Process
Status Items Highlights Done See section below Claims None Questions None Output None
Highlights
Location 114
Intermediary beings such as the jinn, on the other hand, are more complex, multifarious, intricate, and hesitant between obscurity and glow. They are go-between beings. Like humans, they could at anytime shift toward goodness or toward evil.
Location 117
Islam, on the contrary, developed an ingenious and sophisticated concept of the imagination and the imaginal. It also contends the originality of Islam lies precisely in being a monotheism that highlights the existence of intelligent spiritual entities without necessarily demonizing them.
Location 121
Generally speaking, it is difficult for westerners to understand how one can be monotheist and still believe in spiritual beings such as the jinn. Some westerners summarize this issue as follows: either you are polytheist and you believe in spirits, or you are monotheist and you believe only in God, angels, and the devil.
👓 blue 🔗 Location 121
Location 224
“God divided the jinn and the humans into ten parts. One part makes up the human race, and the other nine parts is made up of the jinn.”
Location 401
seven earths
✏️ Multiple earths that are located behind qaf.. See following pages 🔗 Location 401
Location 495
“imaginative” faculty of the mind in its highest aspect, the power of framing new and striking intellectual conceptions, is essentially needed to penetrate the realm of the imaginal: the habitat of the jinn.
✏️ Everything past this is power of imagination to traverse jinn land 🔗 Location 495
Location 499
supra-sensory world, insofar as it is not perceptible except by the imaginative perception,
Location 515
Suhrawardi’s tale, by the symbol of the drop of balm exposed in the hollow of the hand to the sun, it is a matter of entering, passing into the interior and, in passing into the interior, of finding oneself, paradoxically, outside, or, in the language of our authors, ‘on the convex surface’ of the ninth sphere—in other words ‘beyond the mountain of Qaf.’
✏️ Something a mentor or crazy wise figure would do and talk about 👓 blue 🔗 Location 515
Location 530
Ibn ‘Arabi compares the imaginal realm, the dwelling place of the jinn and the locus of the mountain Qaf, of the emerald cities, of Jabalqa and Jabarsa to a barzakh (isthmus).
Location 544
He explains, for example, if we see beings as static only, we are seeing with the eye of sight, which usually identifies beings from the exterior and doesn’t look to what is below them or behind them, like their aura, or their essence. If, on the contrary, we “see” these beings behind their appearance, and if we can capture some of their other aspects, we are witnessing things and beings with the eye of the imagination.
Location 551
Qur’anic example of what imagination really means. “And abounding fruit, not picked nor forbidden” (Qur’an 56:32*). He elaborates on this verse, “You look at the fruit and see it not picked and you look at your hand and you see that it is in your hand and you are eating it; and you realize without any doubt that the fruit you are eating is on the tree and hasn’t been picked up.”
👓 blue 🔗 Location 551
Location 554
imagination is viewed as a synthesis, a realization of an ambiguous power or a faculty of the mind, a medium that reverses the situation we have on Earth because it “brings about the embodiment of immaterial things, even though they do not gain all the attributes of corporeality, remaining both/and.”
👓 blue 🔗 Location 554
Location 580
The new physics established that the human and the cosmos are significantly interconnected in such a way that the consciousness of the human seems to affect the thing he/she is observing in the cosmos. In such a perspective, obviously, the cosmos is not seen as dead matter that the human controls, as Cartesians willed it. It is rather perceived as a living being that is aware and has its own consciousness. The new physics unraveled a web of interconnections and interdependencies in which humans and everything in the three planes of the cosmos exchange powers. “Their argument ([Albert] Einstein and [Niels] Bohr) had to do with the nature of observation. It seems a quantum mechanical system such as an atom or a subatomic system undergoes a rapid and unpredictable change whenever it is observed. This rapid change cannot be encompassed within the equations that describe quantum systems. It lies embarrassingly outside of the domain of mathematical representation. Somehow the very act of observing something causes an irreversible and uncontrollable change in the system, and this change effects and, for that matter, affects the relationship that exists between the observer and the observed.”51 The new physics disclosed a new vision of the universe where matter is the exception and the major component is energy, which obviously changes the conventional perception of microcosm (reason) controlling matter (macrocosm). The result is an open field of energy overflowing with infinite potentialities in which we and all the beings of the three realms participate, whether we are aware of it or not.
✏️ good topic to discuss and build up lore, mystique. 👓 blue 🔗 Location 580
Location 598
“Know that the soul, the devil, the angel are not realities outside of you: you are they.”
