Parvez-Video :Article on Jinn

Meerut, May 3, 2001. It is 9.30 in the morning. I am sitting in my small rented apartment; my mother is sitting on the chair near by. As part of my research work on Jesus Christ I am taking down notes from ‘The Foolishness of God' by J. Austin Baker. Just then the phone rings. My mother picks up the receiver. Brother Saim is on the line. He and I exchange pleasantries. We have a long discussion on the Quranic thought and how to take it to the masses. We both are concerned that many Islamic beliefs are still misunderstood. We should do something, is the common refrain. Ultimately, we decide that to begin with we should try to remove misconceptions about the Jinn. He suggests that I should write an original piece on the Jinn in the light of the Quran. I agree. Both of us say Allah Hafiz the call is over. I take out the relevant books for reference from my shelf. I begin taking down notes so as to answer the important question:

*	They are a creation, created by Allah from fire, like human beings from mud and angels from light. (Khan, Muhammad Muhsin, The Noble Quran , Dar-us-Salam Publications, Riyadh, 1995, p.899.)
*	They co-exist with man. But human eye cannot see them. You cannot deny their existence on the basis of their invisibility. If you do so then you do not have faith in the Unseen God, Angels, Paradise and Hell. (Mawdudi, Sayyid Abul Ala, Tafhim ul Quran, Markazi Maktaba Islami, Delhi, 1995, vol. 6, p.110.)
*	They are of three kinds. Ibn Hiban and Hakim have reported from Abu Salibha Khashani that the last Messenger of Islam said that one kind of Jinn have wings and fly; another are snakes and scorpions; and the third move from place to place. (Fath-ul-Bari, vol. 6, p.246. Quoted in Lughat-ul-Quran by Muhammad Abdur Rashid Numani, Darool Ishat, Karachi, 1986, vol. 2, p.256.)
*	They are aerial animals, with transparent bodies, which can assume various forms. They are (usually) invisible to men, but they can assume what forms they please, and when their form becomes condensed they are visible. This last remark illustrates several descriptions of Jinn in folklore stories and romances like the Arabian Nights where they become personified into fantastic forms. (Hughes, T.P., Dictionary of Islam, Munshiram Manoharlal Pubs., New Delhi, 1995, p.134.)
*	They appear to mankind most commonly in the shapes of serpents, dogs, cats, or human beings. In the last case they are sometimes of the stature of men, and sometimes of a size enormously gigantic. If good, they are generally resplendently handsome; if evil, horribly hideous. They become invisible at pleasure (by a rapid extension or rarefaction of the particles which compose them), or suddenly disappear in the earth or air, or through a solid wall. (Hughes, T.P., op. cit., p.135-6)
*	They are the spirits of evil or the beings that invite man to evil, as opposed to the angels, who invite him to good, both being alike invisible to the human eye. (Ali, Muhammad, Commentary on the Holy Quran, Motilal Banarsidas, Delhi, 1996,p.306.)
*	They enter the body of human beings, take possession of them and reduce them to a non-plus. Despite this man can obtain absolute power over the Jinn. He can make the Jinn subservient to him. (Niazi, Kausar, Creation of Man, Sh. Md. Ashraf Pubs., Lahore, 1975, p.48,51.)
*	They were specie of which man is the successor. That specie is extinct now. It is said that it was created out of fire because the earth in the beginning was in the form of a molten fire and it took billions of years to cool down. (Parwez, G.A., Iblis-o-Adam, Tolu-e-Islam Trust, Lahore, 1983, p. 97.)
*	They are the hidden qualities or capacities in man because the root meaning of janna, yajinnu, is to be covered or hidden and janna yajunnu, in the active voice, to cover or hide as in Quran 6:76. (Ali, A. Yusuf, Commentary on the Holy Quran, Amana Corp., Maryland, USA, 1983, p.319)
*	They are great potentates or powerful leaders who, through their importance and detachment from the masses, do not mix freely with them, so they remain distant or ‘hidden from their eyes'. (Ali, Muhammad, op. cit., p. 306 )
*	They are Bedouin, nomadic tribes or gypsies who keep on wandering from place to place and remain hidden in deserts, hills or forests. (Parwez, G.A., op. cit., p.99)

The list is becoming endless, contradictory, confusing and still there is no sign of the story that was promised in the very first sentence of this piece. Well, the Jinn has assumed the form of an elephant and our religious thinkers are groping for an answer like the proverbial blind men:

Be that as it may, where is the promised story? I don't know. I am too tired, too confused and too bored. I close the books. I take solace in Dr. Muhammad Iqbal's poetry. I begin reading ‘Iblis ki Majlis-e-shoora'. It is a beautiful poem in drama form. My eyes have become heavy. Iblis and his accomplices are vanishing. The city is burning. There is unlawful assembly, loot, murder and protest. There is police at my house. I am arrested for blasphemy. In the next scene I find myself in the Court.

