6. Where did the jinn come from?

Christians believe that evil jinn or evil spirits come from the one third of the angels in heaven that rebelled with their leader Lucifer against God, and were cast out of heaven for their rebellion. The main text in the Bible supporting this belief is found in Ezekiel chapter 28 verses 12-19. This passage describes the magnificent beauty of Lucifer as the archangel who conducted the choirs of heaven in splendid worship of God. That beauty deceived Lucifer into thinking that he was greater than God and enticed one third of the angels of heaven to worship Lucifer himself, rather than God. Lucifer’s sin is pride. Pride is the driving force that consumes all of Lucifer’s actions. God severely judged Lucifer for this blasphemy by casting him and his deceived angels out of heaven. They have been in rebellion to God and his plans for humankind ever since that time. Lucifer manifested himself in the form of a serpent in the Garden of Eden and deceived Adam and Eve into disobeying God and eating the one and only forbidden fruit in the whole beautiful Garden.

One of the ways the jinn or evil spirits try to divert human beings away from worshipping God, is to create false religions that worship other beings, idols, self or other created things. In some cases they deceive people into believing in atheism, the belief that there is no god. The fruit of the work of evil spirits in the hearts of mankind is described by the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 1 verses 18-25: ‘The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. For, although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God, nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.’

The Qur’an contains a whole surah called Al Jinn (The Spirits). There are apparently righteous jinn and fallen jinn – refer to Surah 72 Al Jinn ayah 11. Fallen jinn have told lies about Allâh, Surah 72 Al Jinn ayah 4. There are those who submit their wills to Allâh and they have sought the path of justice and right conduct – Surah 72 Al Jinn ayah 14. There are also ‘those who have swerved from this path who are fuel for Hell fire’ – Surah 72 Al Jinn ayah 15. The Qur’an does not tell us where jinn came from but most Muslims believe that Iblis (Satan) is the father of jinn.