SURAH Al-A'raaf (7 - 11 to 12)Dear crankthskunk, we all agree that word jinn means various things even in the quran. In verses of the quran meaning of word jinn depends on context within the quran and what is self evident. All I am interested in is to not to interpret the quran in such a way that it makes absolutely no sense.
In context of iblees and adam argument, word jinn cannot mean anything other than human being. It is fight over who has the right to rule on the earth ie rich or poor, strong or weak, knowledgeable or ignorant, authorized by allah or his adversary. Satan=adversary of divine rule.
In verse wa ma khalaqtul jinna wal insa, it is possible to interpret it your way as well but it makes more sense to interpret my way because here allah is talking about creatures with free will otherwise Allah would have said all my creation is for worshiping me ie allah would not need to separate these two. The reason they are separated in my view is because masses are more likely to be followers of clever people who lead them. So regardless you are leader or follower, you have to serve Allah. It is same category to which iblees belongs. Iblees is a clever guy but with evil intention ie he was hiding his true intention as to how he was going to rule people as compared to what adam wated to do for people.
In my view story of adam is a fight between imperialism and khilaafah. The rest of prophetic stories are all following the same pattern.
As for creation of jins before adam it may well be about how each character came about right in front of each other ie good and bad. Adam was moulded into shape one way and iblees another way just like you take a piece of a clay and mould it into any shape you desire. One ended up a person of good conduct towards others whereas the other who tried to use and abuse others. It is story of chiefs and their tribes and how adam is appointed over them as an overall chief.
As for possession of jinns, if you know people some times say to each other tere demaagh main keera hai. So if one talks unexpectedly or annoyingly people make such remarks toward each other ie too paaghal hai. Tujhe jinn ne qaaboo kiya huwa hai.
Also viruses and germs are invisible and they do infect people as well so I see no problem with such statements in the quran.
Allah states different kinds of earth materials from which he created adam likewise he talks about jinns ie to to explain to us their different of characters. This is not actual creation but an evolutionary process both for physical and psychological development in their own natural environment ie nature and nurture.
As I already explained the approach of the quran is very scientific. There is permanent conflict between make beliefs and the evidence based realities. So long as we do not let go blind faith idea we will not be able to appreciate the quran properly. Because make beliefs hold us back from conquering frontiers where no man has gone before or even from getting know what learned people have to say on certain matters.
The question of some of the chiefs that will adam rule the same way as some other rulers who shed blood before is not by angels but by people. MALAAIKA are also people but these are people who carry out will of Allah in his kingdom.
Since the whole quran has been misinterpreted and has remained so it is difficult to see what the quran is actually saying. For this one has to pay attention to each and every word, sentence etc etc. till one gets some sensible understanding of it. It is because we need to rediscover the message of the quran from the quran. It took me several decades to realise this much. Like most people here I too come from peeri mureedi back ground. it depends on what we have learned over life time to have any views about things. It is a very hard work, I too have been all over the place till I found that the quran was not interpreted correctly.
I know where these people are coming from who think I am not talking sense. They will come to know better so long as they keep on learning things in their life. Our worry should be how to educate our fellow human beings about Allah and his creation so that we all could get on with what we ned to do to better this world in the hope of better hereafter.
regards and all the best.
وَلَقَدْ خَلَقْنَاكُمْ ثُمَّ صَوَّرْنَاكُمْ ثُمَّ قُلْنَا لِلْمَلَائِكَةِ اسْجُدُوا لِآدَمَ فَسَجَدُوا إِلَّا إِبْلِيسَ لَمْ يَكُن مِّنَ السَّاجِدِينَ ﴿١١﴾قَالَ مَا مَنَعَكَ أَلَّا تَسْجُدَ إِذْ أَمَرْتُكَ ۖ قَالَ أَنَا خَيْرٌ مِّنْهُ خَلَقْتَنِي مِن نَّارٍ وَخَلَقْتَهُ مِن طِينٍ ﴿١٢﴾
او رہم نے تمہیں پیدا کیا پھر تمہاری صورتیں بنائیں پھر فرشتوں کو حکم دیا کہ آدم کو سجدہ کرو پھر سوائے ابلیس کے سب نے سجدہ کیا وہ سجدہ کرنے والوں میں سے نہ تھا
فرمایاتجھے سجدہ کرنے سے کس چیز نے منع کیا ہے جب کہ میں نے تجھے حکم دیا کہا میں اس سے بہتر ہوں تو نے مجھے آگ سے بنایا اور اسے مٹی سے بنایا ہے
11 We created you, then We shaped you and then We said to the angels, Prostrate yourselves before Adam, and they all prostrated themselves, except Satan. He was not among those who prostrated themselves.
12 God asked, What prevented you from prostrating yourself when I commanded you to? He replied, I am better than he is; You created me from fire, while You created him from clay.