👓 blue 🔗 Location 598
Location 607
Islam advocates a path called “knowledge by presence” in which knowledge coincides with life itself. One is invited to utterly live one’s knowledge. This notion, however, requires that one lifts him/herself to a different mode of apprehension, which involves passing beyond the discursive pattern of thinking. The expression al-‘ilm al-huduri (knowledge by presence or presential knowledge), was coined by al-Suhrawardi, who founded the school of Ishraq (Illumination), which states intuitive knowledge apprehends reality better than discursive philosophy. The expression “presential knowledge” is in contrast to al-‘ilm al-husuli (conceptual knowledge). As contemporary Muslim scholar Seyyed Hossein Nasr expounds, “Man can know through intuition and revelation not because he is a thinking being who imposes the categories of his thought upon what he perceives but because knowledge is being. The nature of reality is none other than consciousness which, needless to say, cannot be limited to only its individual human mode.”54 Presential knowledge involves unity between knowledge, subject, and object, the three referring to the same reality. Knower relates to known as the created relates to the creator. This resembles the relation established between subject and object in the Quantum physics’ perspective, with the exception that the “sacred” dimension or/and the transcendental is not always present in the texts of quantum theorists. It is possible to understand the multiple worlds and access them if one’s life is in agreement and harmony with the existence of these worlds. According to Corbin, “What distinguishes the traditional cosmology of the theosophers in Islam, for example, is that its structure—where the worlds and interworlds beyond the mountain of Qaf, that is, beyond the physical universes, are arranged in levels—is intelligible only for an existence in which the act of being is in accordance with its presence in those worlds, for reciprocally, it is in accordance with this act of being that these worlds are present in it.”55 Through presential knowledge, one could undertake the journey to the imaginal realm of the jinn without recourse to a polytheist view of things as Hillman suggests. It should be noted here that when Muslim theosophists say knowledge coincides with life, they don’t mean one is invited to a literal interpretation of this hierarchical universe with its beings. On the contrary, when one succeeds to live the inseparability of natural conscience and human conscience, one experiences the most stunning openness of mind, heart, and spirit, which allows him/her to comprehend these most complex and intriguing correspondences between humans and jinn
✏️ Need to read this more to understand if I can use it. 👓 pink 🔗 Location 607
Location 664
“Company of jinn and mankind, did not Messengers come to you from among you, relating to you My signs and warning you of the encounter of this your day? They shall say, ‘We bear witness against ourselves’” (Qur’an 6:130). But were some of these messengers from the side of the jinn, or were all the messengers from the human side alone? What does the Qur’anic expression “from among you” mean? Muslim theologians debated at length whether these verses indicate the messengers of God must have come from among jinn as well as from humans. The majority of Muslim theologians, however, concurred God did not send jinn messengers to the jinn; otherwise, they would have been mentioned in the Holy Book. Prophets were solely sent from humans.
✏️ This would be great if I can come up with a good argument as to why the Quran doesn’t mention jinn messengers. Cuz the line does imply that they came from “among you”.. so why not from the jinn? 👓 blue 🔗 Location 664
Location 794
blind Arab poet Abu al-‘Ala’ al-Ma‘arri (d. 1057),
✏️ Racist guy against jinn.. Wants them segregated from humans in paradise, says they become ugly there, says bad humans become him as a firm of degradation.. Etc. Negative character 👓 blue 🔗 Location 794
Location 847
Badr al-din al-Shibli (d. 1312), gives the following analogy regarding the invisible and manifest realms: “We don’t see the wind as long as it is thin and light but when it gets mixed with dust, we can see it moving.”
👓 blue 🔗 Location 847
Location 854
“put a bit of incense on the fire and throw away everything in the house that is made of iron, is comprised of the seven bodies or makes a noise.”39 Because the jinni is an inhabitant of the invisible world, he invites the human to release the environment from all kinds of “weightiness” or substances symbolized by the metal iron, and create instead a space of emptiness for the purpose of “channeling” with him. And finally, to celebrate his “visibility” in front of a human, he asks that incense be thrown on the fire.
Location 885
ibn ‘Arabi maintains imagination allows humans to be superior to jinn.
👓 blue 🔗 Location 885
Location 941
‘Arabi mentions a Hadith in which the angels ask: “O God, did you create something stronger than fire?’ And God replied, ‘Yes, water.’ So He made water stronger than fire.”
✏️ Humans made of mud beat jinn made of fire. Think of how that affects a hybrid Think of scorpius too 👓 pink 🔗 Location 941
Location 947
water and fire are two elements in conflict. They represent all the opposites in the elemental world. Together, they give heat and humidity necessary to the creation of life. In a sense, the burning water becomes the unity of opposites.
👓 blue 🔗 Location 947
Location 951
jinn possessed the art of working metals. It was a common belief among the pre-Islamic Arabs that jinn craft powerful swords.
👓 blue 🔗 Location 951
Location 961
oases full of orchards and palm trees are the work of jinn who jealously defend them;
👓 blue 🔗 Location 961
Location 1038
Angels are souls blown into lights, jinn are souls blown into winds, and human beings are souls blown into shapes
Location 1046
Islam thus closed the higher realm to jinn who, before its advent, constantly visited angels and engaged in dialogue with them.