The Trial :Public Prosecutor: Your Honour, I am Sirajuddin, Public Prosecutor, and I lead on behalf of the Government of Uttar Pradesh in this case. The Accused, Shahid A. Chaudhary , a journalist, has committed the serious crime of blasphemy. As such, he has been arrested and charged under sections 295-A, 504 and 505(2) of the IPC, 1860. I shall be calling three witnesses, each of who will testify to one or more of the following grave charges:

Magistrate: How do you plead, Mr. Shahid A. Chaudhary? Guilty or Not Guilty?

Myself: Not Guilty, Your Honour. I have reasonable grounds for believing that my views do not amount to blasphemy. I am circulating them in good faith and without any malicious intention to outrage religious feelings or to provoke breach of the peace.

Magistrate: The Court has been informed that you will be conducting your own Defence. But, I think, it is my duty to tell you that the charges levelled against you are of a serious nature. If convicted of the crime you shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term that may extend to eight years, or with fine, or with both. As such, my advice is that you take the services of an experienced lawyer so that he may help you to put your case effectively. In matters of Court you are without experience. You must not take the risk.

Myself: Your Honour, I'm grateful for the advice. Still I need not take the services of an advocate. The present case is related to my belief. If I cannot defend my own convictions then I have no right to hold them. Besides, in my opinion, this case has one more dimension. Do I have the right to freedom of _expression and the right to ponder on the verses of the Quran? The Constitution of the country and Islam does give me these rights but there are people who desire that I be stripped of these rights. I request the Court that it should ensure that my rights are protected.

PP: Mr. Chaudhary, right to freedom of _expression does not mean that you have the right to hurt religious feelings of your fellow citizens or you express your views with the intention to provoke breach of the peace. Right to ponder on the verses of the Quran does not give you a licence to insult the established principles of the Faith.

Myself: I've already said that I propagate my views in good faith and without malicious intentions. Can the Prosecution cite one example, however remote, from my writings, my lectures or my statements that suggest that I deliberately provoked people to break the public peace? As for my views, I'm not the only person to say that Jinn are not ethereal beings.

PP: We know. There are atheists and rationalists who deny the existence of the Jinn because that creation cannot be seen. But you are not an atheist. Had you been one, we would not have been here to prosecute you. You would not have been charged for hurting religious sentiments. By your own admission you are a Muslim, a believer in Islam and you say your mission of life is to propagate the teachings of the Quran amongst all human beings. But no sane Muslim would allow you to circulate bizarre views in the name of preaching the Quran.

Magistrate: The Prosecution has hinted at a very vital point. Mr. Chaudhary, the Court would like to know about your belief.

Myself: I'm a Muslim. My goal is Islam. By Islam I mean peace. Peace with oneself. Peace with your fellow beings. Peace with this Universe. And I believe that this goal can be achieved by following Divine Guidance as enshrined in the Quran.

PP: Your Honour, instead of bringing about peace the Accused has thrown the people into confusion and rebellion. He has propounded a theory purely from his imagination and to make it popular and acceptable he has sugar coated it with his bizarre exposition of the verses of the Quran.

Magistrate: Mr. Public Prosecutor, the Court would prefer to have evidence against the Accused instead of superfluous statements.

PP: Your Honour, the Accused in his newspaper articles, pamphlets and lectures has maintained that what goes on as ‘experiencing the Jinn' is nothing but psychological aberration. In the public gallery there are many people, men and women, whose experiences have led them to believe that the Jinn do exist. Many of them, I'm told, are willing to share their experiences and thereby give evidence. This is a very peculiar case. The Prosecution does not desire to win arguments. He wishes to cooperate with the Defence so as to arrive at the truth. Therefore, I'll like to call one person from the public gallery to the witness box. Provided, of course, Your Honour grants permission and the Accused agree.

(One woman from the public gallery walks down the aisle and takes a chair in the witness box).

PP (to witness): Will you please tell the Court your name and how old you are?

Witness: Yes. I'm a housewife. We have four children. Three daughters and a son

Witness: I've seen his photographs in the newspapers and on television channels. I'm told that he does not believe in the Jinn as ethereal beings. Well, my experience compels me to believe otherwise. I'm as sure as death that the Jinn enter the body of human beings, take possession of them and reduce them to a non-plus.

PP: Ms. Ayesha Begum. Please tell the Court, in detail, about your experience with the Jinn.

Witness: My eldest daughter, Arifa, is twelve. She is a student of class sixth in a public school. As you all are aware that the syllabus of a public school is too huge for a child to handle, therefore, we, that is, I and my husband, decided against burdening our daughter with additional teaching of Urdu and Arabic at our home. Till date she has not learnt a single word from the Holy Quran. But to our surprise, one day, some two years back, when she returned from her school she was in a semi-conscious state, sweating profusely and reciting loudly the Quranic verses and that too in a male voice. We were shocked. Immediately my mother-in-law called for the Sufi who resides near our house. He is an expert exorcist. With the help of his mystical powers he informed us that on her way back from the school our daughter had defiled the residing place of a Jinn and that Jinn had entered her body. For the next half-hour we saw the Sufi lighting some joss sticks, reciting certain formulae in Arabic, catching the Jinn with his hands and flinging him into the fire. The Jinn was burnt and after some time our daughter came back to her normal position.

