Question:
Please can you answer for the following question?
I have heard the below statement in the khutbah of Imam just before juma prayer at the Mosque, “Before Allah swt created Adam as He swt created jinns and they were living and doing too much violence”
Iblis became cursed only after creation of Adam (as), then who was cheating those Jinns or made them to do sins and violence? Iblis was Azazil before creation of Adam (as).
Answer:
`Alaykum as-Salam,
The question assumes that Iblis is wholly responsible for “making others do sins and violence” but this is not the case. Human beings and jinns were given free will and the ability to distinguish right from wrong and choose freely, they are both responsible independently, and they cannot blame Iblis for making them do anything against their own will.
The original jinn were created from the fire of samum: “And the jinn did We create aforetime from the fire of Samum” (15:27) which Ibn Mas`ud defined as “one of seventy parts of the fire of Jahannam” (Tafsirs of al-Tabari and Ibn Abi Hatim, al-Tabarani, al-Hakim, al-Bayhaqi in Shu`ab al-Iman).
They were created after the angels and before Adam by 2,000 years during which they populated the earth, committed kufr and shed blood, and this is the meaning of the angels statement “will You place therein those who will do harm therein and shed blood?” (2:30), meaning: as the jinn had done before; as narrated from Ibn `Abbas by al-Hakim.
They could commit kufr independently from Iblis because:
(i) They were created with free choice and the ability to obey and
disobey: “And among us there are righteous folk and among us there are
far from that” (72:11), “And there are among us some who have
surrendered (to Allah) and there are among us some who are unjust”
(72:14); and
(ii) although they did not have any Prophet sent to them before the Seal
of Prophets (upon him blessings and peace) according to Ibn `Abbas,
Mujahid, al-Kalbi, Abu `Ubayd and the massive majority of the scholars
(with the sole exception of al-Dahhak), nevertheless they had “warners”
and “threateners”: “And when We inclined toward thee (Muhammad) certain
of the Jinn, who wished to hear the Quran and, when they were in its
presence, said: Give ear! and, when it was finished, turned back to
their people, warning” (46:29) because, as al-Baydawi said in his Tafsir
under “Ya ma`shar al-jinni wal-ins” in Surat al-Rahman, “instilling
fear, threats, and fighting belongs to their nature.” Al-Razi said in
his Tafsir under the same verse: “There is complete agreement that the
jinn are legally responsible (mukallafun).” That is the meaning of the
“rusul” and “da`iya Allah” in relation to the jinn in the verses:
“O ye assembly of the jinn and, humankind! Came there not unto you messengers
(rusul) of your own who recounted unto you My tokens and warned you of
the meeting of this your Day?” (6:130);
and:
“O our people! respond to Allah’s summoner (da`iya Allah) and believe in Him” (46:31).
And Allah knows best. O Allah! Grant us beneficial knowledge andaccepted deeds, and seal our lives with goodness.
Hajj Gibril Haddad