✏️ Good conflict idea.. Jinn who resent human for leading to closing of the doors to heaven 👓 pink 🔗 Location 1046
Location 1050
JINN’S COMPOSITION
✏️ Remember, it’s not just fire. They’re made of wind and fire 🔗 Location 1050
Location 1110
The Arabs of pre-Islam claimed Jurhum, founder of the tribe by his name, was the result of a union between a fallen angel and a human woman. This legend took on excessive importance for the Arabs at that point in time, because this tribe controlled the ancient sanctuary of Mecca for a considerable period of time.13 Arab historians and commentators exalted this story, and claimed that Ismael, the son of Abraham and the father of Arabs, married a women from Jurhum.
Location 1115
goddess al-Lat. It is said that “Her temple in Ta’if was as venerated as the Ka‘bah is today.”15 Another goddess, al-‘Uzza, was worshiped at Nakhlah near Mecca and Madinah, especially by the tribe of Quraysh. As for the goddess Manat, she had a shrine between Mecca and Madinah and was primarily worshiped by the Arabs of Madinah. The pagan Arabs flocked in pilgrimage to the shrines of these three goddesses and performed religious ceremonies there.16 In fact, each tribe in the Arabian Peninsula had its own god or goddess. Quraysh (the tribe of the Prophet) acquired the property of the god Hubal, who was the chief deity of the Ka‘bah. It was painted red and had the shape of a human. It is claimed Hubal was brought from Syria, and “his hand was broken, so Quraysh provided him a hand of gold instead.”17 The tribe of Hudhayl obtained the god Suwa‘, the tribe of Rabi‘ah worshiped the god Nasr, and the tribe of Himyar had the goddesses al-Lat and al-‘Uzza. The two gods Suwa‘ and Nasr began as simple, naively carved idols; then they were gradually transformed into gods bearing a relationship to heaven, particularly in the religion of Southern Arabia, which orbited around a worship of the celestial triad of the sun, the moon, and the planet Venus.18 The three goddesses, al-Lat, al-‘Uzza, and Manat, were worshipped as angels, which once again testifies to the spread of the concept of angels among pagan Arabs.19 They were occasionally referred to as daughters of Allah.
✏️ Goddesses 🔗 Location 1115
Location 1171
Palmyra
✏️ Useful location with jinn worship and mixing beliefs 🔗 Location 1171
Location 1194
It is believed the jinn, before Islam, used to climb up to the heavens to overhear the angels. However, the advent of Islam smothered their Promethean nature. If they attempt to approach the heavens, the fire of meteorites will burn them instantly. Beings of fire are vulnerable to fire, and because jinn kill by fire, they are killed by it.
✏️ Two things Grudge for being denied access to overhear the angels. Wtf? Fire kills fire beings? Not a normal deduction 🔗 Location 1194
Location 1204
The same pattern is repeated in all these sources time and again: the jinn rebelled, spread corruption on Earth, and rejected the laws of the prophets who came to them. Then God sent his army of angels to expel them from Earth and fierce and violent struggles occurred between jinn and angels.
✏️ Lots here in next couple pages about pre Adam times. Jinn existing forever before they become wayward and corrupt.. God sending angels and some form of jinn support to battle the jinn on earth. Variations say iblis was head of angels in lower heavens, then is rewarded as being vice regent.. Or iblis was a captured jinn from these wars. Also, hidden jinn from these times that escaped till now. 👓 pink 🔗 Location 1204
Location 1232
Were all the jinn killed in these battles? If some of them did survive the fierce battles with the angels, where did they hide? How long?
👓 pink 🔗 Location 1232
Location 1275
Are angels more knowledgeable than humans, or less?
✏️ Are angels practicing blind faith? It’s said they have no will but to obey God right? They do question him about humans betraying and being corrupt. But humans are given knowledge beyond what they have. 👓 pink 🔗 Location 1275
Location 1282
suggests they might have seen it in heaven’s al-lawh al mahfuz (Secured Records) where it is believed all knowledge from all time has been recorded. However, in Qur’an 2:31, it appears Adam has greater knowledge than the angels, and it is Adam alone who is shown to possess the ability to think conceptually. It is Adam who is taught the supreme knowledge (the secret of all names) by God, and not the angels who acknowledge their ignorance and submit themselves to his will.
Location 1311
Many Sufis were inclined to consider him a faithful worshiper, if not the most faithful. In their eyes, Iblis rebelled because he refused to bow to anyone other than God. From this standpoint, he was an example of the sincere monotheist. Iblis did not envy humanity in the least, but was instead an enthusiastic lover of God’s unity.
✏️ Good depth to the devil. He didnt hate Adam.. He just loved God deeply and purely. One sufi says he stole from the hidden secured records the future news that Adam would be regent over earth, and got jealous. All in all, iblis never, could never, envy God or want to usurp him. 🔗 Location 1311
Location 1330
In Islam, the concept of the Devil is different. Muslims do not believe in the original sin. The utmost of God’s blessings to humans are the free will and the intellectual and moral abilities that allow him/her to know and distinguish between good and evil. The human is accountable for his/her use of all these blessings of God, and he/she ought to keep in mind this accountability and take part in the fight against Devil.