PP: Your Honour, this is not an isolated case. Day in and day out we all hear such stories that to my knowledge are true. This is a conclusive proof that the Jinn do exist as ethereal beings. However, I'm eager to know how the Accused would react to it.

Myself: Ms. Ayesha Begum, what part of the year it was when the unfortunate psychological incident that you have narrated happened?

Myself: What is the mode of transportation your daughter employs while returning from her school?

PP: Objection, Your Honour, the Defence is wasting precious time of the Court by asking irrelevant questions.

Myself: Thank you, Your Honour. Ms. Ayesha Begum, in your narration you forgot to inform the Court about the place your daughter allegedly defiled on her way back from the school.

Witness: My daughter told me that while returning from the school she felt tired and thirsty. As such, she went inside a Dargah, tomb of a saint that falls on the way, to quench her thirst. Once inside the Dargah, she also felt the urge to urinate. After doing so she had barely drunk two or three ounces of water that a Jinn took possession of her body. And she began to recite verses from the Quran and that too in a male voice.

Witness: I've read the Quran. My mother-in-law knows it by heart. She is a God-fearing lady. She is very particular in reciting the Quran every morning and every evening. She says that evil spirits do not enter that house where the Quran is recited regularly.

Myself: Islam allows a Muslim to plan his family due to valid reasons and recognized necessities, 1 why did you opt for a big family?

PP: Objection, Your Honour, this is a very personal question and it is not related to the case.

Witness: Like other parents we also desired for a son. But in search of a male issue three daughters were born to us.

Myself: Did you and your husband ever discuss your desire for a male child in front of your daughters?

Witness: Often. In fact, when our son was not born I used to dress up Arifa as a boy. We also called her our son.

Myself: That is exactly what I wanted to know. Thank you. Your Honour, I do not intend to give a detailed psychological analysis of this case. Probably all of us will get bored. However, some points do merit an explanation. Our brain has enormous potentiality to record whatever we hear either voluntarily or involuntarily. What we memorize voluntarily we are capable of retrieving at will. But what our brain records involuntarily we cannot recollect it at will. Our present level of development is such. May be in the future we may be able to do so. In Arifa's case she was involuntarily recording the Quranic verses that were regularly being recited at her home. As such, when under extreme pathological conditions her psychological control weakened her insight memory got activated. She had never heard French or Spanish so there was no way she could have spoken in these languages. What the Sufi did was that he through his antics and repeated repetition of certain words erased the insight memory of Arifa and she came back to her normal position. A psychiatrist would have done a better job and that too without the aid of religious formulae. Your Honour, we all have desires. Certain desires are such that owing to the pressure and norms of the society we keep them suppressed. But when our super ego weakens our ego reflects them. In the case of Arifa her parents desired for a son. So she had a hidden desire to be a boy. Probably she thought that her parents would have loved her more had she been a boy. It is for this reason that in those moments of psychological aberration she spoke in a male voice. And the stories that we often hear about Jinn breaking plates and doing all sorts of unnatural activities can be explained in the light of the laws of Physics.

PP: It makes an interesting copy but we have with us Sufi Jafer Husaini to prove that Arifa was indeed possessed by the Jinn. Your Honour, if you permit, I'll like to call him to the witness box.

PP: Sufi Jafer Husaini, I'm told that for the last thirty years, with the help of the Divine Word, you have been making the Jinn flee from the bodies of the possessed. With your vast experience in this field what light you can throw on the present case?

Witness: I don't remember how many Jinn I might have thrown out of the bodies of the possessed. May be a thousand or more. I can't give you the exact figure. I protected Arifa from the mischief of the Jinn. Her mother has just informed the Court about it. This, however, is not to boast my control and power over the Jinn. I'm just a humble servant of Allah. It is all His grace. My experience has made me believe that the existence of the Jinn is potently true. If Jinn are not present what was it that possessed the bodies of the patients that came to me for help? What was it that I was fleeing from their bodies? If they were not Jinn, who were they? Indeed, they were Jinn I've no personal knowledge of the Accused. I read in the newspapers that he has been denying the existence of the Jinn. The moment I read this the Jinn in my control informed me that the Accused is under the spell of an evil spirit. He is making all irrational and illogical statements in order to gain cheap publicity. I'm sure that with his untruth he'll earn only evil reputation. He is a liar.

Witness: Your Honour, I've nothing personal against the Accused or anybody else. I'm a Sufi. I've severed voluntarily all connections and attachment with the worldly and the mundane.

Magistrate: Order, order. No interference. Let the witness complete his statement.

Witness: I'm a Sufi. I've laboured hard to make two Jinn subservient to me. They are in my control. I make them ascend to the confines of the lowest heaven, there they listen to the conversation of the angels, obtain knowledge of futurity 2 , impart it to me and with this knowledge of the Gaib (Unseen) I help those people who are in need. Do I have to say anything more to prove that the Jinn do exist as ethereal beings?

