Shaytan the Enemy Part 1
Section 2 of 24 · Faraid in Islam · Ustadh Mahmud Kurkcu
The Jinn Kind, Made of Smokeless Fire
They used to live here — he is, so to speak, the father of the jinn. Allah says in the Qur'an that he was created from smokeless fire, an energy form entirely different from our material one, not within the spectrum a person can see. What kind of creature is he? Allah says, in Sūrat al-Kahf:
وَإِذْ قُلْنَا لِلْمَلَـٰٓئِكَةِ ٱسْجُدُوا۟ لِـَٔادَمَ فَسَجَدُوٓا۟ إِلَّآ إِبْلِيسَ كَانَ مِنَ ٱلْجِنِّ فَفَسَقَ عَنْ أَمْرِ رَبِّهِۦٓ ۗ أَفَتَتَّخِذُونَهُۥ وَذُرِّيَّتَهُۥٓ أَوْلِيَآءَ مِن دُونِى وَهُمْ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّۢ ۚ بِئْسَ لِلظَّـٰلِمِينَ بَدَلًا
“(Recall) when We said to the angels, “Prostrate yourselves before ’Ādam.” So, they prostrated themselves, all of them but Iblīs (Satan). He was of the Jinn, so he rebelled against the command of your Lord. Do you still take him and his progeny as friends instead of Me, while they are enemy to you? Evil is he as substitute (of obedience to Allah) for wrongdoers.” (18:50)
He was one of the jinn, and he rebelled against his Lord's command. He is, so to speak, the first father of the jinn — Abū Jinn, the father of all jinn, much as the Turks call Atatürk the father of the Turks — created from smokeless fire. Allah says, in Sūrat al-Raḥmān:
وَخَلَقَ ٱلْجَآنَّ مِن مَّارِجٍ مِّن نَّارٍ
“and created Jann (father of the Jinn) from a smokeless flame of fire.” (55:15)
To an Arab there is a spectrum within Allah's creation that cannot be seen, and cannot be grasped at all — but "smokeless fire" may give some understanding: a blue fire, an energy form, perhaps. Allah knows best. Again, elsewhere in the Qur'an, in Sūrat al-Ḥijr, verse twenty-seven:
وَٱلْجَآنَّ خَلَقْنَـٰهُ مِن قَبْلُ مِن نَّارِ ٱلسَّمُومِ
“As for the Jānn (the first Jinn), We had created him earlier from the fire of the scorching wind.” (15:27)
The jinn, the race, were created before the human kind, of flaming fire. What caused this? Nothing was ever done to him; he was not known, he was not seen — and yet he became an enemy. He was not always like this. He was of the jinn kind, so religious and so pious that he used to worship among the angels, one among Allah's creation, for Allah is capable of anything. Allah then speaks, in Sūrat al-Aʿrāf, verse eleven:
وَلَقَدْ خَلَقْنَـٰكُمْ ثُمَّ صَوَّرْنَـٰكُمْ ثُمَّ قُلْنَا لِلْمَلَـٰٓئِكَةِ ٱسْجُدُوا۟ لِـَٔادَمَ فَسَجَدُوٓا۟ إِلَّآ إِبْلِيسَ لَمْ يَكُن مِّنَ ٱلسَّـٰجِدِينَ
“We created you, then gave you a shape, then We said to the angels, “Prostrate yourselves before ’Ādam.” So, they all prostrated themselves, except Iblīs (Satan). He did not join those who fell prostrate.” (7:11)