The Nature of Satan

Since they are responsible for their actions, there is no doubt that the revelation of Allah must reach them and establish "the proof' against them. But how does this occur? Do they have messengers from among themselves like humans do or are the same human messengers also sent to them?

Allah says in the Quran, 0 you assembly of jinn and mankind, came there not unto you messenger of your own who recounted unto you of  My tokens..." (al-Anaam 130). This verse shows that Allah sent messenger to them. But this verse does not make it clear who these messengers were; Were they jinn or man? The Arabic word used in the verse, minkum [translated by pickthall as "of your own:] , could imply either that the messengers were of the same species as the jinn or it could imply that the one human messenger was sent to both of them together.

Consequently, there is a difference of opnion concerning which is meant. Basically, there are two opinions on this point. The first opinion is that the jinn received messengers of their own kind. This was the opinion of al-Dhuhhaak. Ibn al-jauzi said that this is the most obvious meaning of the verse. Ibn Hazm said that no human messenger was also a messenger was also a messenger to the jinn before the prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

The second opinion is that all of the messengers that were sent to the jinn were humans. Al-Suyooti stated in Luqat al-Marjaan that the major of the early and later scholars stated that the jinn never had a messenger of prophet from their kind; this opinion was related from ibn Abbas, Mujahid, al-Kalbi and Abu Ubaid. 

What makes the latter opinion seem stronger is the statement of the jinn upon hearing the Quran, "They [the jinn] said, 'O our people lo, we have heard a scripture which has been revealed after Moses.." (al- Ahqaaf30). But this verse is still not a clear proof for this particular question. The debated question does not require any action on the part of the Muslims, nor is there any clear text concerning it; therefore, there is no need to discuss this question in any greater detail.

The message of Muhammad (peace be upon him)  is for both jinn and humans

The prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was sent to both jinn and humans. Ibn Taimiya stated, "There is agreement on this principal among the companionss and those that followed their way and the leaders of the Muslims and rest of the different groups of Muslims, the ahl al-Sunnah wa- al-jamaa and others. May Allah be pleased with all of them."

What suggests this is the challenge of the Quran to both the jinn and humans to compose a work similar to the Quran. Allah says in the Quran,

"Say: Verily, though mankind and jinn should assemble to produce the like of this Quran, they could not produce the like there of though they would be helpers, one of another" ( al-Israa 88).

Some of the jinn quickly became believers when they heard the Quran recite. The Quran states, "Say it is revealed unto me that a company of the jinn listened, and they said, 'Lo it is a marvelous Quran, which guides unto righteousness, so we believe in it and we ascribe no partner unto our Lord"' (al-Jinn 1-2).

Those who listened to the Quran and believed in it are the same ones who are mentioned in the following verse from surah al-Ahqaaf, "And when we inclined toward you (Muhammad) certain of the jinn, who wished to hear the Quran and, when they were in its presence, said, 'Give ear.' And when it was finished, turned back to their people, warning [them]. They said, '0 our people, lo, we have heard a scripture which has been revealed after Moses, confirming that which was before it, guiding unto the truth and a right road. 0 our people, respond to Allah's summoner and believe in Him. He will forgive you some of your sins and guard you from a painful doom. And whosoever does not respond to Allah's summoner, he can nowise escape in the earth, and you can find no protecting friends instead of Him. Such are in error manifest" (al-Ahqaaf 29-32). 

They heard the Quran, they believed in it and returned to their people to call them towards the oneness of Allah and faith and they gave them good tidings as well as a warning.

The story of their listening to the prophet (peace be upon him) has been recorded by al-Bukhari and Muslim on the authority of ibn Abbas. Ibn Abbas reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) departed with some of his companions, intending to go to the bazaar at Ukaz. At that time, there had been obstruction between the devils and the news from the heavens. And flames were being hurled at the jinn. 

Therefore, the jinn went back to their people and were asked about what had happened. They answered, "Some barriers have been put between us and the news from the heavens." They said, "This could only happen due to some important event. So go to the eastern parts of the earth and its western parts to find out what has happened to cause these barriers between us and the news from the heavens." They did so. A group of them proceeded to Tihama which is a palm grove close to the fair of Ukaz. 