Myself: Your Honour, I should be thankful to Mr. Husaini. Instead of proving me wrong he has helped me to gather new evidence in support of my stand. I'll like to put certain questions to him.

Myself: Thank you, Your Honour. Mr. Husaini, by your statements it appears that you are quite an expert in exorcising of evil spirits. Would you please tell the Court about your modus operandi?

Witness: I employ a very simple method. It has three steps. First, I make an ablution for the Jinn are creatures of fire and only water can quench their flames 3 . In the second step Ayatal Kursi 4 and Suratul-Mauzatain 5 are recited thrice each and blown over the afflicted person. And for the last step, I prepare an amulet for the afflicted person. It is nothing but Surah Ikhlas 6 written on a thin skin of a rabbit.

Myself: But Ms. Ayesha Begum told the Court that you lighted joss sticks so as to burn the Jinn.

Witness: “Sometimes we have to make a big tamasha (demonstration) to convince the client. We may surround him with lighted joss sticks. Then we call out the Jinn. The Jinn has to leave him because of what we are reciting. Suppose people have brought me a woman troubled by Jinn. If I just tell them that the Jinn have left her, they will not believe me. So, we light a lamp, act as if we are catching the Jinn with our hands and flinging him into the fire. Then we tell them that the Jinn have been burnt and will not trouble her again. It is most important that they are convinced. If they doubt, nothing can be done to help them. The work is done without all this tamasha – but the tamshaa is necessary to convince people.” 7

Myself: Point to be noted, Your Honour. I've already said that a psychiatrist will do a better job and that too without the aid of religious formulae. Moreover, Ayatal Kursi and Surah Ikhlas describe the attributes of Allah. It is expected of a Muslim to imbibe these attributes within human limitation so as to develop his self. The Quran nowhere says that by reciting these verses or any other verse you can cure an afflicted person. As for Suratul Mauzatain they are last two chapters of the Quran. The first one Al-Falaq like Ayatal Kursi and Surah Ikhlas does not even contain the word Jinn. And the second one An-Naas simply states that when you are engaged in establishing Islamic political order you should strictly stick yourself to the laws of Allah as enshrined in the Quran. This chapter warns the believers that during the course of your mission you should always be alert to the conspiracy, mischief and whispering campaign of people whom you know and strangers, that is the Jinn, whom you don't know because they will try to sabotage your efforts. Be that as it may, Mr. Husaini you claim that you have two Jinn in your control. How did you make them subservient to you?

Witness: Even you can control them. In theory the method is simple, but in practice it requires enormous hard work and patience. Take any month of a lunar calendar that begins from Wednesday. Begin the day by taking bath and observing fast. In the evening open the fast with bread of barley, sugar and potherb. Sleep early. Leave the bed at mid-night and after performing ablution recite Wa'iz qaala Rabbuka lil-Malaaa-ikati…..'antal-‘Aliimul-Hakim 8 thirty-three times. After this write these verses on a plastic utensil with musk and saffron. Dip that utensil in water and drink that water before going to sleep again. This entire exercise should be performed for seven consecutive days . On the last night the verses should be recited seventy times, 9 in this way you will win over a Jinn.

Myself: Your Honour, the Quran is the Book to guide the entire human race. The objective of the Quran is not to strengthen superstitious conceptions. Its aim is to overthrow all unfounded assumptions. The unfortunate part, however, is that instead of seeking guidance from the Quran our religious leaders have reduced this Divine Book to a book of sorcery. You go through the books like Naqsh-e-Sulaimani by Khuwaja Ashraf Ali Lucknowi and you will find in them such far-fetched conclusion – recite Surah Fil hundred times and your enemies would be ruined, recite Surah Ikhlas one thousand times for improving your sexual prowess. Our mystic friend, Mr. Husaini, seems to be influenced by such bizarre notions. My prudence does not permit me to accept that by reciting the story of Adam thirty-three times daily for a week I'll be in control of Jinn. Mr. Husaini, I Have a request. I've read in many books that our Ulema and Sufis have not only made the Jinn subservient to them but have also taken services out of them. Imam Ibn Taimiyyah in his work An-Nubuwwat says that whosoever attains mastery over the Jinn is flown on their backs to distant places. According to him it was a common phenomenon, which he had himself witnessed. He further says that many Jinn who had succeeded in insinuating themselves into his disciples' company were given a severe beating by him. They took to their heels never to return, 10 and we all know that the Jinn were employed by Hazrat Sulaiman for the construction of synagogues, statues, basins, wells and cauldrons. Now my request is that would you order your two Jinn to rebuild the Babri Masjid at its original site in Ayodhya.

Witness: Do you doubt my integrity, my truthfulness? Are you making a fool out of me?

Witness: The Jinn that are in my control are not all that powerful. They are only capable of listening to the conversation of the angels and thereby obtain knowledge of futurity.

