The Contradictions of Islamic Jinni

For most people, the world “Genie” conjures up childhood memories of reading about Alladin, flying carpets and dark-eyed princesses. Few of us actually realize that for Muslims, jinni are very real, and a constant feature in their holiest scriptures. In fact, they lead much more colourful lives than the Prisoner of the Lamp we’re all familiar with.

Ori-jinn: in Myth & Fable

Genies originate in ancient Arabian folklore. Like any bogey-man worth their salt, they are relegated to all the dark and shady places like… the toilet. Muhammed is born into a culture with an elaborate “monster under the bed” theology. The Wikipedia entry on “Jinn” is a good introduction to the origin:

Jinn (Arabic: جن‎, jinn)— are supernatural creatures in early pre-Islamic Arabian and later Islamic mythology and theology (…) In an Islamic context (…) jinn are often mentioned together with devils/demons (shayāṭīn). Both… feature in folklore and are held responsible for misfortune, possession and diseases. However, the jinn are sometimes supportive and benevolent. They are mentioned frequently in magical works throughout the Islamic world, to be summoned and bound to a sorcerer, but also in zoological treatises as animals with a subtle body.

Jinn is an Arabic collective noun deriving from the Semitic root JNN (Arabic: جَنّ / جُنّ‎, jann), whose primary meaning is ‘to hide’ or ‘to adapt’. Some authors interpret the word to mean, literally, ‘beings that are concealed from the senses’. Cognates include the Arabic majnūn (مَجْنُون‎, ‘possessed’ or, generally, ‘insane’)… Jinn is properly treated as a plural (however in Classical Arabic, may also appear as jānn, جَانّ‎), with the singular being jinnī (جِنِّيّ‎). The origin of the word jinn remains uncertain. Some scholars (…) holds that jinn may be derived from Aramaic ginnaya (Classical Syriac: ܓܢܬܐ‎) with the meaning of ‘tutelary deity’ or ‘guardian’. Others claim a Persian origin of the word, in the form of the Avestic Jaini, a wicked (female) spirit. Jaini were among various creatures in the possibly even pre-Zoroastrian mythology of peoples of Iran. The exact origins of belief in jinn are not entirely clear. Some scholars of the Middle East hold that they originated as malevolent spirits residing in deserts and unclean places, who often took the forms of animals; others hold that they were originally pagan nature deities who gradually became marginalized as other deities took greater importance. Still, jinn had been worshipped by many Arabs during the Pre-Islamic period, though, unlike gods, jinn were not regarded as immortal. Although their mortality ranks them lower than gods, it seems that the veneration of jinn had played more importance in the everyday life of pre-Islamic Arabs than the gods themselves.

According to common Arabian belief, soothsayers, pre-Islamic philosophers, and poets were inspired by the jinn. Their culture and society were analogous to that pre-Islamic Arabian culture, with tribal leaders, protected their allies and avenge murder for any member of their tribe or allies. Although the powers of jinn exceed those of humans, it is conceivable a man could kill a jinni in single combat. Jinn were thought to shift into different shapes, but were feared especially in their invisible form, since then they could attack without being seen.”

Let’s now see how “jiini-ology” pans out in its modern-day avatar- the religion of Islam.

Jinni can interact with every realm- heavenly, earthly and jinnly

Islamic genies eat, have sex, get married, live and die, have religions or are atheists and even have prophets, as per the Qur/an…they perform every human activity but do so intangibly or invisibly. We have examples of jinni engaged in such mundane activity in the Qur’an itself, for example when they are said to be part of king Solomon’s army, while the hadith as usual add a lot more color. As we shall see, the Jinni are essentially a civilization of walk-through human beings, with some enhanced capabilities like flying or deep-sea diving.

First, here’s the Qur’anic verse:

“we marshalled his (Solomon’s) hosts, of jinn and men and birds, and they were all kept in orders and ranks- Q 27:17) and help to build his palace “And [We subjected to him] the devils, all kinds of builders and divers” (Q 38:37, also 21:82).

They eat humans left-overs and animal droppings

Jinn are also dependent upon earthly sustenance for food, since there are presumably there are no crops in their “dimension”. Mohammed states here that genies eat chicken bones and animal poop:

“Narrated Abu Huraira: That once he was in the company of the Prophet carrying a water pot for his ablution and for cleaning his private parts. While he was following him carrying it (i.e. the pot), the Prophet said, “Who is this?” He said, “I am Abu Huraira.” The Prophet said, “Bring me stones in order to clean my private parts, and do not bring any bones or animal dung.” Abu Huraira went on narrating: So I brought some stones, carrying them in the corner of my robe till I put them by his side and went away. When he finished, I walked with him and asked, “What about the bone and the animal dung?” He said, “They are of the food of Jinns. The delegate of Jinns of (the city of) Nasibin came to me–and how nice those Jinns were–and asked me for the remains of the human food. I invoked Allah for them that they would never pass by a bone or animal dung but find food on them.” (Bukhari 3860, see also Muslim 450a (bk.4 hadith 169), Bukhari 3571, Tirmidhi 3258)

Here as an example, Satan is trying to grab some for himself from the charitable Ramadan alms stockpile:

“Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah’s Messenger ordered me to guard the Zakat revenue of Ramadan. Then somebody came to me and started stealing from the foodstuff. I caught him and said, “I will take you to Allah’s Messenger!” Then Abu Huraira described the whole narration and said: That person said (to me), “(Please don’t take me to Allah’s Messenger and I will tell you a few words by which Allah will benefit you.) When you go to your bed, recite Ayat-al-Kursi, (2.255) for then there will be a guard from Allah who will protect you all night long, and Satan will not be able to come near you till dawn.” (When the Prophet heard the story) he said (to me), “He (who came to you at night) told you the truth although he is a liar; and it was Satan.” -Sahih Bokhari 5010.

Jinni have Religions, or are Atheistic

Jinn have religion. They follow various false religions just like human beings, and require prophets like Muhammed  to bring them news of the true one. Here, the jinn receive the Qur’an for the first time:

“Say (O Muhammad): It has been revealed to me that a group (from three to ten in number) of jinns listened (to this Quran). They said: Verily! We have heard a wonderful Recital (this Quran)! It guides to the Right Path, and we have believed therein, and we shall never join (in worship) anything with our Lord (Allah)” [al-Jinn 72:1-2]

Here the Qur’an speaks of how jinn may or may not be Muslim:

“And some of us are Muslims, and of us some are al-qaasitoon (disbelievers those who have deviated from the Right Path). Whosoever has embraced Islam, then such have sought the Right Path. As for the qaasitoon, they shall be firewood for Hell.” (Qur’an al-Jinn 72:14-15)

Qur’an says Muhammed preached to them

“And (remember) when We sent towards you (Muhammad) Nafran (three to ten persons) of the jinns, listening to the Quran, when they stood in the presence thereof, they said: ‘Listen in silence!’ And when it was finished, they returned to their people, as warners. They said: ‘O our people! Verily! We have heard a Book (this Quran) sent down after Moosa (Moses), confirming what came before it, it guides to the truth and to a Straight Path (i.e. Islam)’” [Quran 46:29-30 the context for this is in Bukhari 4291 and several others, which hadith we have quoted below)

The Qur’anic Allah sent out jinn-prophets too:

“O assembly of jinns and mankind! Did there not come to you Messengers from amongst you, reciting unto you My Verses?” (Q 6:130)

They can Eavesdrop on Allah in Heaven

The Qur’an is quite certain that jinn are like the equivalent of celestial pests and “Allah” has a side-engagement of of a celestial fly-swat (swt):

And we have, (from of old), adorned the lowest heaven with Lamps, and We have made such (Lamps) (as) missiles to drive away the Evil Ones, and have prepared for them the Penalty of the Blazing Fire.” (Q 67:5)

“We have indeed decked the lower heaven with beauty (in) the stars and for guard against all obstinate rebellious evil spirits (satan/shaytan ). (So) they should not strain their ears in the direction of the Exalted Assembly (الْمَلَإِ الْأَعْلَىٰ- l-aʿlā l-mala-i, or “High Council”) but be cast away from every side. Repulsed, for they are under a perpetual penalty. Save him who snatcheth a fragment, and there pursueth him a piercing flame.” (Q 37:6-8)

This is again referred to in Chapter “Al-Jinn” (these are actually jinni speaking):

“And we stretched towards heaven, but we found it filled with terrible guards and meteors. And when we heard the guidance, we believed in it. And whoever believes in his Lord will not fear deprivation or burden.” (Q 72:8,9)

The hadith most helpfully corroborate the story:

