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Salomon

SOLOMON AND THE JINN

 Islamic Legends. Islam, the religion of the Moslems, is essentially based on tradition, and is very rich in legends. Although the founder Mohammed lived in the 6th century A.D. many of these stories may have originated much earlier, and they certainly refer to events of preceding epochs. Most in fact, apart from those relating to the prophet himself, deal with matters mentioned in the Old Testament, a few concern Christ and Mary his mother, although in a way rather different from the New Testament. Some legends are recorded in the sacred book of the Mohammedan religion, the Koran, but in addition to this all schools of the Moslems receive a considerable amount of traditional material not so recorded.

In the Western World the chief source of information on this subject, apart from the Koran (which has been translated from the Arabic into most European languages) are the fantastic tales collec­ted together under the name of the Thousand and One Nights which were first brought to the notice of the Western World when, in 1704 to 1712 A. Galland published a French translation. Later they were translated into English by several authors, the best known versions being those of E. W. Lane and Sir Richard Burton. This cycle of stories is highly esteemed in the West, but apparently less so among the Arabs themselves. There has been much argument about the source of these tales. Burton dates the earliest from the 8th century AD, and the latest as late as the x6th century. He is inclined to believe that they come from the Persian. Some think they may even be derived from India. But they are Arabian in every detail. As they are full of magical lore, and even give accounts of magical procedures, we must refer to them, if we are to be complete, although it is impossible to ascribe any real historical period to the stories. Many of the tales are enacted in the reign of the Caliph Harun al Rashid (763—809) who figures in a number of them, but others are set, as Burton says “In times of yore and in ages long gone before” . . 

The Islamic Cosmos. Various symbolic ideas were entertained as to the position of the earth in the universe. The Moslems in this matter excel in fantasy their Hindu and Buddhist brethren. There are seven heavens, variously described, and said to be composed of different precious stones and metals. There are seven hells, which seem to include purgatory, a place of probation for those awaiting admission to heaven, and according to some the earth itself is one of the seven. The earth is surrounded by a great sea, beyond which is the circular Mount Qaf. It rests on the sacred stone Sakrat, the reflected light from which is said to cause the blue colour of the sky; a single grain of this stone is alleged to give magical powers to its possessor. The whole is said to be supported on the shoulders of a giant angel (cf. Atlas in classical mythology). This angel stands on a rock of ruby, which is supported by a huge bull, Kujata, with many eyes and feet, and the bull stands on the enormous fish Bahamut that apparently swims in chaos.

On this earth there are several classes of beings, besides humanity. The most frequently mentioned, in Islamic mythology, are the jinn or djinn whose bodies are made of smokeless fire as contrasted with angels whose bodies are composed of light. Burton equates the jinn with the salamanders or fire-spirits of Western fairy-lore. The jinn (sing. jinni) are of various ranks and orders. To the lowest rank belong the jann who are the least powerful. Most of these have been demoted from the next rank, just as apes and swine are often men transformed by magic. The second class is called jinn., the term here being used in its restricted sense. The third class com­prises shaitans. The fourth and powerful class are called if rits. The fifth and most powerful class are the marids. The jinn were created two thousand years before Adam; they reproduce their kind and die, but their lives are on the whole much longer than those of human beings. Many, however, are killed by shooting stars. Numerous jinn of all kinds live in the mountainous country of the Qaf, but some have taken up their abode amongst men. They haunt wild places on the seashore and the banks of rivers, or live among ruins, old wells, latrines and ovens. The Arabs, when they visit such places, may ask permission of the jinn, so as not to offend them. There are good and evil jinn, and they are of various religions and sects, as are mankind. The good female jinn are usually called pens, a word derived from the Persian, and originally a term in the Zoroastrian religion. The whole of the jinn were originally ruled over by a series of monarchs called Sulaiman or Solomon. The last of these has been identified with the Solomon of the Old Testament. The creatures called ghouls have been included with the jinn. They haunt graveyards and prey upon corpses. They are usually female, and it is alleged they waylay travelers, and try to prostitute them­selves to men. Other jinn also sometimes violate human beings (as what we will afterwards mention, as incubi and succubi in Western folk-lore). It is even pretended that mixed offspring may be pro­duced, between a jinni and a human being.

The jinn have certain powers which mankind do not possess. They fly rapidly from place to place. They can easily make them­selves invisible, and can also appear in different shapes of animals plants, clouds and vapor. On the other hand they can be controlled by human beings who know how to, and none had greater control over them than Solomon, to whom they were totally subjected. Individual jinn or groups are often bound to servitude by the possessor of a ring. Solomon had a most powerful ring of this kind, which he entrusted, whilst he washed, to his favorite concubine Amina. One day Sakhar, a devil or jinni, assumed the form of Solomon, and got possession of the ring. Solomon was dethroned, and Sakhar reigned in his stead. But after forty days Sakhar flew away and threw the ring into the sea. It was swallowed by a fish, but the fish was caught and served up to Solomon, who thus recovered the ring. Another well-known instance is that of Aladdin and his wonderful lamp. A ring with somewhat similar properties, albeit not so powerful, figures in the same story. Other instances of the control of the jinn by means of a ring occur in the Thousand and One Nights.

Besides the jinn, which play such an important part in Islamic mythology, there are beings much resembling human beings, in­habiting the realms under the sea. In the story entitled the City of Brass in the Nights not only are captive jinn brought to the Caliph, but also daughters of the deep are transported to his court, and placed in cisterns full of water. We are told that they died from the great heat. In the story about Julnar, the sea-born, we are given further particulars of the underwater realm, and of the mermen and mermaids that inhabit it.

Besides the creatures of fire and the inhabitants of water there were also spirits of air and earth. The former are often confused with birds. Solomon had dominion over men, jinn, winds, birds, beasts and reptiles. He was said to know the language of birds. This we are told by R. Guenon was symbolic, and refers to a prerogative of high initiation. The language of birds was the angelic language, and is represented in the human kingdom by rhythmic language, in which the sacred books of the world were originally written. This is the origin of poetry which, at one time sacred, like the rest of the arts, only gradually became profane.

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