Myself: In that case please tell us when will the Babri Masjid imbroglio be solved.

Witness: I'll have to summon my Jinn, make them ascend to the confines of the lowest heaven and then let you know.

Myself: I'll be waiting impatiently. Your Honour, I've no more questions to put to Mr. Husaini. However, let me tell a story, perhaps a true one: once a delegation came to the last Messenger. They supposed him to be the one who had knowledge of the Ghaib , unseen. So they concealed something in their hands and asked him to tell them what it was. The last Messenger told them in plain words: “I am not a diviner. The diviner, (what pertains to) the divination, and the soothsayers will all be in the Fire.” Why did he say so? The answer is simple: the Quran says that no one in the heavens and the earth knows the unseen except Allah (Q.27-65). And therefore Allah told the last Messenger to declare: “If I had knowledge of the unseen, I should have multiplied all good, and no evil should have touched me. I am but a Warner, and a bringer of glad tidings to those who have faith (Q. 7-188).” The Quran also says that no one knows what it is that he will earn on the morrow, nor does any one know in what land he is to die (Q.31-34). As such, again my prudence does not allow me to accept the claim of our mystic friend that by reciting certain verses of the Quran I can have control over Jinn so as to know the events of the past and the future. The Quran unambiguously states that the Jinn have absolutely no knowledge of the unseen (Q.34-14).

PP : Your Honour, throughout the trial the Accused has maintained that he is a Muslim and a believer in Islam. If this is true, then I presume, he'll unquestionably accept evidence from the Quran, the Traditions and the Fiqh. And hopefully he'll see the Islamic light and amend his erroneous conception about the Jinn. For this I'll have to call Hazrat Shah Zaheer Ahsan Shauq Naumani to the witness box, of course, Your Honour, with your permission.

Witness : My name you have already announced. I'm 58. For the last 33 years I've been engaged in teaching the Quran and Ahadith at an Islamic University. I've penned nearly forty books on Islam and topics related to religion.

Witness : No. This is the first time I'm seeing him in person. However, I've read his writings.

Witness : He is an intelligent fellow but is a danger to Muslims and Islam. The reason is obvious. For his writings he does not rely upon the Traditions and the research done by earlier scholars. Besides, he tries to interpret the Quran according to his own fancy and requirement. He has ‘ignored the fact that the basic principles of religion are, by their very nature, incapable of logical demonstration or rational proof'. 11 Is reason the only basis of truth and reality? No. Your Honour, religion deals with super sensible realities like the Jinn. They must, if you believe in religion, be accepted unquestionably, without doubt, without reason and without argument. This in my opinion is Islam.

Myself : Sorry to interrupt, Your Honour. But I beg to differ with the learned scholar. Islam is not a synonym of religion. The two are entirely different things. “Religion is blind faith. Islam does not even permit a person to follow the verses of the Quran blindly. Religion breeds arrogance and presumption. Islam breeds humility and modesty. Religion according to Marx is opium. It makes the oppressed class indifferent to their sufferings and forces them to resign to their destiny. On the other hand man must accept Islam freely and voluntarily because there is no compulsion in the matter of din. Religion has bizarre notions, grotesque superstitions and exploitation. Islam has laws and institutions. Religion has dogmas, rituals and trivial practices. Islam, as Muhammad Iqbal puts it, ‘is neither dogma, nor priesthood, nor ritual'. In fact, Islam is ilm (knowledge), adl (justice), Logic and like science proceeds from the assumption that all of nature is knowable. The Quran calls upon us to reflect and ponder over what is there between the earth and the skies so as to utilise it for the benefit of the humankind”. 12 Besides, Allah asks us to ponder on the Quran; 13 while reflecting and pondering over the Divine verses I have come to the conclusion that Jinn do not exist as ethereal beings.

Witness : My son, this is a wrong conclusion. If you keep ignoring the Traditions and the research done by earlier scholars you will always be in error. There are authentic Traditions from our Messenger that the Jinn have transparent bodies and they are of three kinds – one on the land, one on the sea, and one in the air. 14

Myself : But there are other Traditions also that suggest that the Jinn who met the last Messenger were human beings and they were from the community of Zobta. 15 This contradictory nature of the Tradition literature makes it unreliable. Besides, the so-called Tradition literature was compiled nearly two hundred years after the death of the last Messenger and that too without documentary evidence. That does not mean I do not believe in Ahadith. In my opinion Allah has revealed the most beautiful hadith in the form of the Quran. 16 Every person including the Messenger 17 was asked to seek guidance from it. 18 And the Messenger followed what was revealed to him. 19 In fact, a person who doed not judge according to the Quran is Kafir (unbeliever), 20 Zalim (wrong - doer) 21 and Fasiq (evil – liver) 22 . Therefore, I request the honourable magistrate to ensure that evidence against my claim should be based on the verses of the Quran. However, I must add that I'm not averse to quality research work done by earlier scholars. But in the name of research one should not quote conjectures like Fi Bayan Munakahat – ul – Jinn , in which its author Qazi Badruddin has discussed the conjugal ties between man and the Jinn. 23 I'll ask for physical evidence if you say that sometimes the Jinn propagate their species in conjunction with human beings, in which case the offspring partakes of the nature of both parents. 24

PP : Your Honour, Mr. Choudhary's views on the Tradition literatures is not worth appreciating. On the contrary they are highly objectionable. Despite this I agree to confine our evidence to the Quranic verses, this is not without reason. My witness is fully capable of providing unquestionable evidence from the Quran itself. Yes, Hazrat Naumani, what does the Quran tell us about the Jinn?

