Creation

When we are thinking about Creation,

all that we can imagine of all that might be,

all that is,

all that ever was,

and all that ever will be,

whatever, whenever, wherever,

it has to be admitted that at the very least

we are dealing with a very big subject.

So it seems a shame when people lock themselves

in a prison of scientific materialism,

or cage their rationality in numerical logic.

In our hearts we know there is more to life than numbers.

Because in the end,

no matter how vast our imagination,

it all comes down to us.

It is what we see

and we hear

and we measure,

what we imagine.

We are what gives it meaning.

And of course we see creation in different ways,

sort it into groups,

like animal vegetable and mineral,

or having life or not,

or having intelligence,

or awareness.

But definitions of life have proved to be

extremely slippery to try and pin down.

So we know that God is the Ever-Living,

God is what Life is,

but then we know that there are

other types of life apart from humankind,

those of a similar physical composition,

such as the animals,

and those of a different substance,

such as Angels said to be made of light,

and the Jinn, made of a smokeless fire,

and our lives can somehow overlap with both of these,

Human history is replete with

a recognition of intelligent creatures of a different kind,

living alongside them and occasionally interacting.

All cultures speak of them

and they have been given many different names.

They are seen in different forms,

but can be hard to find when you are looking for them,

and they can be kind and helpful,

or mischievous or cruel,

the sort of things once associated with fairy folk,

and now more associated with alien encounters.

The Qur'an is quite specific

as to the existence of Jinn.

They were created before humankind,

as a different kind of being,

not made of clay like a potter's,

but from a smokeless fire, (55.14/15)

not of moulded mud but of fiery wind. (15.26/27)

But like humans they have hearts, eyes and ears,

and some kind of shared understanding, (7.179)

and like humans they have a lifespan (46.18)

after which they receive what their lives deserve (6.130).

But although made of different substance, the two kinds of being can interact.

Jinn can have enough apparent solidity for touch (55.56/74)

can have friends amongst humankind (6.128)

together with whom they can help each other on different projects (17.88)

and even work together to the extent of passing through

the limits of heaven and hell (55.33)

Humans can serve jinn, as the angels will testify (34.41)

sometimes thinking of the jinn as intermediaries,

or that the jinn have a family relationship with God (37.158)

But the jinn have also been made to serve,

as when they lined up in Solomon's army,

alongside humans and birds (27.17)

and served on Solomon's council of advisors (27.38)

Like humans, jinn can be satans,

enemies of humankind and each other (6.112)

and leading each other astray (41.25)

Along with humans, they can form different sects (72.11)

and like humans they will be judged and can be punished (11.119)

They could hear and understand the Messenger's Reading (46.29)

in which God makes clear

how both jinn and humankind were created to serve Hu,

not using the grandiose plural of the royal We,

but the intimate and personal singular

both were created 'to serve Me' (51.56)

The importance of the jinn

as part of the creation that we experience

is given even more weight by a Sura being named after them.

The Jinn begins in the first person,

a jinn speaking of 'us',

in thought patterns and understandings that we recognise in ourselves.

So some are good and some are bad,

some believe and some do not,

some surrender and some do not,

and some are fools who talk nonsense (72.1-14)

just like humans.

But all of the Qur'an's guidance is clearly meant for the jinn

as well as humankind,

from the rhythmic dual address of Sura 55,

to the very last words of the Reading,

when after seeking protection

through the variety of ways that God relates to humankind,

the closing phrase links jinn and humankind together

in their need for protection from the inner whisper of temptation (114.6).