ones, i.e. the Satanic whisperings which are wrong ideas. One thing to distinguish is the existence of the wrong idea does not exist. For example, if I write a sentence that is a lie. The sentence that is written has existence in a physical body, in the form of paper and ink; but the idea in that sentence or the content has no existence. Thus, we should understand that Satan exists but the content of what he suggests does not exist. When Satan whispers, as the representative of disbelieving Jinn, we should understand that the content of his whisperings do not exist.

What about the inspirations of the believing Jinn? It is difficult to realize their existence because our spirit already  has the ability to recognize the truth. The truth is fixed. When the believing Jinn support us, inspire us to the truth, we are not able to differentiate their support because my spirit says the same thing as the believing Jinn. How can I then get support from the Jinn as the Qur’an says that God will support the prophets, believing men and the angels? We get the support of angels and God, who are supporting the believers. We can easily understand in the creation of these physical beings, there are signs pointing to the qualities of their Creator. Our feelings communicate with the help of the physical beings, through their angelic side which is the support we receive to feel confident about belief and the truth. The physical beings are created by God and through their creation my feelings communicate with the angelic side of those physical beings. In this way, God supports the truth through various means, such as: The angelic side of creation, Revelation to the prophets, Angel Gabriel and the believing Jinn. 

When it comes to falsehood, disbelieving Jinn offer something that has no reality, is false and does not exist. I can easily recognize that they do not have any existential reality, they are just hypothetical predictions.  How about getting support from the believing Jinn? The believing Jinn support us together with our spirit, the angelic side of creation, Revelation, and the Angel Gabrial, so that we can distinguish between truth and falsehood. Unlike the physical universe which has the signs pointing to its Creator, Jinn don’t have a physical body that allows me to see the signs as shown by physical beings. We thus don’t make the distinction between other supporting elements in existence together with the support of the believing Jinn in confirming the truth. This understanding has logical consistency where human logical conclusion concerning Jinn and the news from the Quran support each other as it is in the case of spirit, creation, and angels.

Let’s review the first two verses that we studied last time: 

قُلْ أُوحِىَ إِلَىَّ أَنَّهُ ٱسْتَمَعَ نَفَرٌۭ مِّنَ ٱلْجِنِّ فَقَالُوٓا۟ إِنَّا سَمِعْنَا قُرْءَانًا عَجَبًۭا

72:1 “Say, ‘It has been revealed to me that a group of the Jinn listened [to the Qur’an] and said, ‘Indeed, we have heard an amazing Recitation.

We should check our position and see whether we find the Qur’an as revelation from God to be something amazing or not. Do we feel excited, have thought about it, do we try to understand each verse within the context of the Quran so that we can confirm that it is indeed an amazing news for us. This verse addresses me as well by indicating that I should have the same feelings and excitement as soon as I hear, read, and study the Quran. 

يَهْدِىٓ إِلَى ٱلرُّشْدِ فَـَٔامَنَّا بِهِۦ ۖ وَلَن نُّشْرِكَ بِرَبِّنَآ أَحَدًۭا

72:2 It guides to the right course of perfection. We believe in it, and we shall (from now on) never associate anyone with our Lord.”

