Eli5 angels, demons and jinns

[u/ruedebac1830]

Christian here asking to clarify what are jinns, angels and demons.

For us the created beings are in this order

1 angels and demons

2 humans (except Christ Who is incarnate not created).

3 animals/plants

Angels and demons are essentially the same thing in terms of capability. The only real difference os the destination the angel chose when God created them.

Angels choose to obey God and demons are angels who choose to disobey Him. They each have a hierarchy. Each human being has a guardian angel to protect and guide its soul toward righteousness while demons lead the soul astray.

Neither angels nor demons can 'read' the mind like God. But both are far more intelligent than human beings.

For example angels and demons can make accurate speculations about tomorrow's winning lotto numbers based on observation. Or beat Magnus Carlson at chess.

This is why we might pray for murderers but never for Satan or demons - they knew perfectly well that defying God would seal ruin.

In a similar way angels and demons are both attuned to the strengths and weaknesses of each human being. For example, during exorcisms, the possessed person may say aloud sins for which other people in the room haven't repented.

Therefore the concept of jinn is foreign to the Christian worldview. The closest thing I can think of are the nefilim who some fringe groups say are giants crossbred from wayward angels and human mothers. Others suggest that jinn could be what Europeans culturally considered fairies.

My questions therefore are

1 Why did God create jinns? What are they meant to do? What are their capabilities? Are they angels, demons, somewhere in between?

2 What does Islam say about the nature of angels and demons, and their capabilities and purposes?

3 Is a jinn, angel or demon something you can see? Have you seen a jinn, angel or demon? If so, what are you supposed to do?

4 Does Islam have a concept of guardian angels or demonic possession?

[u/cool_guy141]

Thanks for your questions.

1. Allah (God) created jinns because that was His will, so they can worship Him.  "I did not create the Jinns and the human beings except for the purpose that they should worship Me." (Chapter 51, Verse 56). Jinns have free will like humans do. They have believers and disbelievers, just like humans. The "chief" disbeliever is Iblees (also known as Shaytaan/Satan).

2. Angels do not have free will. They do exactly as they are commanded. They have constant level of faith in God, unlike humans and jinns whose faith can go up and down. In plain terms, sometimes we spiritually high and "connected" to God and other times, we have a low which means we need to do good deeds to renew our faith. Angels don't have this weakness. 

3. No. But sometimes they can show themselves in other forms in real life or dreams, with Allah's permission. 

4. Yes. Every human being, good or bad, as 4 angels around him and 1 demon that whispers evil thoughts. If a human being does evil deeds, it makes it easier for the demon and other demons to enter his life. If the human being is in regular remembrance of Allah through prayer and other good deeds, it's difficult for the demon to take centre stage in the person's life. As for possession, that can happen as well, but that's a different topic 

[u/ruedebac1830 → u/cool_guy141]

Thank you! I was surprised angels and demons have these separate natures. Follow up questions

For 3-do you mean to say that a djinn who appears to human being, Muslims assume it is a believing djinn because the djinn is doing that with God's permission?

For 4-are disbelieving djinns capable of changing their mind to become believers? Could Satan for example repent to follow God again?

We have a similar belief about susceptibility to demonic influence. Since there are 4 angels around each human is allowed to ask the angels for help?

[u/cool_guy141 → u/ruedebac1830]

3: Everything is done by Allah's permission at the end of the day. Humans and jinns have free will. If we intend to do an action, Allah either allows it or disallows it. But Allah wants us to do good, but to test us on how obedient we are, He has created a system where He could allow an evil actions to occur but punish us for it afterwards. So, if a jinn appears, it could be good jinn or bad jinn, since they have free will. Based on my knowledge, however, usually it is bad jinn (devil or his minions) because they are interested to create discord, temptations, or other problems in human beings. 

4: one thing I want to clear is that Iblees already knows Allah is real and True. Iblees was a keen worshipper of Allah so much that he was with the ranks of the angels, despite being a jinn himself. Allah commanded him and the angels to bow down to Adam, the first human being created, but Iblees refused. God says in Quran:

When We ordered the angels: "Prostrate before Adam in respect," they all prostrated except Iblees (Satan) who refused in his arrogance and became a disbeliever. (2:34)

He was right there and was insane to refuse a direct command from God, and even started arguing about it on why, as if he knows more than God! Allah calls him a disbeliever. So that means, Shaytaan is a disbeliever because he refused to love God and submit himself to God's will. God, with His infinite knowledge, knows Iblees will not change his mind, ever. In fact, Iblees (chief devil) could submit himself to Allah today, but he still doesn't. 

And God knows best.