Ifrit

The Jinn Demons of

Fire and Hell

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Ifrit

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ifrit 

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Ifrit, also spelled as efreet, afrit, and afreet (Arabic: ʿifrīt: عفريت, plural ʿafārīt: عفاريت), is a powerful type of demon in Islamic culture. The afarit are often associated with the underworld and identified with the spirits of the dead, and have been compared to evil geniī loci in European culture. In Quran, hadith, and Mi'raj narrations the term is always followed by the phrase among the jinn. In later folklore, they developed into independent entities, identified as powerful demons or spirits of the dead who sometimes inhabit desolate places such as ruins and temples. Their true habitat is the underworld.

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The word ifrit derives from the Quran, but only as an epithet and not to designate a specific type of demon. The term itself is not found in pre-Islamic Arabic poetry, although variants such as ifriya and ifr are recorded prior to the Quran. Traditionally, Arab philologists trace the derivation of the word to عفر (ʻafara, "to rub with dust" or "to roll into dust"). It is further used to describe sly, malicious, wicked and cunning characteristics.

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n folklore, the term developed into a designation of a specific class of demon, though most Islamic scholarly traditions regard the term as an adjective. These popular beliefs were elaborated in works such as in al-Ibshihi's Mustatraf. They became identified either as a dangerous kind of demon (shayatin) preying on women, or as spirits of the dead.

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Islamic scriptures

In Islamic scriptures the term ifrit is always followed by the expression of the jinn. Due to the ambiguous meaning of the term jinn, which is applied to a wide range of different spirits, their relation towards the genus of jinn remains vague. However, within the Islamic scriptures themselves, the term is apparently used as an epithet to describe a powerful or malicious spirit of undefined nature.

Read More Jinn Demigods and Demons Types of Jinn click

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In the Quran itself, such an ifrit is mentioned in (Q27:38–40). The ifrit offers to carry the throne of Bilqis (the Queen of Sheba) to Solomon:

"An ifrit from the jinn said: 'I will bring it to you before you rise from your place. And verily, I am indeed strong, and trustworthy for such work."

However, the duty is not given to him, but to somebody who is endowed with knowledge of the scripture.

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An "ifrit among the jinn" is mentioned in a hadith of Muhammad al-Bukhari, attempting to interrupt the prayers of the prophet Muhammed and in a narrative of Muhammad's night journey recorded in the 8th century by Malik ibn Anas. In the latter account, the "ifrit among the jinn" threatens Muhammad with a fiery presence, whereupon the archangel Gabriel taught Muhammad a Du'a (Islamic prayer) to defeat it. Muslim texts explain, God sent the ifrit on purpose in order that Gabriel might teach Muhammad and his ummah (Muslim community) to overcome their fear of demons at night.

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Islamic folklore

In Islamic folklore, the afarit became a class of chthonic spirits, inhabiting the layers of the seven earths, generally ruthless and wicked, formed out of smoke and fire. Nizami Ganjavi describes the ifrit tormenting Mahan, as created from "God's wrath", thus underpinning the ifrit's role secondary to God's will.

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But despite their negative depictions and affiliation to the nether regions, afarit are not fundamentally evil on a moral plane; they might even carry out God's purpose. Such obligations can nevertheless be ruthless, such as obligation to blood vengeance and avenging murder. Further, an ifrit can be compelled by a sorcerer, if summoned.

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Egypt

Although afarit are not necessarily components of a person, but independent entities, a common belief in Islamic Egypt associates afarit with part of a human's soul. Probably influenced by the Ancient Egypt idea of Ka, the afarit are often identified with the spirits of the dead, departing from the body at the moment of death.

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They live in cemeteries, wander around places the dead person frequently visited, or roam the earth close to the place of death, until the Day of Judgment. A person who died a natural death does not have a malevolent ifrit. Only people who are killed give rise to a dangerous and active ifrit, drawn to the blood of the victim. Driving an unused nail into the blood is supposed to stop their formation. Such afarit might scare and even kill the living or take revenge on the murderer. Martyrs, saints and prophets do not have a ghost, and therefore no ifrit.

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Morocco

In Moroccan belief, the afarit form a more powerful type of demon, compared to the jinn and other supernatural creatures. They have more substantial existence, and are greater in scale and capacity than other demons. Their physical appearance is often portrayed as having monstrous deformities, such as claw-like or thorny hands, flaming eyes or seven heads.

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Just as with jinn, an ifrit might possess an individual. Such persons gain some abilities from the ifrit, such as getting stronger and more brave, but the ifrit renders them insane. With the aid of a magical ring, the afarit might be forced to perform certain orders, such as carrying heavy stones.

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Shabakism

A story circulates among the Shabak community in Northern Iraq about a certain ifrit who incensed Ali by his evil nature long before the creation of Adam. Consequently, for the ifrit's wickedness, Ali chained the ifrit and left him alone. When the prophets arrived, he appeared to all of them and begged them for his release, but no prophet was able to break the chains of the ifrit. When Muhammad found the ifrit, he brought him to Ali. Ali was merciful to the ifrit, and decided to release him under the condition that he surrender to the will of God.

