It was said: The scholars among the people of Interpretation have stated various opinions regarding that. We shall mention their opinions regarding that, and then inform of the most authentic of them in proof and the clearest in argument. It was narrated from Ibn ʿAbbās regarding that what:
606- Abū Kurayb narrated to us, saying: ʿUthmān ibn Saʿīd narrated to us, saying: Bishr ibn ʿUmāra narrated to us, from Abū Rawq, from al-Ḍaḥḥāk, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: Iblīs was from a tribe of the angels called the "Ḥinn", who were created from the fire of scorching wind from among the angels.(1) He said: His name was al-Ḥārith. He said: And he was a keeper among the keepers of Paradise. He said: And all the angels were created from light, other than this tribe. He said: And the Jinn mentioned in the Qurʾān were created from a smokeless flame of fire—which is the tongue of fire at its edge when it blazes. He said: And man was created from clay. The first to inhabit the earth were the Jinn, and they worked corruption therein, shed blood, and killed one another. He said: So God sent Iblīs against them with an army of angels—and they were this tribe called the Ḥinn(2)—and Iblīs and those with him killed them until they pursued them to the islands of the seas and the edges of the mountains. When Iblīs did that, he became full of self-conceit and said, "I have accomplished something that no one else has done!" He said: So God looked into his heart regarding that, while the angels who were with him were unaware of it. Then God said to the angels who were with him, "I am placing a successor in the earth." The angels said, responding to Him, "Will You place therein one who causes corruption therein and sheds blood," just as
Notes
- (1) In the printed edition in both places: "al-jinn" with a jīm, which is an error, as indicated by the context of this report, for he distinguished between Iblīs and the jinn who are mentioned in the Qurʾān. Iblīs is created from the fire of scorching wind, and the others were created from a smokeless flame of fire. And the jinn (with a jīm) were the first to inhabit the earth, and Iblīs came to fight them with an army of angels. This is clear. Al-Jāḥiẓ said in al-Ḥayawān 7:177: Some people divide the jinn into two categories, saying: They are jinn and ḥinn (with a ḥāʾ), and they make the one with the ḥāʾ the weaker of the two. He also said in 1:291-292: Some people claim that the ḥinn and the jinn are two different categories, and they went to the statement of the Bedouin when he came to the door of one of the kings to be registered among the chronically ill, saying regarding that:
If you register the chronically ill, then I am chronically ill ... from an apparent disease and a hidden disease
I spend the night falling among wailing devils ... whose origins are different, jinn and ḥinn
Thus he differentiated between these two species. See al-Ḥayawān 6:193 as well, and al-Lisān (j-n-n), and others.
- (2) In the printed edition in both places: "al-jinn" with a jīm, which is an error, as indicated by the context of this report, for he distinguished between Iblīs and the jinn who are mentioned in the Qurʾān. Iblīs is created from the fire of scorching wind, and the others were created from a smokeless flame of fire. And the jinn (with a jīm) were the first to inhabit the earth, and Iblīs came to fight them with an army of angels. This is clear. Al-Jāḥiẓ said in al-Ḥayawān 7:177: Some people divide the jinn into two categories, saying: They are jinn and ḥinn (with a ḥāʾ), and they make the one with the ḥāʾ the weaker of the two. He also said in 1:291-292: Some people claim that the ḥinn and the jinn are two different categories, and they went to the statement of the Bedouin when he came to the door of one of the kings to be registered among the chronically ill, saying regarding that:
If you register the chronically ill, then I am chronically ill ... from an apparent disease and a hidden disease
I spend the night falling among wailing devils ... whose origins are different, jinn and ḥinn
Thus he differentiated between these two species. See al-Ḥayawān 6:193 as well, and al-Lisān (j-n-n), and others.
This translation was produced with AI assistance and is part of an ongoing human-review process. Found a mistake? Use the feedback option in the reader menu.
