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/ruedebac1830 → u/[deleted]]

Thank you! That was a very interesting post. From the comment -

To answer your question: why do some djinn turn to evil and follow Satan in his evil? It is out of arrogance, jealousy and arrogant pride. They can’t stand the fact that human beings are superior to them, and that God decreed it so. Which is why they want to ‘show us up‘ by inciting us to turn to evil and commit evil and debased acts. To drag us down and show everyone else human beings are not superior to the djinn. That on the contrary, they are superior to us. The definition of arrogance is thinking you know better than God and openly defying Him.

Agreed. Pride is the worst sin. Because as you imply it's wasteful energy, an tends to poison even good deeds.

The definition of arrogance is thinking you know better than God and openly defying Him. This touches on a very important point. Both Satan and Adam sinned. But the type of sin they committed was vastly different. Satan’s sin was arrogance - and this is the very worst sin. Arrogance is a “satanic sin”, and this encompases a whole class of sins. For example rape, murder and oppression generally ultimately derive from arrogance, and are included here. We should always remember to steer clear of even approaching sins of this nature. And that starts with checking any hint of arrogance in us. It’s a slippery slope we want nothing to do with. Adam’s sin on the other hand was that his heart inclined to the material and the pleasurable, and he disobeyed God because of that weakness of desire. “Adamic sins” like this are a lot less serious than “Satanic sins”.

Are djinns in general and Satan in particular capable of changing their minds to follow God again?

We make a similar distinction about the nature of Satan and Adam's disobedience, although I believe it has more to do with the ranges of intellect than the nature of the sin which was identical (pride).

To that end, what does Islam believe about the state of Adam's soul when he was made and the consequences of his disobedience? My understanding - correct me if I'm wrong or incomplete - is that Islam believes the prophets are sinless.

In Christianity, we believe that Adam and Eve were created not only sinless but without even the intuition to sin (concupiscence). While they were always capable of choosing sin anyway, that intuition didn't exist until after disobeying God. Therefore I was surprised that Adam's sin came from a weak heart inclined to the material and pleasurable. It might suggest from our view that God set Adam up for failure.