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Across the Islamic World, the Ifrit Brings Miseries Both Large and Small

To believe in them and other djinns is to acknowledge there is a world beyond our own.

Source: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/monster-mythology-ifrit 

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IMAGINE A WORLD THAT EXISTS parallel to our own, unseeable to the human eye and full of spirits with their own society, their own tribes and classes, their own laws and schools. Like in our world, some of them are good and some are evil. Like us, they feel passion and pain and joy and suffering.

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Now imagine that these creatures had the power to enter our realm, to walk among us, and even change the course of our fate. What if they weren’t always eager to change that course for good? What if they had the power to influence prophets, leaders, kings, and queens, by seducing some, favoring others, and sabotaging us in ways large and small?

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The universe, according to the Quran, is divided into two inseparable worlds: the visible and the unseeable, or Al-Ghaib. The latter encompasses both paradise and hell, populated by angels, ghosts, and supernatural creatures of all sorts called djinn—among them the ifrit.

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While Allah created the angels to be free of sin, restricted by His commandments, he forged the djinn from fire and gave them free will to act according to their own codes of morality and civility. And according to scripture, the ifrit, more than any other djinn, ran with that freedom into wicked pastures.

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Descriptions of the ifrit vary throughout the Hadith (non-Quranic teachings attributed to Muhammad). Sometimes cunning, occasionally seductive, the creatures are even sporadically helpful, but almost always with more nefarious intent. Popular folklore portrays ifrit as enormous, winged smoke creatures that lurk in ruined and desolate environments—cemeteries, abandoned temples, even garbage dumps. Over time, belief in the ifrit has become diffuse, and varies by sect, country, and class.

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But every story shares a sense that ifrit are harbingers of death and destruction. In Morocco, they are believed to be the spirits of murdered innocent. In Egypt, ifrits can possess limbs, leading to disease or decay, or take over an entire host and grant a person supernatural strength and bravery—until they inevitably go mad.

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The ifrit appears only once in the Quran itself. In the passage, the spirit offers to carry the throne of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon. Sensing the ifrit’s wicked nature, Solomon instead delegates the task to somebody “endowed with knowledge of the scripture,” the Quranic equivalent of a diplomatic smackdown.

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In another early passage from the Hadith, the ifrit attempts to sabotage the prophet Muhammad during his miraculous Night Journey pilgrimage, on the back of a winged horse-like creature, to the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. Before Mohammed can reach the holy site to unite the world’s prophets in prayer, an ifrit threatens him with smoke and fire—only to be thwarted by the archangel Gabriel, who teaches Muhammad a prayer to banish the evil spirit.

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Around the 13th century, magicians began devising other ways to manipulate and ward off ifrit. Talismans became the most popular method, with blood sacrifices as a close second, particularly in Syria and Morocco. According to Liana Saif, post-doc at the Institute for Advanced Study in London, these practices corresponded with a rise in esoteric thinking, led in large part by Sufism, a form of Islamic mysticism.

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Around that time, the language around the occult sciences evolved and, because of its connection to Sufism, became Islamized. “There was a shift away from astral influences towards celestial magic,” says Saif. “Spirits became djinn, celestial souls became angels. Practicing magic went from, ‘I’m using the occult properties of natural things’ to ‘I’m invoking a djinn to do my bidding.’”

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This invocation of the ifrit (or other djinn), however, was viewed as a form of black magic or, as Saif puts it, “a breach of the interdimensional social contract.” Accepting that djinn exist in a parallel dimension is an extension of faith, but trying to meddle in the unseeable realm is considered sacrilege.

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Saif notes that “the people who can sometimes see the unseen are those who don’t actively seek it. They are considered to be prophets and saints, and for them it becomes a token of God’s acceptance of their faith and asceticism. Others who do it for power? That is completely forbidden in many schools.”

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Today, belief in the ifrit goes hand-in-hand with broader Muslim notions of faith; an acknowledgement of Al-Ghaib, and the creatures who dwell there, is a recognition that there are things beyond our sight, a spiritual realm. It is an extension of a belief in Allah.

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“The lore of the djinn has great importance for understanding how to relate to one another, to nature, to one’s surroundings, to disease,” Saif says. “I wouldn’t categorize it as superstitious. Belief in djinn gives agency over disease, and spirituality becomes a way that [people] relate to their minds and their bodies, and I think that’s valid.”

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For Muslim believers, Al-Ghaib gives the entire universe a dynamic structure, and allows readiness and acceptance of anything that might occur—whether peculiar, fantastical, or mundane. This means accepting that an ifrit can possess, steal, meddle, and murder. But it also means living side by side with an entire realm filled with possibility, miracles, and hope.

Read More Zaqqum Tree of Hell click