✏️ Interesting thinking about this. Is not about fighting the devil per se. God gives us all the tools and awareness about Good and evil.. Then holds us and only us accountable. The devil doesn’t convince good people to do bad things.. People do that on their own.. He just sways the ones that are already considering it and leaning down that path. There’s a verse about him saying as much.. I shall trick and sway the humans except the ones devoted to you. 👓 pink 🔗 Location 1330
Location 1449
Jinn mating, as ibn Arabi puts it, “is a curvature, the way you see smoke coming out of a furnace or from a clay oven, smoke mixing with smoke, and each of the two entities gaining pleasure from this meshing. As for the seed they eject, it is similar to the pollen of a palm tree.”
✏️ Jinn sex 🔗 Location 1449
Location 1503
In the Assyro-Babylonian civilization, the seers, or baru (which literally means “an inspector of the divine,” or “one who sees the divine”), were a special class of priests whose main job was to ascertain the will of the gods through dreams and visions, which they were then supposed to decipher. The baru had a collective lexicon of symbolic and significant events that formed the basis of his opinions.
✏️ useful character class of seers and divine inspectors 🔗 Location 1503
Location 1520
Seers were highly respected in Arabia. Each tribe had its own seer, its own poet, and its own preacher. Sometimes the seer was altogether an orator and kind of poet, because his prose consisted of sophisticated rhymed prose
✏️ Known as Kahin Did everything.. don’t think just big, but also settling disputes and finding animals Not a priest thought to be connected to a temple, but a diviner connected to his own jinn (known as tabi’ - follower - or ra’i - visionary). Very few were also guarding sanctuaries, but that’s usually reserved for a special type (saden) 🔗 Location 1520
Location 1539
convey the “stolen” data from the sky to the seer, as follows; “He would empty the secret heard from heaven into the ear of the soothsayer the way you empty a bottle of its contents.
✏️ Play with this..
- make the metaphor literal (stealing bottles of secrets)
- change it up to some other symbolism 🔗 Location 1539
Location 1544
believed some seers themselves were the offspring of unions between humans and jinn, such as a seer named Shiqq. They envisioned “his mother was one of the jinn, and that she was from the town of Maryul where the jinn dwell.”12 They described him as half a person with one hand, one leg, and one eye. Another legendary seer of Banu Dhi’b by the name of Satih was represented as made of such soft flesh that you would fold him up as you would fold a robe. He had no bones except for his skull. His face was in his chest. It was believed these seers lived for many centuries.
✏️ Belief that some seers were long-living half-jinns
- Shiqq with a jinn mother and was basically that physically half-human creature
- Satih with no bones except his skull, and his face was in his chest. 🔗 Location 1544
Location 1550
Many narratives of that time reveal the names of many women seers who had their own jinni, like Tarifah al-Khayr, Salma al-Hamadaniyyah, Fatimah bint al-Nu‘man, and Zarqa’ al-Yamamah. Arab priestesses were considered very powerful. People believed the jinni working with a female seer takes possession of her body more easily than does the one working with a male seer. They thought something other than the priestess herself, an intervening agent from outside, entered her body and spoke through her lips.
✏️ Awesome.. women seers! With names and power and respect. Why not half jinn as well? Very intriguing. 🔗 Location 1550
Location 1559
seer by the name of ‘Ufayra from Himyar, who succeeded in interpreting the dream of the king Murtadd ibn ‘Abdul-Kilal when all the other male seers failed. The king wanted to marry her, but she refused because her jinni/lover would have been jealous.
Location 1562
It is alleged the jinni would always require from his seer a hulwan (sweet reward). The jinni sometimes refused even to transmit the knowledge to the seer if he was not rewarded. It is possible to read this act as a minor sacrifice the seer offers to his jinni. To obtain the jinni’s divine knowledge and prompt its “descent” on him, the seer was compelled to always obey the request of his jinni.
✏️ The price of the relationship for a seer and jinn. There must always be a reward for the info. 🔗 Location 1562
Location 1748
The Prophet said to the jinni: “This is the stride of a jinni, as well as the tone of his voice!” The jinni replied: “My name is Hamah ibn Laqqis ibn Iblis.” The Prophet said: “Only two generations separate you from him [Iblis].” He replied: “True.” The Prophet asked: “How long have you lived?” The jinni replied: “Almost all of time. I was a small boy when Abel was killed. I believed in Noah and repented at his hands after I stubbornly refused to submit to his call, until he wept and wept. I am indeed a repentant—God keep me from being among the ignorant! I met the prophet Hud and believed in his call. I met Abraham, and I was with him when he was thrown in the fire. I was with Joseph, too, when his brothers hurled him into the well—I preceded him to its bottom. I met the prophet Shu‘ayb, and Moses and Jesus the son of Mary, who told me: ‘If you meet Muhammad, tell him Jesus salutes thee!’ Now I’ve delivered his message to you, and I believe in you.” The Prophet said: “What is your desire, O Hamah?” He said: “Moses taught me the Torah, Jesus the Gospels, can you teach me the Qur’an?” So the Prophet taught him the Qur’an.