Again: Narrated Ibn `Abbas: Allah’s Messenger went out along with a group of his companions towards `Ukaz Market. At that time something intervened between the devils and the news of the Heaven, and flames were sent down upon them, so the devils returned. Their fellow-devils said, “What is wrong with you? ” They said, “Something has intervened between us and the news of the Heaven, and fires (flames) have been shot at us.” Their fellow-devils said, “Nothing has intervened between you and the news of the Heaven, but an important event has happened. Therefore, travel all over the world, east and west, and try to find out what has happened.” And so they set out and travelled all over the world, east and west, looking for that thing which intervened between them and the news of the Heaven. Those of the devils who had set out towards Tihama, went to Allah’s Messenger at Nakhla (a place between Mecca and Taif) while he was on his way to `Ukaz Market. (They met him) while he was offering the Fajr prayer with his companions. When they heard the Holy Qur’an being recited (by Allah’s Messenger), they listened to it and said (to each other). This is the thing which has intervened between you and the news of the Heavens.” Then they returned to their people and said, “O our people! We have really heard a wonderful recital (Qur’an). It gives guidance to the right, and we have believed therein. We shall not join in worship, anybody with our Lord.” (See 72.1-2) Then Allah revealed to His Prophet (Surat al- Jinn): ‘Say: It has been revealed to me that a group (3 to 9) of Jinns listened (to the Qur’an).’ (72.1) The statement of the Jinns was revealed to him…” (Bukhari 4291, there are similar sahih traditions in Tirmidhi (3323, 3324 in the latter there is the story of the jinn ascending to heaven to “hear the Revelation”and in various others), Bukhari again (773, 731), Muslim 449)

They can have Sex with Humans

Here I’m not sure if this is bad jinni or just any jinni, or whether the “bashful maidens” are human or that other dubious Islamic entity, the “houri”:

“reclining upon couches lined with brocade, the fruits of the gardens nigh to gather- in them are bashful maidens untouched by mankind or jinn before.” (Q 55:55,56)

This was taken so seriously even by early Muslims that there was discussion as to whether marriage between jinni and women could be legalised, this was abandoned likely when it was realised that the law could be misused and illicit pregnancies could be attributed to jinns to get out of trouble.

Here are some references:

Many classical scholars are of the opinion that, despite being extremely rare, it is possible for marriage to take place between humans and Jinn (plural: Jann).

Qadhi Badr al-Din al-Shibli al-Hanafi in his masterpiece work on the subject of Jinns, Aakam al-Marjan fi Ghara’ib al-Akhbar wa Ahkam al-Jann, quotes many early Muslims, such as Tha’alabi, Uthman ibn Sa’id al-Dari, A’mash and Abu Yusuf Saruji, who held the view that not only is human-Jinn inter-marriage possible, but rather, there are instances where such marriages have occurred. (Aakam al-Marjan P: 98-104)

Imam Suyuti also mentions a few reports from the early generations pointing to the occurrence of marriage between humans and Jinns. This was supported by Imam Ibn Taymiya who said that humans and Jinns have got married and have had children as a result of their marriage. (See: Laqat al-Marjan fi Ahkam al-Jann by Suyuti)

The classical Hanafi jurist, Imam Ibn Abidin (may Allah have mercy on him) also concurs with this view. He states:

“…This concept [of human-Jinn inter-marriage] is a possibility, because their (Jinn) taking various forms [including the human form] is proven by many Hadiths and incidents. This is why it is reported from the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) that he forbade the killing of certain snakes [since it may be a Jinn in the form of a snake]…” (Radd al-Muhtar ala al-Durr al-Mukhtar 3/5)

As far as permissibility is concerned, most classical scholars are of the view that such a marriage is not permitted. The author of Aakam al-Marjan relates this opinion from Imam Zuhri, Hakam, Qatada, Hasan al-Basri, Hajjaj ibn Artat, Abu Hammad and Imam Ghazali (May Allah be pleased with them).

They can kidnap children

They might kidnap your children (it is not certain just how the physics of this might work, since they would have to be “carried off” into a different state of existence- see physics section):

“Narrated Jabir bin `Abdullah: The Prophet said, “Cover your utensils and tie your water skins, and close your doors and keep your children close to you at night, as the Jinns spread out at such time and snatch things away. When you go to bed, put out your lights, for the mischief-doer (i.e. the rat) may drag away the wick of the candle and burn the dwellers of the house.” Ata said, “The devils.” (instead of the Jinns)” (Sahih Bukhari 3316)

They can attack in the Toilet and Bed when you’re naked!

There are certain situation in which the “danger” level is increased. These are physical, not spiritual situation (Christians would consider danger of demonic activity related to evil locale rather than physical filth):

“Saying Bismillaah (in the Name of Allaah) before entering ones home, before eating or drinking, and before having intercourse will also keep the Shaytaan from entering the house or partaking with a person in his food, drink and sexual activity. Similarly, mentioning the name of Allaah before entering the toilet or taking off ones clothes will prevent the jinn from seeing a persons awrah or harming him, as the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said, To put a barrier that will prevent the jinn from seeing the awrah of the sons of Aadam, let any one of you say Bismillaah when entering the toilet”. (Reported by al-Tirmidhi, 551; Saheeh al-Jaami, 3611).

“reported by Anas ibn Maalik, who said: When the Messenger of Allaah entered the toilet, he would say, “O Allaah, I seek refuge with You from the evil ones, male and female”. (Reported by al-Bukhaari, 142; and Muslim, 375). 

Physical Impossibility of the Jinn

Jinni are necessarily Physical

We do not have the option of holding that the jinni are non-physical given all the foregoing and that jinni clearly have everything to do with human biology reproduction and cognition. Further, like man, they have that sure mark of physicality- being made of a physical substance, in this case fire. It is impossible that such an organism exist intangibly and leave, so to speak, no physical trail.

Jinni Where? In Extra Dimensions? Parallel Universe?

Jinni are not only invisible, they’re also meant to be intangible. Which would seem like a sensible thing, else one might step on a sleeping genie whilst taking one’s stroll! However, The universe does not have a place where one can simply tuck away a physical object unnoticed. The Universe is a physical object.

Muslims try to co-opt modern scientific theories to accommodate for this problem, and one such is the recourse to “extra dimensions”. Extra dimensions appear in the hypothetical “String Theory” which is not proven and in fact faces serious problems as have been recognized even by the scientific community. Further, there is no indication from the Large Hadron Collider experiments that have run for several years now, that these extra dimensions exist.

In any case, the extra dimensions are posited as “curled up”, not “extended” as are our primary three dimensions that we perceive as “space”. That is, one cannot “move through” these dimensions, because they do not have any “extent”. They are part of the fabric of our own space-time, not a space independent of ours. That is to say, the interplay of several dimensions is posited as the background against which it is possible to have the interplay of the various particles and forces that we experience as the tangible world. It is therefore because of the interplay of the different dimensions that we do have SPACE. So “extra dimensions” are first of all not proven, there are serious scientific problems with these theories to start with. Further, even did they really exist, they’re certainly not places into which to tuck inconvenient beliefs. You could not fit a single proton into one of the extra dimensions, leave alone chickens for genies, precisely because they have no “extension”.

Not even “parallel Universes” could provide a haven for genies to live in. Parallel Universes never interact anyway, yet even were there some way to travel between Universes, an entity from such a theoretical space could by definition never interact with our own anyway, because it would be constituted by a different set of physical particles and laws. It would need to be reconstituted as a new being under our laws, which then defeats the whole purpose of its being different. First of all, it is as though the existence of the jinni was depending on certain tenuous scientific theories actually turning out to be true. However even did that turn out to be the case, they wouldn’t fit into those theories. One cannot seek recourse in a scientific theory by ignoring the science in that theory.

Pauli’s Principle Excludes “parallel” Physical Entities

The jinni, as we have shown, are apparently walk-through physical entities. We occupy the same space with them, and and this is impossible for physical objects. This is not the case with the Christian conception of angels and demons because those might be able to interact with our reality without occupying any space in it, and remaining part of a non-spatial reality. Before anyone asks, that does not also mean that they are infinite like God, rather just like God created a spatial reality that is not infinite, he can create other realities that are not infinite, we just do not know how to describe or even inagine them. But this cannot be ascribed to the jinni, because they require food from our own reality. How can being be dependent upon energy from a different reality? That energy would not be real for them in the first place. And how come their reality does not possess energy. These traditions of jinnis feeding on our reality are obviously made-up, as are the jinni themselves. Again, activities like sleeping, having sex and procreating too are temporospatial activities, as is the temporal manner of cognition, arriving at conclusions from premises, or making adductive/abductive arguments, having faith beliefs or lacking them, and arriving at these beliefs through that cognitive activity.