At that time, the prophet (peace be upon him) was leading his companions in the dawn prayer. When the jinn heard the recitation of the Quran, they said, "Listen to it." Then they said, "This is what has caused the barriers between us and the news of the heavens." They returned to their people and said, "O our people, we have heard a marvelous Quran that guides us to the straight path and we believe in it." Then Allah revealed to His prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him),"Say; It is revealed to me that a company of the jinn listened..." (al-jinn 1 ). Allah revealed to the prophet (peace be upon him) what the jinn had stated.

The delegation from the jinn

The incident mentioned above was the first time that the jinn became aware of the message of the prophet (peace be upon him). They listened to the Quran without the prophet (peace be upon him) being aware of their presence. A group of them believed in it and went back to their people to spread the message. After that incident, a delegation of the jinn met with the Prophet (peace be upon him) to gain some knowledge from him. 

The Prophet (peace be upon him) gave them an appointment and met with them and taught them what Allah prescribed for them and he read the Quran to them and informed them of the news of the heavens. This latter incident occurred in Makkah before the prophet's migration to Madina.

Muslim, in his sahih, and Ahmad, in his Musnad, recorded from Alqama that he had asked Abdullah ibn masud if anyone had accompanied the prophet (peace be upon him) on the night that the prophet (peace be upon him)  met with the jinn. Ibn Masud said, "No, none of us did. But we were in the company of the Messenger of Allah Peace be upon him) that night in Makkah and we missed him. We searched for him in the valleys and the hills and said, 'He has either been taken away [by the jinn] or has been secretly killed.' He said, 'We spent the wrost night which people could ever spend.

When it was dawn we saw him coming from the direction of Hiraa. We said, 'Messenger of Allah, we missed you and searched for you but we could not find you and we spent the wrost night which people could ever spend.' He [the prophet] said, 'There came to me someone inviting me on behalf of the jinn and I went along with him and recited to them the Quran.' He said, 'He then went along with us and showed us their traces and traces of their embers.' They [ the jinn] asked him about their food and he said, 'Every bone on which the name of Allah is recited is your provision. The time it will fall in your hands, it would be covered with flesh. And the dung of the camels is fodder for your animals," And in al-Tabari's narration from ibn Masud, "I stayed one night reciting to the jinn at a place called al-Hujoon [in Makkah]," 

From among the verse that he recited to them was surah al-Rahmaan. In another hadith, the prophet (peace be upon him) said, "I read it [ Surah al- Rahmaan] to the jinn on the night of the jinn and they had a better response to it than you did. When I came to, 'Which of the favors of your Lord do you deny?' they responded with, 'There is none of your bounties. O Lord, that we deny. And for you is the praise." That was not the only time that the prophet (peace be upon him) recited to the jinn but such meetings were repeated a number of time afterwards. In his commentry to surah al-Ahqaaf, ibn katheer records various hadith in which the prophet (peace be upon him) met with jinn. In some of these hadith, it states that ibn Masud was very close to the prophet (peace be upon him) during such a night.

In a hadith recorded in sahih al-Bukhari, there is the description of some jinn from a place calles Naseeb in Yamen visting the prophet (peace be upon him). Al-Bukhari recorded from Abu Huraira that the prophet (peace be upon him) said, "A delegation of the jinn of Naseeb [a part of Yamen] came to me- and how nice these jinn are- and asked me for provisions. I suppicated to Allah for them that they would never pass by a bone or dung of an animal except that they would find food upon it."

 The jinn preaching to the humans
  

In some of the authentic hadith there are reports that some jinn played a role in guiding some humans. In sahih al-Bukhari, it is recorded that Umar ibn al-khattab asked a man who used to be a diviner during the days of ignorance about the most amazing thing that his female jinn had ever informed him of. The ex-diviner told Umar, "One day she came to me in a state of fright. She said, 'Have you not seen the despair of the jinn and their defeat [i.e..from listening to the news in the heavens] and, 

Therefore, they now only follow the camel riders." Umar said, "such is the truth." I was sleeping near some idols and there came a man with a calf and he sacrificed it for the idol. It let out a scream the like of which I have never heard. It said, 'O Julaih, O you arrogant sinner, You have a matter of success in front of you. A man of fair speech is saying, 'None has the right to be worshipped save you (o Allah).' The people fled from the sight (due to fear). Then the same cry came again. I then went away and a few days later, the people were saying, 'A prophet has appeared..."