After hearing the truth, we have to check ourselves. Although, in this scenario we are hearing what the Jinn said, it applies equally to me as well. This is what I am expected to say as well after studying the revelation carefully. I should never regard any being, any events that we are experiencing in this world to be the source of existence of anything. They are just the signs and reminders to take our attention and direct our feelings to our Creator. By looking at the creation, I get to see the work of my Creator. Many events are happening in my life, I should pay attention to the Creator of those events, see them as signs calling me to recognize their Creator. All of the personal life events that I go through as well as social life events that I am going through must be paid attention to; I should see who their creator is. All these events should make me see them as directly created by God, the Lord of the universe. For example, an earthquake happens where many things are destroyed including houses and lives of people. We should see that the earthquake is created by God. The earthquake has no free will, it obeys however its Creator creates. The earthquake has no option but to act according to God’s will. We usually ask the question: why did God create the earthquake that gave hardship to many people who lost their lives and properties? We are not criticizing the earthquake but may be criticizing the Creator of the earthquake, the creation of which has many other wisdom contributing to human education and teaching them the universe is not under their control, it has a Creator. This is how we may question what goes on in our life events particularly when things don’t work out according to our liking. Whereas when many things are created in the world we just take it for granted that this is how it should be; we do not question their Creator and be thankful to Him for creating them for my benefit. “How ungrateful human beings are as the Qur’an states it? (See, Section ‘Adiyat, 100: 6) إِنَّ ٱلْإِنسَـٰنَ لِرَبِّهِۦ لَكَنُودٌ “ Surely humankind is ungrateful to their Lord.“ 

How about an event where human interference is there in the usage of their free will? I may want something but someone or myself made a mistake which happens. It is no longer the Creator of the event but the person who did the wrong as he used his free will in the wrong way according to me. The event is also created by God for me to experience it and educate myself. I should learn, what is right, what is wrong, how some people do that, I should not be like those that oppress others and do wrong, I should not have such behavior and take refuge with God from these evil people and their representative disbelieving jinn (Satan) that support them. Yes, the person asked the Creator by choosing the option given to him freely and did wrong and is guilty but the event is created by God for my education. It is His promise to me that I will freely choose from among the given options within the order of the universe. I have to understand that all events are created by my Lord in order to educate me to communicate with my Lord. It may be that people are hurt, harmed because of the wrong choices of certain people but I have to see that God is the creator of these events. I have to take my lesson to learn what God is revealing to me: “Don’t support these people, try to prevent it because you have free will. Use your free will to support the truth, the right behavior and try to prevent people from falling into the wrong behavior, having false ideas. I need to take a stand and not remain impartial. That is the news given to me by God through the creation of these events.

When I experience something good, with some good people that participated in the event, I appreciate it and see that the event was created by God. I will support people who choose goodness and truth. That is why the Qur’an keeps encouraging: why don’t you support the prophet by sharing his message to help others since his message is helping you from falling into the wrong idea and behavior by delivering the truth. 

We have to read these verses as speaking to us and we should never commit “shirk” as the message from the Quran tells us. We should not be assigning power or divine qualities to created needy beings that have no quality to be the source of existence of what they are doing. 

وَأَنَّهُۥ تَعَـٰلَىٰ جَدُّ رَبِّنَا مَا ٱتَّخَذَ صَـٰحِبَةًۭ وَلَا وَلَدًۭا

72:3 [Now, we believe that]  sublimely exalted is our Lord’s Majesty: He has neither taken a spouse nor a child,

After hearing the message, they conclude we believe in the message from our Lord. As the verse is talking to me, I should also conclude to be happy with the message because it resonates with my feelings and experience of existence outside of me. The word “تَعَـٰلَىٰ” is something beyond one’s imagination and comprehension, a supreme Majestic being. The mentioning of this Majestic being not taking a spouse or a child is quite frequently mentioned in the Quran. Traditionally, this verse is referred to a historical event having to do with Christian Theology. There is a hadith narration about it that many commentators refer to where some companions asked the prophet Muhammad (pbuh) that: who are those people that have gone astray completely “daalleen” (by claiming that God as having a spouse or a child,) are they the Christians, and those who are “maghdoob” as in Section Fatiha which refers to rejected ones, or are they Jews? The prophet replied: “Yes”. 