Wolfgang Pauli won the Nobel prize for his famous “Exclusion principle”, according to which electrons in the same quantum state cannot occupy the same position. It is as a result of this principle that we have a maximum of two electrons in the first orbit, 8 in the second orbit, and so on, because these represent all the available quantum states in the respective orbits, or energy levels. Pauli’s Principle is the reason why things are solid, because once the protons and electrons occupy a certain position, nothing else in the Universe can occupy that same position at the same time. This is what makes it impossible that another physical entity like a jinn merely “hang around” in the same space as another, or “possesses” another.

Flame/Light are EM radiation- they do not require parallel universes/ dimentions

It seems that in the Islamic belief, it is the difference in material used to create living things that gives them their differences. The jinn are made from “smokeless fire” as: “and the jinn, we created aforetime from a smokeless flame of fire” (Q 55:15). The hadith from Sahih Muslim (5314) adds that the angels were created from light and men, in line with the Biblical narrative, are created from clay.

Fire is really no more than electromagnetic radiation given off from hot molecules, or molecules in an “exothermic” chemical reaction, which again means that it’s hot. Molecules vibrate with increasing amplitudes as they are given heat energy from an external source (which is EM radiation itself), and the EM radiation given off as they either cool down or undergo chemical reaction themselves is also EM. In the case of the latter the EM radiation rather then being supplied externally, is given off from the conversion and release of energy from the atomic nuclear forces within a substance. Chemical reactions occur at the level of the electron orbitals, whereas nuclear reactions occur at the level of the nucleus itself, and in this case there is actual conversion of mass into energy. Once again, we have seen the pictures of nuclear test explosions and the tremendous amount of visible EM radiation given off in the form of the light flash. Lastly, exothermic reactions can release energy without fire too

“Jinni’s are made of smokeless fire, and angels from light”. So what is “fire”?

Smoke is just caused by impurities in the fuel

Fire occurs when oxygen interacts with a fuel. When we use paper or wood as fuel, smoke occurs because these materials in addition to carbon also contain water, ash, and other organic compounds. These hydrocarbons in the wood vaporize at high temperatures cause smoke. The solution is to use fuel that’s not wet or contains only carbon, so you can have “complete combustion” with only water and carbon dioxide produced, no smoke. In incomplete combustion the residual compounds form a gas, which we refer to as smoke, as well as producing char and ash. Fire is merely a chemical process where essentially carbon combines with oxygen.

Flameless oxidation in our bodies

When oxidation reaction does not produce a flame, it is slow combustion. That’s how we get our energy in our own bodies, by using oxygen. This is the equation: C6H1206 + O2 = CO2 + H20. Cellular respiration is a process of biological oxidation of food materials (respiratory substrates or fuel molecules) in a cell, using molecular O2, producing CO2 and H2O, and releasing energy in small steps and storing it in biologically useful forms, generally ATP (adenosine triphosphate). Respiratory substrates may be carbohydrates, fats, proteins and organic acids. Cellular respiration resembles ordinary combustion or burning in the breakdown of chemical bonds, use of oxygen, production of carbon dioxide, and release of energy, but there are some fundamental differences between the two processes.

Cellular respiration releases energy in steps, and each energy releasing step is coupled with the synthesis of ATP. Only a small amount of energy dissipates as heat.

Invisible fire?

The fire that is most difficult to see is Hydrogen burning in air, which is does with a pale blue flame making it almost invisible in daylight. Methanol is similar in some ways as well. invisible, but it would still burn, wouldn’t it. Light could be ultraviolet spectrum I guess, or infrared. In fact the Sun is a “smokeless flame” that only gives light.

Photons cannot form structures

It is in the hadith that angels are said to be “made from light” in keeping with the Islamic schema of an entirely physical creation. Photons are given off by hot bodies..or hot matter…or a hot singularity at the Big Bang. The Universe has a fixed number of photons, that were “created” at the Big Bang (if you don’t mind the Big Bang), or we can say, an overall fixed number of photons that gives an equilibrium with the other forces, matter and constants of nature.

Because photons do not obey Pauli’s exclusion principle, they cannot form physical structures of any kind (like building a house where every additional brick laid became the same as the initial brick). Rather photons they flow in an out of matter, and in and out of existence as virtual particles (obeying whatever quantum laws), giving matter its temperature (so a body at zero degree Kelvin would theoretically have no photons). Photons flow along energy gradients, seeking thermal equilibrium (i.e., like water seeks a level, photons flow from hot to cold bodies).

Stating that a mystical being were made out of “light” and “fire” might have sounded esoteric and mysterious all those years ago, but we now know that there is nothing special or supernatural about light, rather photons are only one of the many particles that make up physical reality. We can do experiments where light is shot out literally on photon at a time at a screen (look up “single photon interference” experiments). Energy is used by matter structures, not the other way round.

Can a “different Physics” explain the jinni?

“New physics” can be a convenient place to tuck impossible events in the manner that extra dimensions are convenient for tucking invisible ones. I would have totally accepted the possibility of jinni-physics with the dour professionalism of the scientific community accepting the multi-verse except for the fact that this “new physics” is also meant to be interacting with the “old physics”, that is ourselves, like having sex with humans, possessing us, eating our food and kidnapping our children.

The clincher is that whatever the physics, the first problem is that we are being asked to believe in a “different physics” that involves only energy and no matter which is absurd. What the underlying assertion is, is that we accept not a “new physics” but an “intangible bosonic physics”, to explain the intangibility of the jinni world. That itself is not even a concept.

Can it be something like dark matter or fark energy that we cannot detect? Even the these exert physical effects and it is the reason that we know that they are there. There is no physical substance that does not exert a physical effect, that’s the point of physics, and there’s no free tickets in it. Any physical entity must produce physical effects, establish thermodynamic equilibrium with the other physical systems, and if a life-form must produce the effects of use of energy sources in the environment.

Summary of the Physical Contradictions

Jinni are physical creations, having been made from “smokeless fire” (Q 55:15). The whole created realm in Islam is physical, in fact, with angels being made from light and men from clay. But jinnis of course are undeniably physical since they eat, and lead normal human lives, loves and beliefs. This engenders some contradictions as:

1. Being able to listen to the councils of Allah: There is no place in the Universe where the voices of Heaven start to become audible. Apparently in Islam there is, and Allah uses comets to prevent jinn from getting there.
2. Contradictory creation:– God does not need to use fire in order to create something intangible. This two-step creation falls to Occam’s Razor. If God should want to create an intangible creature, he does not first require to get a camp-fire going. If God wants to make an intangible thing, he makes an intangible thing, he does not first make a tangible thing and then make that intangible, as though intangible were intangible to him and he needed the tangible to work with.
3. The location contradiction: Pauli Exclusion principle obviates any possibility of a creatures occupying a “parallel” space to our own, and on top of that, even seamlessly interacting with it, as eating our food and having sex with our women (!). Anything physical must produce physical effects, and thereby be detectable. Even invisible dark matter and dark energy are known precisely because of their physical effects. Since they do not follow Pauli’s exclusion, photos cannot organize into structures. Parallel universes never interact with ours by definition, having different physics, and extra dimensions by definition are not “extended” spaces which can accommodate substances, as we have already discussed.
4. To both obey and disobey physical law is a contradiction: One cannot take every possible liberty with theology and state that all things are possible, even simple contradictions. A natural-supernatural being is a simple contradiction, something that is free to disobey physical laws and is yet forced to obey physical laws. Jinni can float up to listen in on Allah’s “heavenly councils”, dive in the sea without equipment, and even possess a person. How can jinn possess a person if they have a physical body? Where does the second body go?

Genies eat food, have sex, hold right and wrong religious beliefs. This is a description of animal biology and human cognition. Miraculous creatures do not obey physical laws, or they are not miraculous at all. Jinn have all the biological, cognitive and emotional requirements of a physical being like man. In contrast, it is Christian angelic beings that are truly miraculous, if being miraculous means not being subject to physical laws.

What the Qur’an should have done is leave the jinni in the supernatural realm. Demons which are supernatural creatures can influence people, yes, and they are fallen angels. This also makes sense because why would God create evil creatures? They were not created evil. But the Qur’an’s error is that it makes a chutney of the natural and supernatural creatures, jinni which eat human food and have babies in a different dimension and all that stuff. This is how pagans make stories.