Witness : According to my reading of the Quran men and Jinn are two separate species. Allah has created both these species to serve Him. 25 He created man from sounding clay, like unto pottery, and He created Jinn from fire free of smoke. 26 Apart from this the Quran also says that fire born 27 Iblis (Satan) was one of the Jinn. 28 This hopefully settles the issue. However, if we accept the claim of the Accused that Jinn are jungle folks then we'll have to concede that Iblis is also a man.

Myself : Mr. Naumani, I suspect, has not gone through my essay on the Jinn carefully.. I had clearly mentioned in my essay that the word Jinn has been used in the Quran in varying meanings. It is not an uncommon thing. For instance, the word haram is used both for forbidden and sacred as in Masjidul – Haram . Our learned friend has exchanged one explanation for the other. Your Honour, Shaitan and Iblis are two sides of the same coin. Let me explain. The Quran says that one who follows one's own vain desires, emotions or impulses in a manner repugnant to the Divine laws goes astray. 29 At another place these emotional pressures are termed as acts of Shaitan. 30 As such, Shaitan, from the verbal root Sh Ta Na meaning to be obstinate, perverse, 31 is one who rebels destructively against the laws of Allah, for this reason the ring leader of the people who oppose the system of Allah are called Shaiteen, 32 “Since destructive activity inevitably brings frustration and sorrow, Shaitan has also been called Iblis – which means a disappointed being who fails to secure happiness in life.” 33 We can overcome fear or sorrow that is Iblis 34 by following Allah's laws. 35 However, man's capacity to rebel, to disobey or respite to Iblis will remain as long as there are human beings on earth. 36 Since this capacity remains hidden and is rebellious in nature, therefore Iblis is called a Jinn 37 and born out of fire. 38 Now I'll briefly ponder on the creation of man. 39 “The Quran is unmistakably opposed to the Biblical narrations that the first appearance of man on earth was in the form of Adam and Eve. The Quran does not even use the word Eve. And the word Adam is ‘used mere as a concept than as the name of a concrete human individual'. According to Muhammad Iqbal ‘The Quranic legend of the fall has nothing to do with the first appearance of man on this planet. Its purpose is rather to indicate man's rise from a primitive state of instinctive appetite to the conscious possession of a free self, capable of doubt and disobedience. The Fall does not mean any moral depravity, it is man's transition from simple consciousness to the first flash of self consciousness, a kind of walking from the dream of nature with a throb of personal causality in one's own being. Nor does the Quran regard the earth as a torture hall where an elementally wicked humanity is imprisoned for an original act of sin. Man's first act of disobedience was also his first act of free choice'. Regarding the origin of man the Quran says that he was created in diverse stages from a single cell and length of each stage is a thousand years of our reckoning. With these gradual processes man got fashioned in due proportion. Thereafter he was endowed with the gifts of hearing and sighting. Since man has been created in the best of moulds he has also been given the power to acquire knowledge and the right to exercise free choice in the matter of worlds.” 40 You all are quite familiar with the diverse stages in the organic evolution of man. I need not repeat them. The earth in the beginning, as you know, was in the form of molten fire. Therefore, the creation that existed prior to modern man is said to have evolved out of fire. 41 That creation, referred to in the Quran as Al – Jaann, is now extinct.

Witness : Oh! My God, can any believer in Islam accept that the Jinn are extinct. My son, you have grossly misunderstood the Quran or you are deliberately giving it a meaning that it does not contain. The Quran explicitly states that there were Jinn in the army of Hazrat Sulaiman 42 and he also employed the Jinn for the construction work. 43 And more importantly Surah Al – Ahqaf and Surah Jinn categorically say that a group of Jinn listened the Quran from our last Messenger and also embraced Islam.