✏️ good prophet-jinn story 🔗 Location 1748
Location 1944
“Every religion, therefore, has its own previous history and is to a certain extent a ‘syncretism.’ Then comes the time when, from being a summation, it becomes a whole and obeys its own laws.”
✏️ Good quote and point about how all religions are at first summations of what came before. A syncretism. Until it finally becomes whole and follows its own laws 🔗 Location 1944
Location 1973
“And I seek refuge from the chanters over the knots.”
✏️ knots in sorcery has been a thing from Babylonians and Greeks to Romans and Hindus. Tying knots while chanting/puffing is powerful stuff. 🔗 Location 1973
Location 1996
Magic is considered a divine gift that can heal sickness and possession in the name of God, while sorcery resorts to the evil of heretic jinn and demons, and is condemned by Islam.
✏️ establishing difference in Islam between magic and sorcery. Magic is done in name of God always, and always to do good. Sorcery is done by doing things prohibited by Gods and to do not-so-good stuff. 🔗 Location 1996
Location 2018
“Drinking” the Words of God seems to involve the whole body in the process of change. This is viewed as an almost alchemical process where the swallowing of this liquid transmutes the sick person into a new healed being.
Location 2046
“Drinking the Qur’an” has never replaced reciting it for protection from evil.
✏️ Reciting the Quran as protection. See below examples in the paragraph 🔗 Location 2046
Location 2055
Qur’anic verses were sometimes written on amulets, which were conserved in a leather case, and worn around the neck or on the body as another way to be protected from evil jinn. Occasionally, it was not enough to carry the Qur’anic verses in amulets. Some authors of popular medicine advised even writing the verses directly on the body of the possessed or the diseased, especially on the patient’s palms and his forehead.
Location 2080
He advises the recitation of the following Divine Names in this order: “Oh God, the Vigilant, the Preserver, the Merciful. Oh God, the Living, the Gentle, the Great, the Gracious, the Generous. Oh God, the Living, the Everlasting, the Steadfast by whom one gains freedom from his enemies.”
✏️ How to expel jinn Need to say in order Other popular method is invoking His best name, which is just Allah. 🔗 Location 2080
Location 2085
Al-Buni maintained one could detain an evil jinni or even burn him by writing the Sufi invocation of God huwa (He) on a blue cloth and by inciting the jinni to smell it.
✏️ Supposed other method to drive them away. Could be good option to subvert and play as fake, since it looks kinda silly. 🔗 Location 2085
Location 2091
Arabic letters were written disconnected in most talismans and amulets, which is thought to increase their potency because each separate letter manifests its intrinsic force, and behaves as a unique and living field of energy.
✏️ theory of individual letters having life and power and magic. Each letter links to different things, be it seasons, jinn, light, dark, good, evil, etc. Most powerful of which would be the letters of Allah (aleph, lam, ha’) The second level is the human one to which belong letters such as nun, sad, and dad. The third level is that of the jinn to which belong letters such as ayn, ghayn, sin, shin, and qaf. Finally, the fourth level is that of angelic letters. Ibn ‘Arabi also claimed each letter has two meanings because it could manifest itself either in the visible or invisible realm. Of particular note is the letter qaf, which even has it’s own chapter in the Quran, and begins that chapter by revering that letter on same level as the Quran. This letter has been used as a ward a lot. Sad has it’s own quranic chapter too. 🔗 Location 2091
Location 2181
Frontiers like thresholds where imaginal and terrestrial realms might interpenetrate are located not only in space but also in time. If thresholds were viewed in classical Islam as locales where the intermediary realm might surface, sunrises were looked upon by fairies as stations in time when these spirits pass by humans without the latter noticing them.
✏️ Boundaries, such as the threshold of a home, is key location for crossing over. Think of other examples for this. 🔗 Location 2181
Location 2200
From their writings, one concludes the exorcist is almost a kind of saint who must lead a life of perfect piety in solitude and abstinence, and totally devoted to prayers and meditations. Classical Islam didn’t consider the exorcist a Promethean man working against the religion, but rather a pontifical man whose success was bestowed upon him by no one else but God. Furthermore, warding off evil jinn was not an act of rejection of medicine. Islamic magic has never hampered Muslims from probing scientific cures for sick and epileptic people. Because medicine was engrained in the religion itself, it couldn’t get in the way of scientific progress.