Even Pagan humanoids do not struggle with energy Sources

But taking temporality out of the equation simply eliminates physical needs, something that does not seem to have occurred to the authors of the Qur’an. This again is a queer omission since typically even the pagan writers like those of the Greek and Hindu myths do not wrestle with these things. They might have their pantheons but they’re not really struggling with the need for an energy source for its members and it seems to have been obvious to them that they would not be subject to physical need in a similar manner to that which physical existents are.

If JINN don’t exist, this means half of Islamic reality it false…then how do we trust that the other half is true?  

Theological contradictions

Original Sin and the Clothes in the Qur’an?

Islam categorically denies that human beings have “Original Sin” or suffer the effects of Adam’s Sin in anyway that would require “redeeming” by a Saviour, as part of their denial of the Atoning Sacrifice of Jesus Christ. However in the Qur’an we see that following the sin of a single person, Adam, he is driven out of the Garden and thereafter humans are not to live there. The 2nd, 20th and 7th chapters related to this incident which we have seen elsewhere here. On top of that as if to confirm the close adherence to Christian teaching, Adam and Eve are stripped of their clothes and are made aware of their private parts.

Human-type Cognition, but also full-time human tempters?

Demons are Immortal, KNOW Heaven and Hell, are ALREADY DAMNED and THEREFORE tempt Humans. This means they cannot possibly have religion/ irreligion. The Qur’anic author takes the character of jinni from pagan Arabian myths and tries to combine it together with more sophisticated Christian angelology, with the resultant ontological mash-up.

THE ROLE OF THE SUPERNATURAL TEMPTER

The whole point of demonic temptation is to maliciously trick us into rejecting something that would have been good for us. But how could jinni know that union with Allah is good for us if we are both cognitively identical? Yet the jinni indeed do seemingly have human-type cognition and physicality as they eat, marry, have sex, armies, religions, atheism, prophets (eg. Q 72:1-2, 14-15, various hadith)

If jinni did have human type knowledge and cognition, they would be engaged in exactly the same intellectual struggles as us, engaging in the familiar inter-religious/ religious-atheist debates that we have. However while atheists tempt people to adopt their own beliefs about truth/reality which does not include God, demons on the other hand try to avoid people learning the truth about God. Demons know that the outcome of their actions will harm man whereas atheists are unaware about eternal outcomes. In short, atheist are the deceived, while demons are deceivers.

IBLIS TEMPTING HUMANS IN THE QUR’AN

Yet the role of the jinni as tempters is quite clear in the Qur’an, the shayatin (the world generally used for evil jinni) template their role from Iblis, who at the very creation of Man, vows that he will entice humans away from God right until the Last Day, and this in seeming revenge for being expelled from God’s presence himself. This is where the demons take on their role of deceivers of the human race.

Note that even though both Adam and Eve and Iblis are expelled around the same time, this does not work the other way around, humans will never take on the role of deceivers of jinni, and precisely for the reasons that we are describing here.

Here we see a good description of demonic ontology described. It is jinn- Iblis who “brought (Adam and Eve) out of the Garden”. There is an incredibly accurate description of how Iblis can “see”, “from where you see them not”, and finally the addendum that refers to all the shayatin that they are “friends of those who do not believe”. Thus we can glean from this that all the shayatin are cognitively similar:

“Children of Adam! Let not Satan tempt you as he brought your parents out of the Garden, stripping them of their garments to show them their shameful parts. Surely he sees you, he and his tribe, from where you see them not. We have made the Satans the friends of those who do not believe.” Q 7:27

Iblis will reveal his treachery in the end “when the matter has been decided”:

“And Satan says, when the issue is decided, ‘God surely promised you a true promise; and I promised you, then I failed you, for I had no authority over you, but that I called you, and you answered me. So do not blame me, but blame yourselves; I cannot aid you, neither can you aid me. I disbelieved in your associating me with God aforetime.’ As for the evildoers, for them awaits a painful chastisement” Q14:22

Here Iblis says “they will alter God’s creation”. He obviously is not like a human atheist, he is aware of who created the Universe:

“and I will lead them astray, and fill them with fancies and I will command them and they will cut off the cattle’s ears; I will command them and they will alter God’s creation.’ Whoso takes Satan to him for a friend, instead of God, has surely suffered a manifest loss. He promises them and fills them with fancies, but there is nothing Satan promises them except delusion” (Q 4:119, 120)

“Said he, ‘Respite me till the day they shall be raised.’ Said He, ‘Thou art among the ones that are respited.’ Said he, ‘Now, for Thy perverting me, I shall surely sit in ambush for them on Thy straight path. then I shall come on them from before them and from behind them, from their right hands and their left hands; Thou wilt not find most of them thankful.’ Said He, ‘Go thou forth from it, despised and banished. Those of them that follow thee- I shall assuredly fill Hell with all of you.’” (Q 7:11-16, repeated 17:62,63)

Again, “Shaytan” (used in the singular for Iblis) is already damned:

“Surely Satan is an enemy to you; so take him for an enemy. He calls his party only that they may be among the inhabitants of the Blaze.” (Q 35:6).

In verses like 41:36, 23:97 we are told to “take refuge from Satan in Allah, while in others like 37:7, 23:97, from other shayatin too.

THE “SHAYATIN” IN QUR’AN AS TEMPTERS, and DAMNED

Is the role and knowledge of the rest of the shayatin (“satans”) the same as that of Iblis? Let us look at some verses related to this.

First, we have already seen the strong implication that the rest of the shayatin are cognitively the same as iblis in 7:27 above, that they see and know what we do not:

“Surely he sees you, he and his tribe, from where you see them not. We have made the Satans the friends of those who do not believe.” Q 7:27

Here we see the temptation of the shayatin collectively:

“Hast thou not seen how We sent the Satans against the unbelievers, to prick them?” (Q 19:83)

and the “Shayatin descend upon every sinful liar” (26:221)

The shaytan are pelted with stars (for eavesdropping on Allah’s councils, as elsewhere described) and they are made “for the Blaze” anyway:

“And We have certainly beautified the nearest heaven with stars and have made [from] them what is thrown at the devils and have prepared for them the punishment of the Blaze.” (Q 67:5)

The following verse seems to speak of the curse upon devils or that they are epelled, “shaytan rajim” which is used to invoke a curse by Muslims everytime they pray or read the Qur’an:

“And We have protected it from every devil expelled [from the mercy of Allah]” (Q 15:17)

They are “appointed tempters”. Surely this too has the strong implication of damnation:

“And whoever is blinded from remembrance of the Most Merciful – We appoint for him a devil, and he is to him a companion.” (43:36)

Muhammed even taught that every man has an jinn and an angel on their shoulder, even he himself. Sadly, he also imagined that he had converted his own personal demon to Islam and would only advise him good things:

“Abdullah b. Mas’ud reported that Allah’s Messenger said: There is none amongst you with whom is not an attache from amongst the jinn (devil). They (the Companions) said: Allah’s Messenger, with you too? Thereupon he said: Yes, but Allah helps me against him and so I am safe from his hand and he does not command me but for good.” (Sahih Muslim, 2814)

JINNI ARE ETERNAL CREATURES

Further the implication of Q 7:11-16 is that Iblis spans the entire length of creation itself, from the creation of Adam to Resurrection of the Dead on the Last Day. This would also imply that he is an immortal soul rather than a physical being, as are all the jinni. Similarly other jinni too have a direct knowledge of Allah, since for example they supposedly listen in on the Divine Councils (Q 67:5, 37:6-8), and they too tempt humans through misguiding them (Q 19:83, 23:97, 26:221).

Muslims would still want to assert that Iblis and all the jinni die at this point on the last day, but it would seem absurd for Allah switch him on and off just to prove a point after the Resurrection. The angels are in Heaven, there is no death there, there are no cemetries in Janna. That’s the obvious reason that angels do not die and if the Qur’an truly includes them when it claims “every living thing will die” then it is wrong. As it stands, I don’t think that is even a necessary interpretation of that particular verse. Angels do not die because they are in Heaven already. That’s also the reason they do not disobey God, because they have entered eternal Life with him. Ask a Muslim: “you believe that Muhammed will go to Janna when he dies. Do you think that he will die after he goes there, or will he disobey God there? Same for the angels literally.”

Muslims response: Muslims sometimes resort to a multiple worlds theory and state that the Heaven to which humans and jinni go to after death is different to the heaven in which the angels are with God (also the world we inhabit is presubably different from the Universes in which the jinni are). This does not solve the problem either because Iblis, a jinn is in the same heaven as the angels anyway at the start of the incident, and as Adam and Eve.

