Types of Jinn as Illustrations

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Jinn (Genies) are one of the most known creatures in the Arabian mythology. In Islam, Jinn are living creatures whom Muslims believe in their existence. In the Quran, they were described as creatures who have free well and are made of smoked fire. Jinn are shape shifters and they can take humans' form. Some Jinn worship God while others disobey him. The disobeying ones were described as ( Shaytan ), meaning Demon or Devil.

     1. Research on types of Jinn 


During outlining and creating my story, I started to search for types of Jinn that I could add in my story. There are different types of Jinn which were mentioned in Islamic mythology (Quran) and Arabian mythology (Other sources). While doing some research, I came across many types of Jinn that I could include in my story such as:

(In the Quran)

  •   Iblis (known as Satan in Christianity) . He was the only Jinni who was mentioned by his name in the Quran. Iblis disobeyed God when he ordered him to prostrate before Adam. His appearance wasn’t described, only his attitude. He was a wicked being, and then got cursed since he disobeyed God . Iblis lived his life to seduce humans to commit sins.  
  •   Marid- In folk stories and literature, Marid was described as one of the most powerful creatures among the Jinn . Also, it was connected with the nature element “water”. ( Sheposh,2018). It was also mentioned in 1001 Nights as a giant Jinni who grants three wishes. (Geller , 2018). However, in Quran, Marid is an adjective pronoun that is used to describe a rebellious Jinni.
  •   Iffrit— They are types of jinn who lived in organized societies. Most of them were troublemakers, but not necessarily evil. (Sheposh , 2018). ) In Quran,  Ifrit was mentioned once as a very powerful Jinni with supernatural strength. He was one of Prophet Suleiman’s servants as well. (Quran, Chapter27: A Naml, verses: 39)
(Jinn who weren’t mentioned in the Quran)

  • Ghoul— There are other resources which indicate that Ghouls are types of Jinn (Evil) .They were known during pre-Islamic era specifically in the Arabian peninsula. They dig graves and eat corpses. (Al-Rawi, 2009)
  • Sila—These jinn were females who take the form of beautiful women to seduce men.(Geller ,2018)
  •  Nasnas is a jinn with half a body. It resembles humans, but it also takes forms of animals to lure them, kill them and eat them. They could be considered as Ghouls as well.  

There are many other types of Jinn , but in this blog I only included the ones that I want to illustrate and add to my project.




    2. Illustrations 

Jinn/Demons usually were featured as creatures with horns on their heads, tails , sometimes no legs and they were always surrounded by fire. Also, they were drawn with ugly features and unpleasant looks as shown in (Figure 1) and (Figure 2).





(Fig.2: Devil) Codex Gigas, 13th century 

(Fig.1: Iblis the King of demons) Book of Wonders




















3.  My Illustrations

My art style will resemble the anime style (Japanese modern art). (Figure.3 ) and (Figure.4) shows my illustrations of the previous types of Jinn which I considered adding in my story.




(Fig.3) (Left is Sila), (Right is Nasnas) Salma , 2019


(Fig . 4) (Left is Ifrit) (Right is Marid) Salma, 2019






















References:
1. Al-Rawi, A. K. (2009). The Arabic Ghoul and its Western Transformation. Folklore, 120(3), 291–306. https://doi.org/10.1080/00155870903219730
2.Sheposh, R. (2018). Jinn (genie). Salem Press Encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ers&AN=87995911&site=eds-live




Update: 16th of July


Other types of Jinn were in the Book of Wonders (Kitab Al Bulhan) and they were categorized as kings. Some of them were Iblis’s followers, others were independent. The Book of Wonders was considered as one of the most dangerous books among Arabs along with many others because it contained hieroglyph witchcraft which was used to summon Jinn (Though it could have been just a simple book with information about Jinn). The book was written with old and difficult Arabian texts, but I found information about those kings in Arabic resources (Al Faqeh, 2017) and English ones as well. The English resources were from (JinnWikia) . Both English and Arabic resources are quite similar.



I. Original Illustrations

(Fig.5) shows illustrations of four of the seven Jinn kings.The illustrations of Burqan and Al Ahmar are from the Book of Wonders by Abd Al Hasan Al Isfhani " while Al Muthahib and Al Abyad are from unknown resources.

(Figure.5: The four Jinn Kings)


  •     My illustration
(Fig.6) shows my own illustration of the four kings.
Burqan is originally a male , but I drew it as a female character in order to have a variety of genders.

(Figure.6: Illustration & Information about the four kings). Salma , 2019



II. Original Illustration

The rest of the Jinn kings.
(Figure.7: The three Jinn Kings). Book of Wonder, 14th century

  • My illustration
    (Figure.8: Illustration of the three Jinn Kings). Salma , 2019

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