Myself : I'm sorry to say our learned scholar is again confusing one thing with the other. I've already said that the Quran uses the word Jinn in varying meanings. The Jinn that were employed by Hazrat Sulaiman and the Jinn that came to the last Messenger to hear the Quran were human beings. They belonged to nomadic tribes. Since they kept on wandering from place to place and also remained hidden in deserts or forests away from civilised urban people the Arabs called them Jinn. Let me explain this in the light of the Quran. The word Wahy or Revelation, in the Quran, has been used in two particular meanings. One, it has been used for the direct guidance given to things and beings other than men. Therefore, they lead their lives according to already settled principles. But for man the Divine approach has been quite different, for the simple reason, so as not to put curbs on his freedom and not to detract him from his right to free choice. As such for every people 44 Allah selected a man who could be entrusted with Divine Revelation. A man thus selected has been referred to in the Quran as Nabi and Rasool . All the Messengers, without any exception, were human beings and they were sent to guide human beings only. 45 For the Quran says “If there were settled, on earth, angels walking about in peace and quiet, we should certainly have sent them down from the heavens an angel for a Messenger.” 46 And when the Quran addresses both Jinn and Ins together that a Messenger was sent to them from amongst them 47 and they opposed the Messengers, 48 it is simply saying that Jinn are nomadic people and Ins are people who get settled at a place. If in these verses we presume that Jinn are ethereal beings then, I'm afraid we would be challenging the claim of the Quran that there is no contradiction, ambiguity 49 or crookedness 50 in it. The Quran nowhere says that at any time in history an ethereal being was also sent as a Messenger. However, it does say that Jinn and Ins have been created to serve the purpose of Allah. 51 Both these groups exploit each other, 52 give shelter to each other, 53 mislead each other 54 and majority of them do not use their intellect and therefore belong to the category of those who would be in Jahannam . 55 Besides, the story of Hazrat Sulaiman conclusively proves that when the Quran addresses Jinn and Ins together it is referring respectively to nomadic tribes and people settled at a place. The Quran says that Hazrat Sulaiman not only recruited the Jinn in his army 56 but also employed them for construction purposes and used them as divers to bring out pearls from the sea. 57 He also punished the erring Jinn by keeping them in chains; 58 you cannot chain an ethereal being, but with human beings it is possible.

Witness: You have got all your facts wrong. At a number of places in the Quran Jinn and Ins have been spoken of together so as to show that they are entirely two different creation. 59 If they had been one and the same thing the Quran would not have used two separate words for them.

Myself: Suppose I say that majority of Shias and Sunnis do not ponder on the Divine verses. Does it mean that Shias and Sunnis are separate creations of God? No. Similarly, when Jinn and Ins are spoken of together it means that Ins are people settled at a place and Jinn are nomadic tribes that remain hidden in deserts or forests.

Witness: “The Quran says that the Arabs had made the Jinn co-partners with God and worshipped them. Were the Arabs so foolish as to elevate the wild folks of the desert and the dwellers of the caves to the status of deities? Is there any instance in history where civilised human beings have sung hymns to savages?” 60

Myself: Go through religious history of man and you will get the answer. From prehistoric times man has sought to worship heavenly bodies, animals, nature, abstract qualities, angels, etc. The Quran says that the pagan Arabs worshipped Wadd, Suwa, Yaguth, Yauq and Nasr . 61 According to Abdullah Yusuf Ali they are respectively man, woman, lion, horse and vulture. 62 In India the worship of rakshas or jungle folk can be witnessed even today. And I must add that one derivation of the verbal root Jinn is Jaann also, it means a serpent. 63 Snake-worship still prevails in India and many parts of Africa including Egypt. In India Nagas are a non-Aryan snake-worshipping tribe. Snakes are worshipped because they are a symbol of fertility. An entwined serpent pair represents both male and female fertility principles. 64

Witness: Your Honour, I would have appreciated the arguments of the Accused had I been interested in fiction. Despite this I'll give another evidence from the Quran, which, hopefully, will settle the issue that the Jinn as ethereal beings are a different creation from man, and they do enter the body of human beings. Verse 275 of Surah Al-Bakrah says: “Those who devour usury will not stand except as stands one whom the Evil One by his touch has driven to madness.” You may say that it is just a simile. But my contention is that the Quran nowhere negates the belief that the touch of the Jinn brings about illness and calamity. Secondly, a prominent commentator Qazi Sanaullah Panipati, while interpreting the verse in question has reaffirmed in his Tafsir-Mazhari that mental ailment and epilepsy are the result of Shaitan's touch. According to him this fact needs no proof for the Quran and the Tradition literatures affirm it.

Myself: In this context, Your Honour, I have three submissions to make: one, the Quran with an apt simile has condemned and prohibited usury and inordinate desire for amassing wealth in the strongest possible terms. Two, by using a pagan belief for this similitude the Quran is just talking to people in their own language. What's wrong in it? The Quran is not confirming the superstition; and third, in Arabic idiom Shaitan is also used for a snake 65 and al-Khabt means to walk unevenly, to grope about awkwardly. When we say Khabata'l-ba'ir it means the camel became disoriented in its walk. 66 Therefore, my understanding of the verse in question is: a person bitten by a snake cannot walk properly. Similarly, a person who devours usury is not on Siraatal-Mustaqiim , the straight path of Islam for he has weakened his power to differentiate between beneficial and harmful, between good and bad, and between virtues and evil. Indeed, ‘a dependence on usury would merely encourage a race of idlers, cruel blood-suckers, and worthless fellows who do not know their own good and therefore akin to madmen'. 67

Witness: This is the most ridiculous exposition that I've ever heard. Your Honour, over fourteen centuries ago the Quran was revealed to our beloved last Messenger. He explained it to his companions. That exposition has been preserved honestly in the Tradition literatures. If we accept the views of the Accused that would amount to believing that nobody since the days of the Prophet ‘had truly grasped the meanings of the Holy Book and it is for the first time that the true Quranic light is illuminating the illustrious heart' 68 of our modern, nay adventurous, thinker.