THE QUR’ANIC AUTHOR MIXING UP IDENTITIES

These conceptual difficulties related to the physical-spiritual realms are what ultimately lead to one of the most monumental contradictions in the Qur’an when Allah himself seems to confuse the identity of the angels and jinni. These are the verses:

First, in the following two verses we can clearly infer that the author believes Iblis is an angel through the construction “the angels…except iblis”which entails that iblis is a subset of the group of angels;

“And when We said to the angels, ‘Bow yourselves to Adam’; so they bowed themselves, save Iblis; he refused, and waxed proud, and so he became one of the unbelievers” (Q 2:34)

And again, a similar construction here:

“And remember when We said to the angels, “Prostrate before Adam,” so they all did—but not Iblîs, who refused arrogantly.” (Q 20:116)

The contradiction arises here, where the author clearly also states Iblis is a jinn:

““And (remember) when We said to the angels: “Prostrate yourselves unto Adam.” So they prostrated themselves except Iblis (Satan). He was one of the jinn; he disobeyed the command of his Lord. ” (Q 18:50)

CONTRAST WITH THE BIBLE’S ANGELOLOGY

Jinni are not working from a faith perspective, rather jinni are beyond faith and have certitude of eternal outcomes. the bible is free from such admixing As St. John writes, “because he KNOWS the time is short” (Rev.12:12). The demons have no more choices left to accept or reject faith. They are already damned. Their only purpose left is to attempt to take others to Hell with them. There is never any confusion in the Bible about demons having religions and atheism or spiritual journeys, in other words, the Bible never confuses the role of angels, humans and demons. Angels are protectors, demons are destroyers, and humans have religion and irreligion.

PRE- ISLAMIC ARABIAN AND OTHER MYTHOLOGY

Physical- supernatural hybrids are the staple of any primitive mythology where there is no clear appreciation of the distinction of the metaphysical. “Supernatural” beings are merely invisible natural beings with enhanced capabilities. In pre-Islamic Arabia these were the genies, but one can pick equivalent concepts in the mythology of any ancient civilization. The Roman gods of mount Olympus like Thor and Zeus, today popularised in Marvel Avengers are not very different, they are all ontological mash-ups, so also the devas-rakshasas of Hindu mythology, and so on.

ALL HEBREW/ GREEK NAMES IS ADDITIONAL PROOF OF THE MASH-UP

Athough these supernatural beings behave like the pagan genies, their names are all in Hebrew and Greek! The only angel named in the Quran is Jibril, Hebrew Gabri-El, the Lord is my strenght, no cognate in Arabic. Again the ONLY jinni with a name, actually has two names- Iblis which is the Greek Diabolos, just missing the “D” consonant (D-i(a)b(o)lis) which means “adersary”, no Arabic cognate, and his other name is Shaytan, a word also used generically for evil jinni apparently, which is Satan- Hb. Satanas- “accuser”, which translates into the Gk, Diabolos from the LXX.

THE FALL OF THE ANGELS IS ITSELF IN THE QUR’AN

Of the three verses that speak of Iblis’ banishment, two (Q 2:34, 20:116), if read in and of themselves, literally speak of one angel that rebelled. That is literally an angel falling from grace, with the only difference being numerical. The actual event that lead up to its fall, that is, the demand to bow to Adam we find in a Talmudic story, also about a fallen angel. Right enough, this angels is “sent down” as punishment.

MUSLIM RESPONSES

Muslims attempts to explain the contradiction of dual-identity Iblis, spirit and mythological creature, is usually to say that he is indeed a jinn, but living with the angels.

Al-Baidawi actually conjectures that he was captured as a child in a war between the two species.

Ibn Kathir in response to 2:34 states:

“When Allah commanded the angels to prostrate before Adam, Iblis was included in this command. Although Iblis was not an angel, he was trying – and pretending – to imitate the angels’ behavior and deeds, and this is why he was also included in the command to the angels to prostrate before Adam”

and he also quotes a hadith:

“Similarly, Muhammad bin Ishaq reported that Ibn `Abbas said, “Before he undertook the path of sin, Iblis was with the angels and was called `Azazil.’ He was among the residents of the earth and was one of the most active worshippers and knowledgeable persons among the angels. This fact caused him to be arrogant. Iblis was from a genus called Jinn.””

In commentary to 18:50 he quotes another hadith:

“Al-Hasan Al-Basri said, “Iblis was not one of the angels, not even for a second. He was the origin of the Jinn just as Adam, upon him be peace, was the origin of mankind.” This was narrated by Ibn Jarir with a Sahih chain.”

Refutation:

It also does not make sense that someone can fool God through false piety and be give such a vaunted post that has never been given to any prophet or man ever in all of history, to worship God in his Presence with the holy angels without even dying first. How on earth would it benefit a defective being to he taken into God’s Presence directly with no spiritual journey? As it turns out this produced the worse outcome for Iblis, indeed the worst outcome possible of any created being. All this is quite apart from the other problem, which is the absurdity of the request itself. God does not bring defectine souls into Heaven, he perfects them before that. That’s the whole point, there’s no nonsense in Heaven, that’s what Earth is for.

SUMMARY

The treachery of demons consists in this: they attempt to prevent humans in believing that which they themselves know to be true. In fact the Qur’an also contains the correct view of eternal spiritual beings in its conceptualization of the angels, and this is because unlike in the case of the jinni, which was taken from Arabian myths, angels were taken from Christianity. Angels are not judged, they do not have religions or atheism, they do not die, and they exist solely for the purpose of praising God, with no confusion of any requirement for mixed up physical activity like getting married and eating food and so on, and we can see these features of angels even in the Qur’an itself. Demons, having once fallen, now exist for the sole purpose of tempting man away from God. It seems very obvious that the jinni are a mash up resulting from a failure to comprehend the place of angelic beings in God’s creative plan, a failure that is reflected in the Qur’an itself with its inconsistency in assigning Iblis a place with either angels or with the so-called jinni. Particularly, beings that are expected to undertake the same types of paths that humans do in order to attain heaven should not begin their journeys in Heaven as Iblis seems to have done, nor should they be able to “eavesdrop” on God in Heaven as some other jinni do, and perhaps of the most religious significance, they should not exist for the purpose of tempting other beings to Hell, as though they possessed certitude of the afterlife that those beings lacked. From an ontological perspective it is not incorrect to posit beings that inhabit differing ontological realms such that they are mutually imperceptible, or at least ordinarily so. However it cannot be correct that ontological realms are inter-dependent for sustenance. The whole point of specifying a different ontological realm is that they are causally independent. It makes no sense that the beings of that realm are dependent for sustenance upon another realm. This is seen in the hadith, not in the Qur’an. If they are inter-dependent they they are not ontologically separate in the first place. You will still have persons say that this is all just speculation on my part and everything is possible, and I would struggle to say anything further to them that I have not already said here. If you take the argument in the absence of a spemcific religious bias, there’s nothing wrong with it. Again in this case there are the rare mentions of real physical interactions between the realms in the two verses concerning the nephilim in the Bible, but again, this is a voluntary interaction for which other explanations can be employed (eg., the beings we able to manipulate physical matter in another realm), however there is still nto hint of a mutual dependence. However I can concede that the theological arguments are stronger than this last ontological one, where even in Christianity there can occur some difficulty in giving a complete rationalisation of the said phenomenon of nephilim, even if it is not a recurrent theme therein, nor part of the overall theological project, unlike the jinni in Islam who very much are.

Only Muhammed ever Saw or Spoke to Jinni

In all of Judeo-Christian writing and theology, it is only Muhammed who sees jinni. Rather than stop there though, he also has detailed conversations with their leaders and delegations, preaches to them, and travels to their country as though it were a real thing. He is also the only Muslim to have ever seen an angel or any heavenly being of any sort, for Muhammed’s buraq, another unwitnessed creature that solves the transportation deficit between earth and Heaven. For a religion that claims to be the inheritor of the entire Judeo-Christian tradition, it seems frightfully unusual for its founder to be associating with never-before-seen life-forms. We speak of Muhammed’s unseen and unusual angel here Muhammed’s Unique “Angel”. Special Pleading fallacy: Only Muhammed of all the prophets had any interaction with jinni, and even a vacation to Jinniland (or “business trip”).