✏️ Keep in mind, magic, science and religion all went hand in hand in Islam. Exorcist wasn’t rebuked but rather had to be very pious to do his work. Medicine was never pushed away.. Islam advocated for science and medicine to cure as well. There was always a seeking of concordance and harmony between mind, body, spirit and so on. 👓 blue 🔗 Location 2200
Location 2296
It is important to clarify it is evil jinn that take the shape of ostriches and not demons,
✏️ Keep in mind the general aspect of this and play with it.. Jinn and demons are not the same. Evil and good jinn probably get sick of this. “Ahhh demon!” “sigh no, jinn.” 🔗 Location 2296
Location 2331
Solomon looked at their strange figures: some of them were white, others black, others yellow, and others blond. They had the forms of horses, mules, and lions with trunks, tails, claws, and horns.23 Al-Mas‘udi (d. 956) in turn added picturesque details to this sight. He offered an entire scenery of eerie beings with two faces, one in front and one in the rear, with their heads similar to birds’ heads. Some spoke like thunder; still others cried like birds, and had their mouths in their chests. There was a nation among them that resembled insects, but had bulky bodies and horns on their heads. Others resembled flying snakes and yet had many feet and hands. It was believed these beings worked day and night at Solomon’s court.
✏️ What Sulaiman’s army of jinn looked like. (getting a feeling of… narrators depicting people as beastly to justify enslaving them.. even as we’re being told they were evil for some reason and so it’s fine to enslave them too.) 🔗 Location 2331
Location 2359
It is important to mention Abu al-‘Ala’ al-Ma‘arri (d. 1057), author of this story, was an agnostic. However, he brings in this narrative to underscore the beliefs of people during that time. One could surmise, though, he is being sarcastic as well because he is known for his rationality and his sharp criticism of religion.
✏️ Could be interesting character to use. He’s agnostic and critical of religion. His story about the jinni has a sharpness to it at the end “I incessantly praise him”.. as if to comment on evil people turning face and magically becoming good out of nowhere. Or he’s making fun of the ones that change and be so devout after being so sinful.. 🔗 Location 2359
Location 2370
Across cultures, humans look at this slinking power under the moon as a psychic and telepathic creature. The repulsion a serpent causes through its size and strength, and the mysterious action of its silent and slithering movements make it an embodiment of mythical force. The serpent is thus a creature to be envied as well as feared, a being of immeasurable slyness, intricacy, and perhaps evil.
✏️ Interesting thought experiment and something to play with: Snake is a symbol across cultures as something mythical, mysterious, powerful, eternal, etc. Yet, because it is something we don’t understand or control, it’s generally perceived as evil. Perhaps it’s not evil but rather has its own agenda that isn’t in service of mankind (which to us is same as evil basically.. with us or against us). In reality, it’s complex and not evil, just hard to grasp. Next paragraphs all outline the duality across cultures.. Egyptians, Babylonians, Hindus, Greeks, etc. all worshipped snakes for their knowledge/power but also feared them for their evil tendencies. 🔗 Location 2370
Location 2428
“He who kills a serpent kills an unbeliever in God, and he who leaves alive a serpent out of fear, does not belong to us.”33 But on the other hand, he maintained Muslim jinn usually embody white serpents, and should not be killed. They were called ‘ummar, and often lived in houses. If one is in doubt about the true nature of the serpent, one should recite the call to prayer three times before killing it. If the serpent leaves, then it could mean a Muslim jinni is embodied in it; if it stays, however, it should be killed.
✏️ More duality in how Muhammad treated snakes. Kill them all! BUT, leave alone the white ones that might be muslim jinn. 🔗 Location 2428
Location 2435
alleged in pre-Islam that shaytan was a serpent nothing resisted.35 It used to come to the Ka‘bah (the holy shrine in Mecca) before Islam, and hit the ground with its body. Anything that came close to it was doomed to perish.36 In classical Islam, battles raged between heretic jinn and Muslim jinn, both embodying serpents. For example, we are told, “When a jinni, on the seventh day of his marriage, wanted to circumambulate the Ka‘bah seven times and complete his pilgrimage, he left his family in the shape of a white serpent. While he was on his way back, passing by the encampment of the jinn tribe of Banu Sahm, a youth from their tribe killed him. Consequently, a Trojan-style war broke out between the tribe of Banu Sahm and the tribe of the serpent/jinn who was assassinated. A great dust-cloud entered Mecca, so thick the mountains could no longer be seen.
✏️ Some strange stories about pre-islamic shaytan and jinn battles.
- Shaytan serpent would come to ka’bah and hit the ground with its body, killing anything around it.
- hereitc vs muslim jinn battles, including specific one with names of tribes 🔗 Location 2435
Location 2461
Man is considered gloriously free, created with original purity and innocence (fitrah); he is responsible only for his own deeds. “No soul laden bears the load of another
✏️ Hmm, this might be an interesting theme/issue/conflict/message to use? The idea of fitrah.. but for a half-jinn? Are you evil.. are you pure? Your actions are what you are judged on, etc. No soul laden bears the load of another.. she is not judged by actions of her kind, of her mother, etc. 🔗 Location 2461
Location 2472
“by demonizing our monsters, we keep God on our side,”43 Islam could say by converting monsters and evil beings, we bring them to our side.