Myself: I'm not the first one to say that Jinn as ethereal beings do not exist. Gloss over the pages of history and you'll understand the truth of my statement. Reference material is not available in the Court otherwise I would have shown that right from the days of the last Messenger to the present age there is an unbroken chain of thinkers who have held views that I've made my mission to propagate.

Witness: During the course of history one does come across a Mu'tazilite here and a Sir Syed Ahmad Khan there. These people are totally negligible. “Their beliefs could now only be found entombed in moth-eaten books. Nobody bothers to know what dogmas they once preached. The main body of the Ummat has reposed its faith in the Traditions and the writings of the doctors of Fiqh . Not only have these doctors proved the existence of the Jinn but have also discussed various relationships that exist or are possible between the two species.” 69

Myself: Muslim history is full of incidents in which the priests and anchorites in order to protect their vested interests have connived with the kings to suppress the Truth.

Magistrate: Order, order. Mr. Public Prosecutor, do you have more witnesses to give evidence against the Accused?

PP : No, your honour. I'm sure with the help of my witnesses I've been successful in establishing that the Accused has deliberately redefined the established principles of Islam so as to hurt the religious feelings of the unsuspecting Muslim masses. The Accused as we have seen, used diversionary tactics and he intentionally wasted the court's time by defending irrelevantly to the charges and evidence brought against him. As such, it is my humble request to the Honourable court that the Accused be given so harsh punishment that it is a lesson to other would be heretics. Thank you.

Magistrate: Mr. Chaudhary, do you have anything else to say in your defence?

Myself : Your Honour, the Quran tells us that Allah expects his believer to reflect and ponder over the verses of the Book and on this Universe. I have been trying to do the same according to the present level of our knowledge. That, however, does not mean that mine is the final word. In fact, no person can be the final authority in matters of Islam. With the passage of time new things will crop up, new discoveries and inventions would be made, level of knowledge will increase, people will have more material to see the truths in the verse of the Quran that are still hidden from us. The light of the Quran will keep on unfolding if we have the right to research, to reflect, to ponder and to express freely discoveries made therein. Contrary to this is the view that our ancestors have given us all that we need to know about the Quran and Islam. There is nothing more to add or research and whoever attempts to have a fresh look is a heretic practicing blasphemy. This concept is extremely distasteful to me. The reason is obvious: standstill thought is like stagnant water. We all know drinking of stagnant water is prohibited in Islam. Water that runs in a river is pure, fresh, worth drinking and also capable of reaching the sea, its destination. This is all I've to say. I'll deem myself acquitted of the baseless charges if Your lordship grant to people like me the right to ponder on the Quran and the right to freedom of _expression. Thank you.

Magistrate: The argument of the prosecution was that our day to day experiences, statements of our ancestors, work done by earlier scholars, the Tradition literatures and the Holy Book conclusively prove that the Jinn as ethereal beings are a separate creation from man. According to the prosecution this is the established principle of Islam. And by refuting this principle the Accused has not only committed a serious crime against Allah, against Quran and against Islam but has also hurt the religious feelings of the Muslims. The prosecution also said that the Accused should be held responsible for the damaged public property because his writings so infuriated the masses that they resorted to violence. Thus the prosecution has asked the Court to punish the Accused for blasphemy under section 295-A 504 and 505(2) of the IPC 1860. On the other hand the Accused has defended himself by stating that the Constitution of the country and Islam provides him the right to freedom of _expression and to ponder on the verses of the Quran. He also said that it was never his intention to hurt the religious feelings of the Muslims. He believes that he expressed the truth as it is, and if that has offended some then he is helpless. Besides, the Accused tried to prove that the word Jinn has been used in the Quran in varying meanings. But it has not been used for an aerial creation that can afflict human beings. On the basis of his right to research afresh and the right to express his views freely the Accused has requested the Court to pronounce him Not- Guilty. In the light of evidences that have been put before the Court by the Prosecution and the Defence this court on this forth day of May 2001 has decided that the Accused is --------------------

Allahhu Akbar, Allahhu Akbar, Allahhu Akbar, Allahhu Akbar, Ashhadu anna ________ As – salatu Kharyun Minan – naum, As – salatu Kharyun Minan – naum, prayer is better than sleep, the mu'azzin called for the early Morning Prayer. I woke up. It is a new day; but not a new beginning. The same old question: the Jinn – who are they? Should I answer? Should I write? Should I say no to brother Saim? Should I say yes to him? What if my dream comes true? Will I be pronounced Guilty or Not-Guilty? My fate hangs in balance. Do you have any suggestions? Any Advice!

Jinn - Who are they

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