Encyclopedia of Islam

Jinnah, Muhammad Ali

  

401  J

---

See also 

colonialism

; 

democracy

;  h

indUism

and

  i

slam

;  i

smaili

  s

hiism

; 

politics

 

and

  i

slam

; 

secUlarism

.

Further reading: Akbar S. Ahmed, Jinnah, Pakistan, 

and Islamic Identity (London: Routledge, 1997); Ainslie 

Embree and Stephen Hay, eds., Sources of Indian Tradi-

tion. Vol. 2, Modern India and Pakistan. 2d ed. (New 

York: Columbia University Press, 1988); Dominique 

Lapierre and Larry Collins, Freedom at Midnight. 2d ed. 

(New Delhi: Vikas Publishing, 1997); Stanley Wolpert, 

Jinnah of Pakistan (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 

1984).

jinni

 

(Arabic singular of jinn, or English 

genie)

The jinn are intelligent beings capable of doing 

good and evil. They were first known to the 

inhabitants of pre-Islamic Arabia as a kind of 

nature spirit or minor deity. Poets and seers were 

believed to have magical powers in part owing to 

being possessed by, or having a special relation 

with, them. Indeed, m

Uhammad

’s seventh-cen-

tury opponents accused him of being possessed 

by these spirits rather than being in communion 

with the one God, a

llah

. The jinn are mentioned 

frequently in the q

Uran

, which even has a chap-

ter about them that bears their name (Q 72). As 

creatures created from smokeless fire or vapor, 

they stand in contrast to 

angel

s, who were created 

from light, and humans, who were created from 

clay. Iblis, or s

atan

, is one of the jinn (Q 18:50), 

but the Quran also portrays him as a rebellious 

angel (Q 38:73–76), a belief that had arisen in 

Judaism and Christianity previously. The jinn can 

have human qualities; their knowledge is limited 

and they have moral agency. They can either sub-

mit to God and become Muslims, or they can slan-

der and disobey him, for which God will judge 

them. The demonic jinn are called satans (Arabic 

shayatin). There are many tales about the jinn, 

and some even hold that they can marry people 

and have children. Unlike humans, however, they 

can change shapes so that they can appear as 

ani

-

mals

 such as cats, dogs, and goats. Belief in them 

is an accepted aspect of official Islamic doctrine.

When Islam spread outside of Arabia, belief in 

the jinn was assimilated with local beliefs about 

deities and spirits, from Africa to i

ran

,  t

Urkey

, 

i

ndia

, and Southeast Asia. In folk religion, they 

are spirits often held responsible for extraordinary 

events, even miracles, as well as many kinds of 

illness. Special amulets are made to control them 

or keep them from doing harm. During the 19th 

century, a 

Women

’s religious movement known as 

the Zar cult emerged in the Nile Valley and spread 

to adjacent areas. Its purpose was to heal women 

of psychoses and bodily ailments by identify-

ing and appeasing the jinn. Today scientifically 

minded Muslims tend to deny the existence of 

these extraordinary spirits or explain them in 

psychological terms.

See also 

amUlets

 

and

 

talismans

; a

rabian

 

reli

-

gions

, 

pre

-i

slamic

; 

evil

 

eye

.

Patrick O’Donnell and Juan E. Campo