Nowadays, besides some who are confused with their theology, not many people would say that God has taken a spouse or a child. How should I understand this hadith as relating to me rather than blaming certain people? The companions are not theologians and can only see the concrete form of the idea in the practice of the Christian faith. They can only understand that some Christians talk about God’s son in some form or another. Is the Qur’an talking about the Christian people that have gone astray and are rejected? The prophet says, “Yes”. The prophet is confirming the rejection of that idea represented by certain people.  We should understand the Qur’an in this way. When the Qur’an mentions about believing people, it is not talking about a certain group of people. The Qur’an is a universal message and when it says “O believing people”, it means that anyone who claims to believe in God must listen to the message. Whoever has this idea of belief in God should see the message as speaking to him, i.e. what belief requires, to be constituted as belief, is the quality that God is referring to in His speech. When the Qur’an mentions the hypocrites, it is not about some people but the idea that is hypocritical. If one has a hypocritic understanding then I have to watch out. There is a very severe threat for those that have hypocritical ideas, much stronger than the disbelievers. Denial is easy to recognize but hypocrisy is not easy to recognize. 

I should check if I have any of those traits within me. The hypocritic attitude is to cover up the truth which is to openly declare the truth but really covering it up. The hypocritic attitude makes it difficult to recognize what is right and what is wrong. I have to investigate to uncover the truth and conform to it. I am asked to be careful in my living as I may see myself as being right. Why am I right? I am right because I am a good man, my heart is pure, my feelings are pure?  Without investigating to find out the truth, I may already have the claim that I am right which closes the door for me to question and investigate. 

The phrase “ مَا ٱتَّخَذَ صَـٰحِبَةًۭ وَلَا وَلَدًۭا” is translated as “has neither taken a spouse nor a child”. The child “وَلَدًۭا” represents inheriting the qualities of the parent, which means nothing can inherit the qualities of the Lord of the universe. Any part of this universe cannot have any quality of  the Creator in any capacity, i.e. one cannot say that something has divine qualities even if it is on a small scale. We have to be careful when we say that this caused this result which would entail assigning inherited divine qualities to something created within the universe.

The spouse “صَـٰحِبَةًۭ  ” means somebody or something through which the generation continues. For example, God created the universe but with the help of the cow I am getting milk, the cow becomes the support for the Creator of the universe. Although the word “ صَـٰحِبَةًۭ ” is female, it does not only mean a female spouse but anything that is seen as something productive like the Creator of the universe. Something Absolute does not need any support.

So far, the verses we have looked into are giving me the news of the reality of Jinn and speaking to them as having a spirit like us. We discussed that it is also addressing us because we also have a spirit that can conclude about God’s exaltedness. With that understanding, we should also not be assigning any divine qualities to anything in the universe. I should take example from the believing Jinn and should be careful in my living.

وَأَنَّهُۥ كَانَ يَقُولُ سَفِيهُنَا عَلَى ٱللَّهِ شَطَطًۭا

72:4 and that the foolish among us had been saying outrageous falsehoods about God.

We have studied that Jinn are our counterparts but have no body, similar to how everything in the universe has a counterpart that works somewhat opposite but complementary to each other. The foolish ones among the Jinn have counterparts in human beings as well that say outrageous falsehoods about God. There are journals, publications, videos that declare falsehoods about God which we should not pay attention to, they are all whisperings of Satan. We should not give any credence to those that say the things are happening by themselves, things are naturally happening, i.e. denying the Creator of the universe on speculation or conjecture.

وَأَنَّا ظَنَنَّآ أَن لَّن تَقُولَ ٱلْإِنسُ وَٱلْجِنُّ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ كَذِبًۭا

72:5 although we had thought that no human or jinn would dare tell a lie about God. [only after hearing the truth did they realize that the opposite of it exists.]

We need to become aware of revelation, become comfortable in it by studying. We should study the Qur’an seriously to be careful what the universe is revealing and what the prophetic message is saying. If someone hasn’t received the prophetic message then their responsibility is to the level of how they use their human qualities. Now that we are receiving the message from the Qur’an, we should pay attention to it. We should be careful not to be naïve to what is going on in the universe. Watch out for the egoistic ideas, worldly benefits, financial benefits being promoted at the expense of losing one’s connection with our Creator. We are warned in this verse to remember that some human beings and Jinn will always keep whispering to us lies about the Source of Existence of the universe by inventing something of the universe itself.