“Narrated Ash-Sha’bi: that ‘Alqamah said: “I said to Ibn Mas’ud, may Allah be pleased with him: ‘Did any of you accompany the Prophet on the Night of the Jinn?’ He said: ‘None of us accompanied him. One night, while he was in Makkah, we could not find him. We said: “He has been murdered [or] snatched, what has happened to him?” So we spent the worst night a people could spend until the morning’ or ‘it was about dawn when we saw him coming from the direction of Hira.’ He said: ‘They told him about what they had went through.'” “So he said: ‘Someone from the Jinn came to invite me, so I went to them to recite for them.’ He said: “So we went and saw their tracks and the traces of their camp fire.'” Ash-Sha’bi said: “They asked him about their provisions – and they were Jinns of Mesopotamia – so he said: ‘Every bone upon which Allah’s name has not been mentioned, that falls into your hands, and every dropping of dung is fodder for your beasts.'” So the Messenger of Allah said: “Do not perform Istinja with them for indeed they are provisions for your brothers among the Jinns.” (Tirmidhi 3258, graded sahih, Darussalam)

“Muhammad bin Al Munkadir narrated that: Jabir [may Allah be pleased with him] said: “The Messenger of Allah came out to his Companions, and recited Surat Ar-Rahman from its beginning to its end for them, and they were silent. So he said: ‘I recited it to the Jinns on the ‘Night of the Jinns,’ and they had a better response to it than you did. Each time I came to Allah’s saying: ‘Which of your Lords favor do you deny.’ They said: “We do not deny any of Your favors our Lord! And Yours is praise.” (Tirmidhi 3291 graded hassah, darussalam)

Addressing Some Counter-Arguments

But aren’t Humans “Dual-Nature” too?

Human souls do not eat food, have sex etc. Their bodies do, just as in the case of the simplest organisms and more complex beasts. Jinni, on the other hand could not possibly be composed of a body that has physical needs and a soul that does not, or they would be human! Rather this is the precise problem with jinni- that they have physical bodies supposedly (being made of fire and having physical life processes) and yet have the property of intangibility which is spiritual. Were it held that they do have spiritual bodies, then these biological requirements are not explained anyway. In summary, both the senses of the physical as well as the spiritual are contradicted by the jinni. But that is exactly what one would expect when an obvious anthropomorphism is simply transported in toto into a supposed invisible realm.

The soul rather, is considered by religious persons as the immaterial seat of the intellect, the “mind” of a person (there might be differing views on this but what is not differing is that it is immaterial). Now were we to posit that this human body-soul/mind duality were sufficient to allow for the jinn to have a similar physical-non-physical duality, will not fly, because anything that has a body performing bodily functions and a soul that is immaterial is simply the description of a human being. A jinn purportedly is invisible and intangible for the precise reason that its body is not physical. A jinn is a non-physical body (and presumably a non-physical soul) which has biology. So he human comparison does not exist.

What about Supernatural Creatures in the Bible?

Nephilim and Shedim

Muslims will sometimes use the argument that the Genesis 6 narration of the “sons of God” becoming besotted by and having sex with earthly women are equivalent to the jinn having sexual lives as well. Neither Christianity nor Judaism see the angels as physical beings for the simple reason that their activities are never described as physical in their natural state, that is- the interactions of angels among themselves and with God is never narrated as anything to do with the kind of life that a physical existent would live and the kind of cares and concerns that they might have. The incident of the Nephilim is a one-off in the Bible rather than a foundational incident in Christian theology whereby we are to expect angelic unions in a form as an ongoing occurrence. For a full discussion of the Nephilim do take a look at: https://onchristianity.net/2022/03/11/nephilim-who-are-they/.

The reason that there is some similarity with jinn is because they had sex with humans. Unlike humans they also managed to make some mixed-ontology babies, which is odd. There is some debate about Nephilim and I prefer to see them as metaphorical, as some powerful kings, not real giants. I wrote my reasons in an article, I’ll post it to you. Even if these are demons/angelic beings, the first problem here is how can you have a cross-breed baby. It’s more likely that they were able to manipulate the human DNA somehow, like we so in lab today but more advanced, so that the babies were giants than a true cross spiritual-physical being. Further, even if all that was true, the Nephilim are not lurking around now, trying to eat your food and tryin to understand the meaning of life and which religion to follow and looking somewhere for prophets and books etc.

There are only wo verses in the entire Bible that use a generic word translated “demon”: 106:37 and Deut 32:17. Both are about people sacrificing/sacrificing their children to demons (shedim). There are allusions to demons using other words like goats. There are some more usages in the Catholic books like Tobit, Baruch and Maccabees, but I haven’t found the Hebrew for them yet.

Christian Angels

On the other hand angels in Islam are entirely different from jinn. Firstly they are made of light and not of fire, and that is meant to be a thing. But that is only the beginning- angels in Islam do not have free will. This is the mainstream view in Islam, and it means that angels merely unthinkingly do whatever they’re told for all eternity. This too is a new form of life exclusive to Islam, another seemingly anthropomorphism, since it is quite akin to a human pet. In Christianity, on the other hand, the spiritual realm is entirely non-physical (by definition of “spiritual”) is entirely populated by rational creatures like ourselves called angels and demons, the fact that there are indeed angels and demons being testament that they do have free will or they could not be either good or evil. That they are entirely non-physical precludes having to give any reasons for any of their supernatural abilities. Finally as they are all created at a single moment in time and never dying there is no requirement for an ongoing reproductive multiplication. Needless to say here, that they do not die is a natural consequence of that fact that they never lived- physically. For a fuller discussion of angels see this article https://onchristianity.net/2022/03/11/angels-demons-and-souls/

Angels do inhabit a Realm where physical laws do not bind

We would actively challenge the premise that spiritual creatures are bound to the temporal realm, this is simply a failure to think beyond what is immediately perceptible and to conceive the possibility of anything beyond it. This when in fact the very act of positing a being which is “spirit” and which very obviously and from its definition does not obey physical laws necessitates that it exist in a manner and in which it does not require to do so.

We know that such a realm exists, else Heaven which is eternal could be true, and there could not be a place which will be forever without change and without physical need.

This indeed is why angels are God’s Messengers

This is the Paradisal realm that angels, the messengers of God already inhabit, which if they did not they could not be his “messengers” in the first place.

God does not come to angels in dreams, rather he speaks to them, this is why their messages are “first hand” and completely authentic rather than something that needs to be verified from some other sources.

Jinni in Islam are the equivalent of an adult monster-under the bed waiting to pounce upon the unwary. That they manage to perform all these unlikely Olympian feats on a diet of human and animal waste, makes them even more impressive.

Physical and metaphysical at the same time?

Jinn are contradictory beings because they are presented as being both physical and non-physical at the same time.

Iblis gets back into Paradise?

“And when We said to the angels, ‘Bow yourselves to Adam’; so they bowed themselves, save Iblis; he refused, and waxed proud, and so he became one of the unbelievers. And We said, ‘Adam, dwell thou, and thy wife, in the Garden, and eat thereof easefully where you desire; but draw not nigh this tree, lest you be evildoers.’ Then Satan caused them to slip therefrom and brought them out of that they were in; and We said, ‘Get you all down, each of you an enemy of each; and in the earth a sojourn shall be yours, and enjoyment for a time.'” (Q 2:34-36)

We find the same story with some variation here:

“” (Q 20:115-123)

” We created you, then We shaped you, then We said to the angels: ‘Bow yourselves to Adam’; so they bowed themselves, save Iblis — he was not of those that bowed themselves. Said He, ‘What prevented thee to bow thyself, when I commanded thee?’ Said he, ‘I am better than he; Thou createdst me of fire, and him Thou createdst of clay.’ Said He, ‘Get thee down out of it; it is not for thee to wax proud here, so go thou forth; surely thou art among the humbled.’ Said he, ‘Respite me till the day they shall be raised.’ Said He, ‘Thou art among the ones that are respited.’ Said he, ‘Now, for Thy perverting me, I shall surely sit in ambush for them on Thy straight path. then I shall come on them from before them and from behind them, from their right hands and their left hands; Thou wilt not find most of them thankful.’ Said He, ‘Go thou forth from it, despised and banished. Those of them that follow thee — I shall assuredly fill Hell (jahannuma) with all of you.'” (Q 7:11-16)

In Surah 7 Allah banishes Iblis for not bowing to Adam. Later in the same chapter Iblis tempts Adam and Eve who are still in the Garden. How does he work this? Well, by skipping from the Talmud into the Torah, it seems.

The 2nd and 20th surahs talk of the bowing incident, then the subsequent temptation incident and the expulsion of all three characters. The 7th surah on the other hand, speaks of Satan’s expulsion as a direct result of his refusal to bow wherein he also gives his reasons for refusing, the command of his banishment, his request for a respite “until the day they are raised” and the granting of that request, and his vow to tempt and misguide them. The temptation incident is entirely missing here and there is no interaction with Adam and Eve.

