Jinn and Ifrit in Islam and Earlier

Islamic demons, anyone? The famous Jinn (our word “genie” is derived from it) appeared in pre-Islamic mythology, but once the Arabian Peninsula had been taken over by the Muslim conquests of the seventh century, they were incorporated into this monotheistic religion. In early Islam, believers thought of the Jinn as mortal beings, albeit with superhuman strength. Unlike in Christian doctrine, these demons were not fallen angels — they were mortal beings “created aforetime from the smokeless flames of fire” (_Quran_, sura 15: 26-27). There were many types of Jinn — the two in the first slide come from a 17th-c Persian manuscript.

One particularly powerful type of Jinn was the Ifrit, which became associated with the spirits of the dead and whose homeland was the underworld. The word Jinn etymologically refers to something hidden, and the Ifrit often hid their actions through sly cunning. In Islam, the recordings of sayings and deeds of the Muhammad appear in the traditions of the _Hadith_, and an early one from the 700s, recorded by Malik ibn Anas, tells the story of how an Ifrit showed up in a fiery guise to threaten the Prophet. The archangel Gabriel came to his rescue and taught Muhammad a special prayer that defeated it.

In the second slide, you can see an Ifrit seducing a person named Makhan in a 17th-century illustration of a poem called _Hamsa_ by Nizami.