Existence of the ghost or spiritual world always spurred great interest among people. How i t came to be and what kind of creatures inhabit it is somewhat explained in the holly books, however, more information is provided through folk tales in which numerous experiences by talented individuals have been accumulated, heightened sensibility by such individuals and their occult knowledge opened the doors of gaib for them – the invisible world and enabled communication and insight of ethereal forms which dwell in that second reality.
According to the mythological traditions of the Middle East during the time that almighty Allah created the first people he didn’t divide the world into material and spiritual, however, since people were deathly horrified when meeting Jinn beings, especially their children, the wise Allah decided to separate humans and Jinn by placing an invisible curtain between them, thus creating two worlds, or better to say two spheres, one of humans and the other of spirits. Since then humans and Jinn exist side by side without much issues, with one exception that they can see us clearly and we cannot see them.
In the world of gaib which literally is teeming with the numerous population of various spirits, Iblis is the king of all Jinn, and as such he causes great contradictions among theologians, especially regarding his origin. Certain scholars believe that in the beginning Iblis was an angel, others that he is the son of a Jinn which was taken into heaven to get an education, where he got the name Azazil. Egyptian philologists derivate the name Iblis from the root b-l-s which means “has nothing to expect”, since Iblis has nothing to expect from Allah’s mercy due to Iblis’ evil nature. We come across a belief that Iblis belongs to earth Jinn which is evidenced by his name Al-Hakam i.e. judge which he gained at the time when Allah sent him to judge his kind, when Iblis was a young Jinn only a thousand years old. In the second thousand years Iblis grew haughty and led a rebellion against god and his rule.
The most interesting thesis about Iblis relates to his sex i.e. suggests that he is a hermaphrodite which lives in a distant island in the middle of the sea where he lays three thousand eggs from which then come the Jinn. Iblis sends them to all parts of the world in order to spread and strengthen his dominion across earth.
Jinn as peopleSome pre-Islamic polytheists claimed that the name Jinn signifies souls of planets which is why, accidentally or not, in Arabic occultism we come across seven planets and seven Jinn kings which are arranged according to their influence.
In the hierarchy of creation of Jinn the lowest class are Ifrit or Afarit. Allegedly, according to legends Ifrits can be created from humans which die suddenly or violently since out of such shocking trauma for the human soul and Ifrit is born. After them come the Maridi, Jinn which lives underground, and so forth in the long list of these supernatural beings.
When it comes to the appearance of these ethereal creatures we need to mention that there are numerous species or tribes of Jinn, where each is different from the other. But, despite this we can enumerate their common characteristics. The largest Jinn has a body 17 meters tall and the smallest 17 centimeters. While dwelling in their world the Jinn have a sort of veil over them but when they appear in the material world then they’re dressed in yellow since it is an equivalent of fire. Their presence in the human dimension is given away by an unpleasant smell made out of a mixture of sulfur and tar. Another interesting detail which can help identify Jinn is that they have four fingers, they don’t have a thumb – unique symbol of a human. Other specific features are their eyes which resemble those of reptiles, especially snakes, but once they materialize in front of people then they get red eye with a burning glow.
Jinn speak all earthly languages, even the old and forgotten ones, similarly they have their own language which they can teach to individuals they come into contact with and form an alliance. Their world is a copy of the human world i.e. they have their states, cities, rulers, families, they love or hate each other, kill each other, perform war, give birth etc. They have various religions which existed in the world, there are atheists, even cannibals. They’re present across the galaxy and inhabit various planets. They live for a very long time, a couple of thousand years and are temperamental and difficult since they stem from a flame of molten lava which shaped our planet millions of years ago.
Shaytan workUnlike the Jinn, Shaytan in Bosnian tradition are described as small creatures green-yellow in color with a long tail. One eye is open while the other is closed, since he cannot see with that eye. Also, though they have two legs they’re actually lame. They literally drag the other leg. Because of these defects on the spiritual ladder their rank is the lowest, they’re cowards by nature, they can be chased away by a common curse. But, they shouldn’t be underestimated since they can be cunning. In Islamic tradition Shaytan is actually the one that leads people into sin and not the Jinn. Namely, when a Shaytan enters a human and possesses him, then the person will become pronouncedly prone to vices; gambling, infidelity, alcoholism, drugs, lying and treason. If a person is possessed by a Jinn the person then loses his mind, becomes a psychiatrist case, has hallucinations, has one part of the body paralyzed, suffers epilepsy or falls into delirium.
Since Shaytan are extremely frustrated due to their physical appearance and deformity, as well as the position he takes, he is obsessed daily with jealousy and hatred towards everything and everyone – this literally seeps from the healthy but spellbound eye. In our tradition it is claimed that Shaytan like to gather near springs and observe people, especially young girls and young men which come there to drink water, in order to spellbound them with their eye. Unlike the Jinn, Shaytan are extremely tied to humans and they like to be near them. We learn about this from the tales of our Bogomil forefathers which recounted that the Shaytan purposefully made holes in the earthen human body and in a wicked way managed to climb the resurrected human’s left shoulder and stay there forever, becoming a part of his nature and character.
In cunning, skillful deceits and limitless persistence lies the Shaytan’s strength and power. At the same time this demonstrates the thesis that we’re talking about a pretty intelligent being which knows studiously human nature and weaknesses. Besides the shoulder Shaytan have other favorite places in which they dwell and among them is the landmark or border over which people quarrel and hate each other about since the old days. Actually, wherever there is a fight or bad blood, folk wisdom will say, the Shaytan will dwell.
Also, in each house there is the same number of Shaytan as the number of household inhabitants, however the number of Shaytan can be increased using a tabooed activity, for example if you sharpen one knife against another knife. Therefore each time one sharpens a knife it should be passed through fire and the prayer Euzubilah should be uttered. In this way they’re chased away.
Prophecy about a female ShaytanIt is interesting to note that in Persian-Arabic magic there is no ritual of invoking the Shaytan but only the Jinn. We can conclude thus that they’re untamable and stubborn creatures whose primary mission from the day they were created, to create unrest and doubt into the hearts of humans and to cause them to behave badly. Shaytan are thus true enemies of religion and exemplary life. Because of the pronounced influence into human history and everyday life we shouldn’t wonder why people paid them more attention than the Jinn, which resulted in them becoming parts of numerous folklore tales and prophecies.
Old Bosnian grandfathers and grandmothers still today talk about the things they remembered from their forefathers’ traditions which spoke about our world being ruled over by a male Shaytan, which according to the old folk was better since he was a male. But, with the coming of the new millennium the ruler has changed and humans entered a catastrophic age.
-“When a female Shaytan rules of the earth – the old people would warn us – “hard times will arrive, our people (Bosnian) will scatter across the world, we will desire to see each other. While the female Shaytan rules over the world a great stone will fall from the sky and destroy Mecca and Medina. After that more people will attend a funeral in Bosnia than there will be living in Mecca and Medina. That will be the punishment from the lord for those that defiled and desecrated the purest religion with their greed and infidelity.
In the rest of the prophecy old people said the following: “Woman and animal will have more rights than any male, all values will disappear and other grotesque rules will be enforced in order to degrade the human kind to that primitive animal level…” As we can infer from the rest of the prophecy about the female Shaytan it is evident that a nuclear war will take place on earth which will lead to the complete destruction of our civilization but the human population will decrease drastically, those that survive will mutate due to the radiation and will give birth to small children with only one eye, which in itself resembles the Shaytan. Life will continue below the earth since on the surface no condition for living will remain.