Muslims would believe that he uses this respite to remain in the Garden in order to be able to tempt Adam, before they are all eventually evicted. However Satan’s request that is granted is that he be respited “till the day they are raised”. This means that he is not given a respite from leaving Paradise, rather he is given a respite from entering Hell. It would be absurd if Iblis be left to enjoy Paradise right up until Resurrection Day, not the least because there would be no humans left therein for him to tempt anyway.

The problem here is that the Qur’an has two expulsions. So what’s the cause of the problem here? Well the “bowing” incident is not Biblical, it would be aberrant for the Biblical God to require such an act of his angels. Rather this is Talmudic, and is seen in other apocryphal sources which I detail here Sources of the Qur’an. The Temptation of Satan and expulsion on the other hand is Biblical. However in borrowing from two discrepant sources, the Quran now has a double expulsion of Satan. He is expelled following the Talmudic account, then hops back into Paradise by skipping into the Torah, only to be expelled again following the eating incident.

The Sequence of Events

We can divide the Qur’anic verses related to the Garden of Eden into those that relate to the Fall (F) and the bowing of the angels (B). In (F), Adam is seduced by Satan into eating of a “Tree of Eternity”, and we see the story of the origin of shame as it unfolds in the 20th Surah:

” Then Satan (l-shaytanu) whispered to him saying, ‘Adam, shall I point thee to the Tree of Eternity, and a Kingdom that decays not? And Adam and his wife ate of it, and their private parts became apparent to them, and they began to fasten over themselves from the leaves of Paradise (…) And Adam disobeyed his Lord and erred.  Thereafter his Lord chose him, and turned again unto him, and He guided him. Said He, ‘Get you down, both of you together, out of it, each of you an enemy to each; but if there comes to you from Me guidance, then whosoever follows My guidance shall not go astray, neither shall he be unprosperous;” (Q 20:120-123)

We are given more detail in the 2nd Surah. There is an initial “covenant” with Adam which is broken. The (B) narrative however is interjected in this. All the same, it is made clear that it is not Allah’s original intent that Adam be removed from Paradise and suffer the travails of “regular” (non-vacation mode) earthly existence, so as to “suffer”, “suffer the sun”, “thirst” etc. It is not Allah’s will that they be removed, on the contrary he expresses, referring to Iblis here, “let him not remove you”:

“And We made covenant with Adam before, but he forgot, and We found in him no constancy.

…And when We said to the angels, ‘Bow yourselves to Adam’; so they bowed themselves, save Iblis; he refused.

So We said, “O Adam, indeed this is an enemy to you and to your wife. Then let him not remove you from Paradise (l-janati, the Garden) so you would suffer. It is assuredly given to thee neither to hunger therein, nor to go naked, either to thirst therein, nor to suffer the sun.” (Q 2:115-119)

After Adam is expelled from the Garden he repents and receives forgiveness and mercy, but this part is actually earlier in the 2nd surah, because it is linked to the bowing (B) narrative:

And when We said to the angels, ‘Bow yourselves to Adam’; so they bowed themselves, save Iblis; he refused, and waxed proud, and so he became one of the unbelievers. (34)  And We said, ‘Adam, dwell thou, and thy wife, in the Garden, and eat thereof easefully where you desire; but draw not nigh this tree, lest you be evildoers.’ (35) Then Satan caused them to slip (fa-azallahuma- 5occ.) therefrom (an-ha) and brought them out of that they were in (mimma kana fihi); and We said, ‘Get you all down, (ih’bitu, 7occ.) each of you an enemy of each; and in the earth a sojourn shall be yours, and enjoyment for a time.’ (2:34-36, last verse is similar to 20:123)

“Then Adam received from his Lord [some] words, and He accepted his repentance. Indeed, it is He who is the Accepting of repentance, the Merciful.” (Q 2:37)

This is a strange sequence of events, because Iblis is actually thrown out of Paradise following his refusal. How is it that he is then still around here to tempt Adam and Eve in relation to the forbidden fruit? The answer is that this is the result of twin sources of the Qur’an- the Fall incident is found in the Bible, while the un-Biblical request of Allah to bow down to Adam is rather found in the Talmud.

Muslims will reply that Satan requests that he be allowed to stay for longer and this is why he is still available for the temptation. The request to stay longer should not be seen as related to Satan’s stay in Paradise, rather on Earth, wherein even Islam admits he continues to tempt humans. Support for this is once again that this is the Biblical narrative, and without that support, this “stay longer” request is out of context and irrelevant. It is not really tied into the temptation incident explicitly, nor is the permission revoked following it. but it probably remains as the strongest counter argument to teh dual appearance problem. I need to get the verses in order to explain all this properly.

Is Iblis Angel or Jinn?

These verses themselves are self-contradictory.

When we interpret these first two we can see that the author clearly believes Iblis is an angel “the angels…they…save iblis”.

“And when We said to the angels, ‘Bow yourselves to Adam’; so they bowed themselves, save Iblis; he refused, and waxed proud, and so he became one of the unbelievers” (Q 2:34)

“And remember when We said to the angels, “Prostrate before Adam,” so they all did—but not Iblîs, who refused arrogantly.” (Q 20:116)

Here the author clearly states he believes Iblis is a jinn:

““And (remember) when We said to the angels: “Prostrate yourselves unto Adam.” So they prostrated themselves except Iblis (Satan). He was one of the jinn; he disobeyed the command of his Lord. ” (Q 18:50)

Why does the only named jinn named have a Greek compound word? covered here: https://respondislam.net/borrowed-terms-and-themes-the-hidden-christian-story-of-the-quran/#Iblis_is_D-IBLS_a_Greek_term_for_the_Fallen_Angel, and the only angel named in the Qur’an is a Hebrew name.

Angels being asked to bow to Man is a theological contradiction

There are fully seven passages, all repeats of the same event, wherein Allah requires Angels to bow down/prostrate (sajda) to Adam: 2:34, 7:11, 15:30, 17:61, 18:50,20:116 38:72-73. While voluntary prostration is seen in the Bible as  sign of respect, this is never performed in the Qur’an for anyone but God. Sajda is used 35 times as a verb and 23 times as participle, and every time in relation to Allah with the sole exception of the above verses with respect to Adam. The s-j-d root is also the same in masjid, the Muslims place of worship. This means that in all of Islamic human history, no creature has been required to bow down to another creature except this once. Sajda is precisely the position of a Muslim in prayer, and they do not assume that posture in relation to any other person, period, they wear the mark of prostration to their God, the callosity on their forehead with pride and there is a hadith that states that this mark accords them increased grace in terms of entry to janna. It would be unthinkable for a Muslim that this mark were caused through prostration to anyone but Allah.

Angels do not bow to any man ever again, not even Muhammed himself. Once again, the Qur’anic Adam is not intended as a metaphoric figure, rather he is taken to be an actual prophet and the literal first human being. This is corroborated from the various hadithic narrations related to him.

So how do we explain the explain of this stray honor given to Adam, the reason for the damnation of Iblis? Well, the only place we do find a parallel to this story is in the Jewish Midrash. The full analysis is found in my article Sources of the Qur’an.

Its Irrelevance betrays plagiarism

If Satan stripped Adam and Eve’s clothes, what is there for them to be ashamed, they need to just make new ones. They’re only two humans anyway, that too they are husband and wife, what’s there to be ashamed, of? No one’s watching. This just a symptom of the larger issue the Christian doctrine of the Fall of which the Qur’anic narrative seems entirely oblivious. The reason why this is a problem is not based upon an assumption of the truth of the Fall narrative. The point is that irrespective of whether or not the truth of the Fall narrative is held to, the Qur’an seems to incorporate it implicitly, while Islam as a religion denies it.

Let us analyze the incident of Adam and Eve feeling shame at their nakedness for the first time. There is no shame where there is genuine love and trust. yes, in today’s fallen world its a different story, where the trust is gone. That’s why we call it “fallen”. That’s the real meaning of the Garden story. People will never be trustworthy on Earth, this is impossible. We cannot even imagine such a situation, because we ourselves are untrustworthy. But yes in heaven this will not be a problem. There will be no need to hide anything from anyone. There’s no hide and seek in heaven. Everything is glorious.

The Qur’an seems to portray it as a sort of sexual assault perpetrated by the devil, similar to the kind of insult that a public stripping of an individual would imply in the modern age. All of this, the story of disobedience and succumbing to the temptation of Satan resulting in the origin of shame, and expulsion from a previous paradisal state is completely in line with the Christian narrative of the first sin. The innocent, like children need not feel ashamed, for that is the paradisal state, while only the fallen require clothes and hijabs and so on. Adam’s repentance cannot gain him entry back into the Garden (neither can any subsequent human being), so the consequences of the first sin remain, just as in the Christian doctrine. There is a state of original purity prior to disobedience and it is only with the first sin that the relation between man and God changes. One might not understand or accept the specific theology of the Christian doctrine of original sin, but that its premise is present in the Qur’an cannot be denied.

