Jinn: The Ancient Arabian Shapeshifters | Monstrum

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Crafted from smokeless fire, the shapeshifting jinni (known as ‘genie’ in the Western world) are far more important, and frightening, than pop culture would have us believe. Jinn are powerful, emotional beings capable of living for thousands of years. Usually invisible to the human eye, they can take any form to appear to humans. Once worshipped in ancient Arabic cultures, the jinni is now known for it’s wish-granting capabilities.

This episode explains how jinn became a popular character in fiction, while looking at how their origins continue to influence Islamic cultures today. From the Qur’an to The Thousand and One Nights, the story of Aladdin to I Dream of Jeannie and everything in between—the jinn are more than just a being trapped in a lamp who grants wishes. They’re powerful, intellectual entities whose stories are woven into ancient Islamic culture. #jinn #genie #aladdin #MonstrumPBS

Written and Hosted by: Emily Zarka
Director: David Schulte
Executive Producer: Amanda Fox
Producer: Stephanie Noone
Illustrator: Samuel Allen
Editor: Derek Borsheim
Produced by Spotzen for PBS Digital Studios.

The world is full of monsters, myths, and legends and Monstrum isn’t afraid to take a closer look. The show, hosted by Emily Zarka, Ph.D., takes us on a journey to discover a new monster in each new episode. Monstrum looks at humans unique drive to create and shape monster mythology through oral storytelling, literature, and film and digs deep into the history of those mythologies.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY:
al-Musawi, Mushin J. The Islamic Context of The Thousand and One Nights. Columbia University Press, 2009.

Arabian Nights’ Entertainments. Trans. Reverend Edward Forster. London: Willoughby and Co. Printers, 1840 (?).

Chraibi, Aboubakr. “Texts of the Arabian Nights and Ideological Variations.” Trans. Natasha Romanova. New Perspectives on Arabian Nights: Ideological Variations and Narrative Horizons. Ed. Wen-Chin Ouyang & Geert Jan van Gelder. London and New York: Routledge, 2005, pp. 17-25.

El-Zein, Amira. Islam, Arabs, and the Intelligent World of the Jinn. Syracuse University Press, 2009.

Galland, M., translator. Arabian nights entertainments: consisting of one thousand and one stories, related by the Sultanees of the Indies, to divert the Sultan from the execution of a vow he had made to marry a lady every day and have her destroyed [sic]: morning to [r]evenge himself for the disloyalty of his [sic], &c.: containing an account of the customs, manners and religion of the [sic] nations, viz., Tartars, Persians and Indians: translated from the Arabian manuscript into French by M. Galland. Vol. 1, Printed for C. Cooke, c1800.

Horta, Paulo Lemos. Marvellous Thieves: Secret Authors of the Arabian Nights. Harvard University Press, 2017.

Irwin, Robert. “A Thousand and One Nights at the Movies.” New Perspectives on Arabian Nights: Ideological Variations and Narrative Horizons. Ed. Wen-Chin Ouyang & Geert Jan van Gelder. London and New York: Routledge, 2005: pp. 91-101.

Lane, Edward William. The Thousand and One Nights, Commonly Called, in England, The Arabian Nights’ Entertainments. Vol. 1, Illus. William Harvey. London: Charles Knight and Co. 1941.

Lim, Anastasia, et. al. “The Attribution of Mental Health Problems to Jinn: An Explorative Study in a Transcultural Psychiatric Outpatient Clinic.” Frontiers in Psychiatry, Vol. 9, Article 89 (March 2018): pp. 2-7.

Maarouf, Mohammed. Jinn Eviction as a Discourse of Power: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Moroccan Magical Beliefs and Practices. Brill, 2007.

Ouyang, Wen-Chin. “Foreword: Genres, Ideologies, Genre Ideologies and Narrative Transformation.” New Perspectives on Arabian Nights: Ideological Variations and Narrative Horizons. Ed. Wen-Chin Ouyang & Geert Jan van Gelder. London and New York: Routledge, 2005, pp. ix-xv.

Thompson, Jason. Edward William Lane: The Life of the Pioneering Egyptologist and Orientalist, American University in Cairo Press, 2000.

[morgandfreeman]

Me clicks on this video
Jinns living in my room: *INTERESTING*

[thatkidontheblock]

Non-Muslims: *This is some nice mythology stuff*

Muslims and Jinns: *If you only knew...*

[alialnuaymi]

According to the Qur’aan, demons are not a third type of spiritual beings. A demon is an evil jinn or an evil human being since both have free will. A Satan(Arabic Shaitaan) is an evil Jinn/human. There is no concept of falling angles in the Quran (it’s debatable).

[karenbonds]

Jinns: *Are stronger than Humans*

Also Jinns: *Gets killed by a single fruit pit*

[wormbot]

just a side note, in the beginning of the episode jinn is written using arabic letters but it's not quite right
instead of ج ن
it's supposed to be جن

[shariquejaved]

Wrong information about Qur'an :: Qur'an never says about 3 types of Species. Angels, demons and jinns but its Angels, Jinns and Humans

[EnigMagnum]

jin imma mess with this guy
me: "ayatul kursi"
jin: ehh lemme come back later.

