"Jinn" .. which is an arabic term, part of Islam. Which makes me wonder if this is the religion of the character in the book. The religion is quite unclear and there is mention of many within it. But I pull back from that thought because the muslims who come to take the waddan meat are not easily represented by the main character. So I'm not sure what to think, even though the character is more open to help them then the christians. But the christians are referred to as foreigners, so it might just be that the muslims are natives.
Nonetheless, the "ancestors" that the bedioun chooses to speak to, is an Islamic term:
(http://www.geocities.com/mutmainaa/belief/jinn.html)
"The Jinn are beings created with free will, living on earth in a world parallel to mankind. The Arabic word Jinn is from the verb 'Janna' which means to hide or conceal. Thus, they are physically invisible from man as their description suggests. This invisibility is one of the reasons why some people have denied their existence. However, (as will be seen) the affect which the world of the Jinn has upon our world, is enough to refute this modern denial of one of Allah's creation. The origins of the Jinn can be traced from the Qur'an and the Sunnah. Allah says:
"Indeed We created man from dried clay of black smooth mud. And We created the Jinn before that from the smokeless flame of fire"
[Surah Al-Hijr 15:26-27]
Thus the Jinn were created before man. As for their physical origin, then the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) has confirmed the above verse when he said: "The Angels were created from light and the Jinn from smokeless fire" [1]. It is this description of the Jinn which tells us so much about them. Because they were created from fire, their nature has generally been fiery and thus their relationship with man has been built upon this. Like humans, they too are required to worship Allah and follow Islam. Their purpose in life is exactly the same as ours, as Allah says:
"I did not create the Jinn and mankind except to worship Me"
[Surah Ad-Dhariyat, 51:56]"
Even though Jinns can be muslim or non-muslim, I feel there is a significance to the religion itself.
But Jinns are referred to as devils.
Does the bedioun worship the devil? or does it answer to it to keep the land that he protects happy?
In my research it says that Jinns can take on any form such as human, plant, animal, etc.
3 comments:
good picture. makes me want to read more about the jinni.
Nice Ashley, thanks for the new info on the Jinni. Now I don't have to research things!
I enjoyed the water you tube video. It was very informative and sad. It made me want to do a drive to raise money (in the future) for water spiquets in Africa.
Post a Comment