✏️ Interesting contrast.. In Western thought, demonize the monsters to keep god on our side. In Islamic thought, convert the monsters to bring them to our side. 🔗 Location 2472
Location 2484
group of Muslim scholars, Ikhwan al-Safa’ wa khillan al-wafa’ (The Brethren of Purity and Loyal Friends), formed a secret Arab organization of neo-Platonic and Gnostic philosophers in al-Basrah, Iraq, around 970. The organization is best known for having produced a philosophical and religious encyclopedia, Epistles of the Brethren of Purity and Loyal Friends, whose purpose was to provide enlightenment that would purify the soul and provide happiness in the next life.
✏️ Secret Arab organization of philosophers in 970! Advocated for enlightenment, harmony across species (human, animal, jinn), etc. See below fable for more. 🔗 Location 2484
Location 2496
To survive, humans need to be aware of all forms of life in the cosmos, respect them, protect them, and more important, think about their own human nature through them. After all, are not humans the vice-regents of God on Earth, as Islam stipulates? As such, they are supposed to be just and empathetic toward every living being as well as toward nature that should not be exploited and destroyed. The interconnectedness of all living beings is epitomized in the Arabic term al-hayawan, which refers to animals as well as to all forms of energy, all living beings. Arabic lexicography defines it as “all the created species. It is life itself.
✏️ Humanity’s mission on earth, to respect all life. Diatribe on Hayawan.. needs more research 🔗 Location 2496
Location 2521
human form, and sometimes an animal form. They were called tabi‘, “follower,” masculine, or tabi‘ah, feminine, from the Arabic root t.b‘, meaning “to follow.” It was alleged these spiritual entities would always follow the human they loved, whether the latter was aware of their presence or not. People thought if the jinn were pleased with humans they, in return, would teach them the arts of medicine and the art of war,
✏️ Rules/Guidelines to note and use/subvert:
- jinn lovers took on human or animal form
- known as tabi’ or tabi’ah
- happens whether the human was aware of their presence of not
- shares knowledge (usually of war and healing) 🔗 Location 2521
Location 2536
Balqis’s father, a king named al-Hadhad, went one day to hunt the deer. He encountered a flock of deer but didn’t kill them. The king of the jinn appeared to him and thanked him for preserving the lives of his people, the jinn, who were thought to dwell in these “sacred” animals. The myth claims he expressed his gratitude to al-Hadhad and offered him the hand of his daughter, Ruwaha bint Sakan. The king of the jinn requested, however, that he never question her if her behavior appears sometimes odd to him. Ruwaha bint Sakan gave birth to two sons and a girl they named Balqis. At the birth of each child, a female dog would come and snatch away the newborn. The father didn’t ask for any explanation at the request of the king of the jinn, except at the third time. Ruwaha then revealed to him this female dog was in fact a jinniyah that took the children to raise them in the jinn’s realm. She then departed from the conjugal house and never returned because her husband broke the covenant of silence and asked about the secret of the jinn.4 After her father’s death, Balqis became the queen. People accepted her authority. They abided by her rules, and attributed to her immense powers because of her mythical origins.
✏️ Balqis origin mythology 🔗 Location 2536
Location 2614
Do you like these grains?’ She stared at him angrily, and raised her finger towards his eyes, which instantly melted.
✏️ fear-mongering and stereotype to be played at: “No! Are you gonna melt my eyes now?” 🔗 Location 2614
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they connect with opposite elements such as water and fire. They fly and swim in two different mediums: air and water. Jinn hate immobility and constancy. And those who love them in these stories imitate their incessant roving. The element fire of which the jinn are composed stirs ardent passions in humans that only the encounter with the jinni or jiniyyah quenches. In their metamorphosis into birds or swans, jinn become overcharged with spirituality.
Location 2806
the youth who leaves for the first time his protective home; the adventure that occurs at a crucial age in his life when he needs to be initiated into the other, the feminine, the ying, the hidden part of his own self;
✏️ Food for thought: is my character going thru this journey? Following her mother’s path, changing worlds or locales, learning about her other self, the jinn side, the feminine side.. things that her human father couldn’t teach her. Extra snack for thought: is my character married? Newly pregnant? Is the path about learning to be a mother? Is that another story? 🔗 Location 2806
Location 2820
MAJNUN LAILA AND THE JINN
✏️ Majnun Laila can be a quick shorthand for something? Perhaps a term of endearment or nickname or something. Story of a guy who can’t quench his unrequited passion for unattainable woman, so goes to live in wilderness, but really in jinn territory basically.. wastes away there pining for her and seeing her everywhere until he dies alone. Not much of a term of endearment in that context actually. 🔗 Location 2820
Location 2978
“land of the jinn,” ibn Shuhayd meets the jinn of many poets who lived before him, such as the jinni of pre-Islamic poet Imru’ al-Qays (d. 540) who appeared as “a knight riding a glowing mare.”16 The jinni of al-Buhturi (d. 897) looks like “a gracious adolescent carrying a lance in his hand, and who came toward us on a white-spotted horse.”17 As for the jinni of Tarafah (d. 569), the author of the longest of the Seven Odes in the celebrated collection of pre-Islamic poetry, the mu‘allaqat, he described him as “a beautiful knight bearing a sword.
