When the Jinns of the Valley Accepted Islam - Our Prophet 4 - Struggles In Mecca

Now something interesting happens, as the Prophet is going back from Ta'if. As the Prophet going back from Ta'if, he passes by a valley called the Valley of the Jinn. As he is passing by that valley, the Prophet stays in that valley, because it was a long way to Makkah. You know, you could not get to Makkah in one day, it took a few days to get to Makkah.

So, the Prophet is passing by that valley. He sleeps in that valley. In the morning, by dawn, the Prophet is now praying to Allah and he recites verses of the Qur'an. Now in that valley, there were jinn who inhabited that valley or they were passing by that valley. They hear someone reading something captivating. So, they come close to the Prophet, they are hearing the Qur'an. And it seems that they have a conversation with the Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa aalihi. So, they hear the Holy Qur'an. They are shocked at the beauty of this book. We have never heard anything like it. So, they go back to their people of the Jinn and they tell them what happened. We met this Messenger, he was reading the Qur'an and many of them believed in the Qur'an.

After this incident, Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala, reveals which Surah in the Qur'an? Suratul Jinn: "Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim. Qul uhiya ilayya annahu istama'a nafarun min al-jinn, fa qalu inna sama'ana qur'anan ajabaa" (72:1) -'Say it has been revealed to me that a group of the Jinn heard the Qur'an. And they say this is a wondrous Qur'an.'. "Yahdee ila ar-rushd" (72:2) - 'It guides to goodness. 'And so we believed in it and we shall never commit Shirk'. So, even the jinn would be pagans and they would be worshipping the idols once they heard the Qur'an, many of them believed in the Holy Qur'an.

So now what is the real story behind this incident? We have, you know, historical accounts. Some of them for example, narrated by Ibn 'Abbas. He states that when the Jinn heard this Qur'an, something happened in the heavens, in the skies. Before the advent of Islam and the Holy Qur'an, the Jinn would normally go to a place in the heavens, not in the paradise. When I say heavens, meaning in the higher skies, the angels usually hold meetings in that heaven, in that sky.

You know, Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala, has commissioned the angels to run the affairs of the universe, right? So, they discuss important things about this universe and about the future of the world. The Jinns, and they were spearheaded by Iblis. Iblis, the devil is a Jinni along with his aid, they would go and eavesdrop on the angels. The Qur'an mentions this. They would go and they would hear the conversations of the angels and they would take sensitive information from them about future worldly events.

So, now they had some knowledge of the future because they heard, they listened on the angels. They would come back down to the earth and there were evil people called 'Kahana'. 'Kahin' in Arabic. 'Kahin' in Arabic has two meanings: one of them is a reverend, a priest, the other meaning of a Kahin is a soothsayer. Soothsayers, you know, how did they have knowledge of the future? Because sometimes they did get it right, through the Jinn.

The Jinn would make contact with them, they would share with them some of that information. And then the soothsayers would go and say that to people. And that gave them a very important status. People are like, wow, these guys know the knowledge of the future. Interesting. And historically, soothsayers had a high position in society. Now they were false prophets. Sometimes they were even claimed to be prophets.

Even Roman emperors, they would consult them in matters of their government. When they wanted to make decisions, to anticipate the future, they would actually consult these soothsayers to see what happens. And sometimes they would get it right. By the way, speaking of the Roman emperors, you know, it has been documented in history that once a seer, one of those soothsayers told Julius Caesar, beware the ides of March. Which day is the ides of March? The middle, which is the 15th, which Subhan Allah was today. And today was also the birthday of another Sayyid. [Allahuma Salli 'ala Muhammad wa Aali Muhammad].

So, this soothsayer says, beware the ides of March. So, Caesar is kind of concerned, what is gonna happen today? So, he meets this soothsayer somewhere this seer, and apparently nothing had happened that day. He told him, look, what you said was nonsense, I am still alive and nothing has happened. He told him, Emperor, the day is not over yet. Minutes later, he was stabbed 23 times and he got killed. The ides of March.