    

After recording this hadith in his commentary to surah al-Ahqaaf, Ibn Katheer wrote, "This is the text of al-Bukhari. Al-Baihaqi has recorded something similar to it from ibn wahb." Then he stated, "Appearently this narration follows the mistaken notion that it was Umar himself who heard the scream at the time of the sacrifice. This is made explicit in weak narrations from Umar. All of the other narrations point to the diviner as being the one who reported what he had seen and heard. Allah knows best. " Then he adds, "That man who was the diviner was Sawaad ibn Qaarib."

 Their order to do good deeds and being witnesses for Muslim

The hadith from prophet (peace be upon him) in which he states that his partner from among the jinn submitted and ordered him only to do good deeds will be mentioned later.

Abu saeed al-Khudri said to Abu Sasa al-Ansari, "I see that you like sheep and wilderness, make the call to prayer and raise your voice while doing so. Whoever hears the call to prayer, whatever he be human, jinn or any other being, will be a witness for it on the Day of Resurrection." Abu Saeed added " I heard that from the Messenger of Allah"[ Recorded by al-Bukhari.] He stated that the jinn who heard the call to prayer will be witnesses for him on the Day of Resurrection.

They are at different levels of good and evil

The jinn are of different varieties; some of them are fully devoted to doing good and righteousness; other are less so. Some of them are heedless; others are outright disbelievers and they are by far the majority. Allah says, concerning those who listened to the Quran,

"And among us there are righteous flok and among us there are some that are far from that. We are sects having differences'' (al-Jinn 11 ). In other words, some of them are completely pious, some are less so and so on. They are of different ways and thoughts like the human beings.

Allah also states about them, quoting them, "And there are among us some who are unjust. And whoso has surrendered to Allah, such, have taken the right path purposefully. And as for those who are unjust, they are firewood for hell"( al-Jinn 14-15). In other words, some of them are Muslims and some have wronged their own souls by being unbelievers. Whoever submitted has set himself upon the path of guidance by his actions and whosoever among them wronged their own souls will be fuel for the hell-fire.

The nature of Satan

Allah gave the jinn ability to become believers or disbelievers. Thereby, satan used to worship Allah along with the angels before he became an ingrate. When he became such, he became pleased with evil and sought it even though it would be the cause of his punishment. He was pleased by the performance of evil and encouraged others to perform evil deeds.

"He [Satan], 'Then, by your might, I will surely beguile them, every one, save your single-mu ded slaves among them" (Saud 82-83). The same is the case with a human. If his soul becomes evil, he desires whst harms him and becomes gratified by such actions; in fact, he becomes passionately in love with such things to the extent that he  he rums his mind, religion, character, body and wealth. It is sufficient to consider, as examples, those who drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes. These things kill the one who consumes them. They are sufficient to cause the person's death yet the person is not able to leave them save through hardship.

Can a devil embraced Islam?

It is apparent from the hadith' that is possible for a devil to embrace Islam as the devil of the prophet (peace be upon him) did so. Some scholars, though, reject this statement and state that a devil cannot become a believer. The commentator of al-Aqeeda al-Tahaawiya is of latter opinion. The people of this school argu that the word aslam [mentioned in the hadith concerning the submission of the prophet's devil] means that the devil submitted to the laws of Islam [without any belief or faith]. 

Some scholars say that the correct narration of the hadith is the prophet (peace be upon him) saying, "I am safe from him." The commentator on al-Tahaawiya is of the opinion that the narration putting the word aslam in the nominative case is a mistake; but, al-Nawawi, in his commentary to sahih Muslim, states, "They are two well-confirmed narrations." He states that al-Khattabi thinks that the stronger narration is with the dhamma (that is, with the word in its nominative from).

From among those who say that the devil can embrace Islam is ibn Hibban. Commenting on the hadith referred to above, he stated, "In this report there is evidence that the devil of the prophet (peace be upon him) embraced Islam and he did not incite the prophet (peace be upon him) to do any thing but good deeds. otherwise, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was safe from him even if the devil were a disbeliever."

There is some about concerning the opinion of the commentator on al-Aqeeda al-Tahaawiya that a devil can only be an unbeliever. If he means that the word devil is only used for the disbelievers of the jinn, then his opinion is correct. but if he means a devil can never change and convert to Islam, then his opinion is far from correct and the hadith is an evidence against him.'