[overmanonfire]

talking from the heart of Arabia, let me add more to the myth

Jins do have clans and tribes (mirroring the community that gave birth to the myth)

they are classified according to their powers, the strongest race hold the name (Maread)

Arabs thought of the genius as having a Jin friend who helps him, until now the word for genius in Arabic (Abqari) is derived from the term (Apqar) a Valley name where a tribe of jin is thought to help those in their surroundings.

the most famous Arab poetry was considered wrote with the help of jin

God made them servant to king Solomon (hence his ultimate power)
they were involved in the story of 'queen of Sheba', they brought her thorn when she came to visit Solomon, as Solomon tried to impress her with his abilities.

they are far more numerous than humans

there can be a friendship between a human and jin, in that case he is called (Qarien)

jin are involved in magic ( by worshiping some of their leaders they will grant you some powers or do you some wishes)

In Islamic perspective the devil is a jinn who went astray

In Islamic perspective the devil is a jinn who went astray, not a falling angel has Christianity imagine it. (angels do not have freewill in Islamic perspective hence they cant chose to be good or bad, they are good by default)

Want more?

[mahahawiwo]

As an Arab Muslim, I remember jinn stories from my cousins used to scare the crap out of me, but this video sparked my interest for جن in general again, they're biography and history is so rich imo

[notablegoat]

Jinn: I will get revenge for my son
Wise men: What if we tell you some dope stories
Jinn: Hmm you have my interest

[Vox-Multis]

I'm a huge fan of the Thousand and One Nights and of jinn in particular, and it's always killed me how popular culture has reduced them to a wish-granting servant race. It's so good to see someone setting the record straight!

[Thunderscreamer]

“From spiritual being to comical cartoon: that’s quite a journey!”

*Laughs in Irish*

[christianbontempo]

You ain’t never had a friend like them...

[mohdsaad]

Correction, from an Islamic tradition the 3 spiritual beings are: Angels, Jinns and Humans.

Demons are also Jinns, just the evil ones.

[j.marston]

The Jinn: *Exists*
Prophet Sulaiman (King Solomon): "Yo, serve me and build me a mosque, that cool bruv?"
The Jinn: "Aight, that's cool."

[lonestalker]

Genie Will Smith: who are you?
Jinn: I’m you, but no one wants a friend like me...

[humbleguy]

Jinn: We are Stronger than the Human.
Prophet Sulaiman, born:
Jinn: Hail to the King!

[sunshineborz]

"Ancient Arabian shapeshifter monsters"
actual Jinn: *am I a joke to you?*

[pickin]

Jinns, like human also have major races of their species, which are ifrit, marid, jan, and syaitan (satan in english). Also having several minor races such as ghoul and others (i did read a lot of information about this about 8 years ago so i forgot most of this stuff)


In that reading, before humans starting to reside on earth, the world was occupied by djinns including the earth up until beyond the space and they were able to terraform terrains. Meaning, they could terraform planets that is in habitable region into a planet comfortable enough to live. However, as they lived across the universe, some wanted to be superior above others and waged war. Note that major djinn personality is usually destructive, fueled with rage, egoistic, and for some, arrogant. They always put interest, lust and emotion above mind.


It was a very terrible war with major casualties, killing most of the species. Hence, the god sent the angels to wipe out all the terrible among the species including all their technologies and leave only the innocents with nothing left for them except food and a place to live. Also, the god commanded the angels to pick one of them to heaven (i assumed that the intention was to pick up one of them to teach about religion then send the chosen one back to the surviving community to share what he has learned since the god intended the djinns to worship Him, plus i am uncertain which race does the chosen one belonged to)


Thus the djinn that was picked up lived among the angels and proved himself to be very, very dedicated in gaining the god's favor. the djinn rised up ranks gradually and for a very, very long time, he finally became someone ranked similar to the archangels due to vast knowledge and merit. note that angels only have mind and emotion, they don't have interest and lust.


one day, the god decided to create a new creature to be sent to earth, thus angels asked the god, "are You creating another creature that might be causing a lot of damage and massacre while you already having us that are always praising You?" and the God replied "I know what you don't know."

After the god created the creature, He commanded all that present in heaven to bow down to pay respect to the creature. all of the angels did bow down, paying respect except one, the djinn.

the god asked the djinn why he didn't bow down, hence the djinn answered he does not have any reason to bow down, and questioned why would he bow down to some new creature that is just made of clay, plus he claimed that the god created the djinn from smokeless fire, which is much better and superior than clay (this part explains that the chosen djinn is just being disrespectful and believed himself to be at higher lever or superior or better than the new creature; lets say that this djinn sees the new creature as a very low life peasant and himself a noble)

then after hearing those words, the god then asked the djinn to get out of the heaven and told him that he is no longer entitled to stay inside it any more. the god said that the djinn will be end up in hell (even though the written conversation was short, i assumed that the god meant that the djinn will enter hell after he died for being disrespectful, while implied that he has time to reflect on himself while alive and get a chance to repent so he can change his fate.)

but the djinn let his own ego get over him, promised the god to cause the new creature to astray and also enter the hell with him. then the god said if there is anyone that follow the djinn, then He will fill both of them in hell altogether. the djinn then requested that for him to do so, he wanted to be let alive until the day of judgement, then the god accepted his request before sending him off back to where he was from.

[daniellstephen]

That 55th Chapter of the Quran is Surat Ar Rahman, which warns both Human (An Naas) and Jinn (Al Jinn) of the Lord's favor, as the chapter has the refrain; "Which, then, of your Lord’s blessings do you both deny?"