✏️ Examples of jinn that inspired poets.. how they looked, etc. 🔗 Location 2978
Location 2998
If Hawbar is your inspirer, then your poetry is good, but if your inspirer is Hawjal, then your poetry is bad.
✏️ Playful character duo.. the good poet and the bad one. Can be a fun scene/setting/puzzle/encounter. 🔗 Location 2998
Location 3056
The Risks of Having Jinn as Inspirers
✏️ It’s not all love and flowers working with jinn. You invite jinn into your mind and into your bed, there will be risks. Yes, you gain knowledge and access to the spiritual world, but you run the risk of being abducted, of being abandoned, or even of being driven insane. Such is the roll of the dice. 🔗 Location 3056
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Hadrash arrogantly replies: “What humans know about poetry except what cows know about cosmology and geodesy?
✏️ Fun put-down: “Please, humans know poetry the way cows know cosmology.” 🔗 Location 3075
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Hassan ibn Thabit (d. 674): “My follower [jinni] is from banu Shaysaban. Sometimes, it is he who recites poetry. Sometimes it is I.”
✏️ Kinda touching actually.. sharing authorship and brotherhood with his “follower” jinni. 🔗 Location 3098
Location 3121
A traveler asked a jinni, “Who is the best poet among the Arabs?” The jinni replied, “Lafiz ibn Lahiz, Hiyab, Habid, and Hadhir ibn Mahir.” The traveler said, “These names are new to me!” The jinni answered, “Oh well! Lafiz is the jinni of the poet Imru’ al-Qays (d. 540), Habid is the jinni of the poet ‘Abid ibn al-Abras [d. before 540], and Hathir is the jinni of the poet [al-Nabighah], Ziyad al-Dhubyani [d. 604].”
✏️ More jinni names associated with poets 🔗 Location 3121
Location 3430
“God takes into account from the cosmos only the human species and the jinn. He appointed manifestation for the human beings, from His name the Manifest, and He appointed nonmanifestation for the jinn, from his Name the Nonmanifest.”
👓 blue 🔗 Location 3430
Location 3441
“O people of jinn and men, if you are able to pass through the confines of heaven and earth, pass through them! You shall not pass through except with an authority.” Thus, humans and jinn could explore all things in the heavens and on Earth with an authority from God.
👓 blue 🔗 Location 3441
Location 3932
“there were nine jinn who listened to the Prophet, one of whom was named Zawba‘ah,” and then he cites the names of some of the other jinn who were present, such as Hiss, Miss, Shashirah, al-Irb, Abin, and Adkham. Al-Isbahani even attempts to pinpoint the name of the first jinni who called the prayer the night the jinn came to listen to the Prophet. He says “‘Abdullah ibn Mas‘ud [one of the Prophet’s companions] said his name was Samrah.”
✏️ Names of jinn 🔗 Location 3932
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Ibn al-Nadim, 367. The author claims two persons were known to invent these love stories between the two species. One was called Ahmad ibn Dallan, and the other ibn al-Attar.
Location 4166
Let us not incite their weakling hatred that would ignite that deeply rooted prejudice toward us which is so entrenched in their human nature.”
Location 4258
Ash‘ar al-jinn (the jinn’s poetry) is collected by literary compiler abu ‘Ubaidillah al-marzubani (d. 994), and quoted by many literary sources. Nonetheless, it seems to have been lost, as is the case with many Arabic manuscripts. See also ibn al-Nadim, 147.
✏️ A lost piece of art.. the lost literary tome of jinn poetry that’s referenced often. Can be a good treasure, etc. 🔗 Location 4258
Location 4314
Al-Mas‘udi, Muruj al-dhahab, 2:138. He describes the birth of all these weird jinn/beings as follows: “So the wife of the jann laid thirty-one eggs. From one of these eggs came qutrubah who is the mother of all the qutrubs. She has the shape of a cat. From another egg were born the iblises (demons), among whom is al-Harith abu Murrah. They live in the sea. The marids were born from another egg. They live on islands. Then the ghouls were born from yet another egg. They live in deserts and empty places. The si‘lats came from a different egg. They live in heaps of dirt and in bathrooms. As for the hawam, they were born from another egg. They live in the air, and have the forms of flying snakes, etc.”
✏️ One musing on the birth of all jinn types. 🔗 Location 4314