Adam repents and is forgiven, yet he is not readmitted to Paradise. That doesn’t make sense unless you factor in Original Sin. Suddenly he needs to wear clothes, that doesn’t make sense unless you factor in the loss of original innocence which is the result of Original Sin. The first sin symbolizes a changed relationship of Adam and Eve with God, from when where they had not sinned to where they had, and a relation of trust in God to a relationship of mistrust, symbolized by their heeding to the Devil. That situation of mistrust is what makes it impossible that Adam and Eve simply continue to inhabit Paradise as though nothing were amiss.

Now all humans will require to deal with temptation, uncertainty, suffering, all caused through mistrust, and will need to be saved by God, whereas the Paradisal state of trust would not have been one requiring “saving” as such. Of course, many questions can be seen to arise from this, but those are the bare bones. A full elaboration of Original Sin is here: https://onchristianity.net/original-sin/

Adam sinned against Allah, then he repents and yet Allah removed not only him, but the entire human race from Paradise. This is a contradiction in Islam, because as we have already seen in other Qur’anic verses, no man can bear the sin of another. This seems to show that God and man cannot be reconciled in Islam, else Adam would have been admitted back into Paradise (Jannat).

We even have a Qur’anic verse which states that majority of humanity in its natural state (presumably that of the driven-out Adam) would have followed Satan if not for God (it also implies that apparently some persons would follow God in the absence of any “bounty” from him, which is incredible, but that a different problem we’ll have to list elsewhere):

“…And but for the bounty of God to you, and His mercy, you would surely have followed Satan, except a few.” (Q 4:63)

The concept of inherent corruption in the human soul by nature of birth is evident from other verses like:

“Yet I (Yusuf as the speaker) claim not that my soul was innocent — surely the soul of man incites (ammaratun root أ م ر is used to mean command, order in its verb form) to evil — except inasmuch as my Lord had mercy; truly my Lord is All-forgiving, All-compassionate.’” (Q 12:53)

Only through Jesus, whom God sent, as his Word, his Spirit, his Great Sacrifice and Ransom (Q37:107), his Messiah (Al-Masih), his Salvation (Eisa= Salvation)

Either that, or this is another unfortunate case of copying sans context: the context of the Quran is in the Bible. Why else would this story be in the Quran?

Who took the Clothes?

Because the notion of the Fall and Original Sin does not exist in Islam, this seemingly gives rise to tremendous confusion in the actual narrative. Take the issue of shame, for example: why are Adam and Even suddenly ashamed of their nakedness when they were not before? Two contradictory accounts are given. In the first version, there is certainly no implication that Adam and Eve were forcibly deprived of their clothes by an external agency. Rather it is quite like the Biblical version in which Adam and Eve were naked and the concept of clothes does not exist, because there is no concept of shame in the state of original innocence before the Fall. This is why when they start to feel exposed they take to the most rudimentary form of covering which is “stitching upon themselves leaves” to hide their genitals.

“So the two of them ate of it, and their shameful parts revealed to them, and they took to stitching upon themselves leaves of the Garden. And Adam disobeyed his Lord, and so he erred.” (Q 20:121)

While here Satan seemingly strips the clothes Adam and Eve had allegedly been wearing, thus causing embarrassment:

“Children of Adam! Let not Satan tempt you as he brought your parents out of the Garden, stripping them of their garments to show them their shameful parts. Surely he sees you, he and his tribe, from where you see them not. We have made the Satans the friends of those who do not believe.” (Q 7:27)

Islam’s Explanations for the Fall also Fall

When asked why Adam and Eve are expelled from the Garden if its all the same thing anyway, these are some of the typical answers

Answer 1: “Allah wanted to test human beings by sending them to the Earth…”

Reply: Adam and Eve got tested by Satan even though they were in Janna, though. Isn’t it odd that God would drive Adam out from his Presence, when in fact the dangers he would face away from it were far greater. In Christianity it is because man is not fit for Heaven, having the tendency to sin. He must first be purified. Obviously in Islam too, he must undergo a process on Earth. Muslims call it a “test”, we have “sanctification”. But Muslims are left with a problem: What man could not do in Heaven, in the Presence of God, how can he do on Earth, on his own? It can’t be purely that prophets will be sent to the Earth either, after all, Adam himself is a prophet in Islam, and all the prophets are equivalent in their message and holiness in Islamic belief itself.

In Islam, man blunders into sin when he is in Janna. He gets kicked out, but he is once again in exactly the same position, and there is nothing to stop him blundering again in exactly the same way. Muslims might not agree with the Christian concept of Atoning Sacrifice, but the point is that because of it, the situation after the Fall is “different” than it was before. Lastly Muslims might say “well, but now he can learn from Adam’s mistake”, but again, why create Adam in Paradise when he could have had the same temptation on earth. That significance of going from Janna to Duniya is lost in Islam.

2: “But the Jews do not believe in the ‘Fall of man…”

Reply: Jews do not also believe in the rise of man. Man is kicked out of Paradise in the Torah, but it is not made evident exactly how they are to be taken back into it.

4. God had already determined to place Adam upon the earth in (Q 2:30) “And when thy Lord said to the angels, ‘I am setting in the earth a viceroy.’ They said, ‘What, wilt Thou set therein one who will do corruption there, and shed blood, while We proclaim Thy praise and call Thee Holy?’ He said, ‘Assuredly I know that you know not.’”

Reply: The narrative still requires an explanation, because it cannot be that it is all merely a pointless exercise and smacks of plagiarism again. If it had really been Allah’s intention to put Adam on the Earth anyway, then why do the exact opposite and put him in Heaven? Further there are clear verses that directly contradict this notion as we see later. For example, he tries to advise Adam not to be tempted by Satan, and clearly states that his intention is that Adam remain in Paradise where he neither hunger nor suffer thirst. We’ve state this already at the beginning:

t is made clear that it is not Allah’s original intent that Adam be removed from Paradise and suffer the travails of “regular” (non-vacation mode) earthly existence, so as to “suffer”, “suffer the sun”, “thirst” etc. It is not Allah’s will that they be removed, on the contrary he expresses, referring to Iblis here, “let him not remove you”:

“And We made covenant with Adam before, but he forgot, and We found in him no constancy.

…And when We said to the angels, ‘Bow yourselves to Adam’; so they bowed themselves, save Iblis; he refused.

So We said, “O Adam, indeed this is an enemy to you and to your wife. Then let him not remove you from Paradise (l-janati, the Garden) so you would suffer. It is assuredly given to thee neither to hunger therein, nor to go naked, either to thirst therein, nor to suffer the sun.” (Q 2:115-119)

5: “there is no ‘price to be paid’ for sin”

Reply: Yes there is. Some Muslims can expect to pay this “debt” owed by being tortured in Hell, others will have their debts paid off by Jews and Christians that go to Hell in their place. This is a bit off-topic anyway.

No Islamic Remedy for it

The creation of Adam is pieced together from several places in the Qur’an (Surahs 2,4,20,21,38 and others). In it, we get all the elements of the Christian Fall of man, with the disobedience of Adam and Eve resulting in the expulsion of the entire human race from the Paradisal state, along with the elements that accompany that fall, represented as in the Biblical narrative with the introduction of shame. This is incredible, because having done this, Islam simply does not have any concept of Man requiring “redemption”. He is already a believer since his birth according to the “fitra” tradition (easy to look up), and is entirely capable of “reverting” to this state even from the condition of unbelief. All this is entirely contrary to the Christian concept of “grace” as “free gift”, for example that Paul abundantly alludes to in Romans 5.

This is not to try to prove that one view is correct, rather only to point out that something goes wrong in the relationship between man and God in the Garden, and Islam does not state how it is made right. Adam and Eve are placed up Earth “each an enemy of each”, and of Satan, how is this to be remedied and what is the remedy for the universal enmity of mankind that this symbolizes? None is given. The first prophet of Islam is his own wife’s enemy and therefore loves no one, and there is no amelioration nor reason for it. This is clear in the sequence from surah 20:120-123 in which “Adam…and his wife” are being addressed and then told “get down both of you together…each an enemy of each”. There is not even the mention of Satan in this passage and so it is only Adam and Eve that can be the subjects of this mutual enmity.

Does Allah want Adam to be in Janna or not?

Allah clearly wants Adam to be in Janna, and all his advise is geared at this (we’ve covered this in reply #4). However even though Adam repents, he is not taken back- contradiction? Allah wants Adam back, he repents, then what?