So, there were soothsayers who would give some information like that. Sometimes, they would get it right, yes. Because the Jinn would basically steal that information from the angels and they would tell the people. This existed. Now, why did Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala, allow the angels, allow the Jinn to, why did not he block them? Why did he allow them to eavesdrop on the angels? To test the humans. See, the soothsayers were tools that Allah actually tested your belief, do you believe or no?

Because if you have a belief system and then a soothsayer who does not believe in any prophet, who is probably even worshipping an idol, he comes and he gives you some knowledge of the future. If you are not a firm believer, you are shaken, oh, maybe his religion is right. Maybe I should worship the idols. Because the soothsayers would say, worship idols, do this and you will get the knowledge that I have. See, they would misguide the people. And that was really a big challenge for humanity.

Now, the prophets of God through miracles, would clarify the path of God. But those whose hearts were weak, this was a big challenge for them. Now, what happens with the Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa alihi, when Allah sends the Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa alihi, suddenly the Jinn, as their eavesdropping on the angels, they see that they are being struck with meteors, as the Qur'an says, fireballs coming at them, removing them from that place (72:9).

So, the Jinn would say in Surat al-Jinn, if you read it, we used to sit and eavesdrop on the angels. And then suddenly we see the skies are safeguarded. "..Muli'at harasan shadeedan.." (72:8). And fireballs would be aimed at us. So, from that day, Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala, prevented the Jinn from eavesdropping on the angels and getting the knowledge of the future or sensitive information. Why? The Barakah [auspiciousness] of Rasul Allah, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa alihi. Because he is Rahmah [mercy] for the worlds, so this test stopped. Allah no longer tested humanity that way.

[Is that why we do not have Sears anymore?] we do not have Seers anymore, yes. Have you ever wondered why? What happened to them? Because remember, they would really tell the truth sometimes. Prophet Musa, 'alayhi as-salam, the Seers, what did they tell Fir'awn [Pharaoh]? A boy has been born who is going to end your kingdom. He got scared. He actually killed every male baby from Bani Isra'il. He would slash the stomachs of pregnant women to kill the baby, because he knew this is not a joke when a Seer is telling you and not one of them, all of them told him that.

Well, how did he get that information? From the Jinn, who would listen from the angels. The angels were talking about Prophet Musa, and they said, oh, Musa has been born and he is going to be the cause of the destruction of the Pharaoh. Well, the Jinn would tell the people, these Seers, and the seers would tell the emperors or the kings or the Pharaohs. Yes. This is about the Jinns, were they like programmed to do this sort of thing or is that like free will?

No, the Jinns are just like the human beings in terms of free will. They are tested by Allah. See, the Qur'an, if you read Surat ul-Jinn, it tells you. The Jinn are saying we are just like people, we have good Jinn, we have Jinn, there are believing Jinn, there are disbelieving Jinn. So, they are not programmed. It is out of their evil choice that they become Shayaatin. By the way, who is a Shaytaan? A bad Jinn! An evil Jinn, we call him Shaytan.

Yes, they have to pray, they have, we do not know now exactly how they pray, because they do not have a physical body that we do. But yes, they have obligations, they have to pray, they have to fast, they have to believe in the Qur'an, believe in the Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa alihi. So, they have similar obligations.

[So that means when Prophet Muhammad was talking to them, was it in Qur'an he was having a dialogue with them, was he able to see them?] So, the Ahadith [narrations] are not clear. One Hadith states he would not see them physically, he would just hear their voices. But it is possible for the Prophet to see them.

[So there are people that come out and who say we spoke to a jinn, saw them that is not true, right?] Right, the issue with the Jinn, while we cannot rule out contact with the Jinn, but it was highly minimized after the Prophet. So, before the Prophet there was a lot of contact between humans and Jinn, but after the advent of Islam, Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala, minimized their contact, or even sometimes completely blocked their contact.

So, it is possible for some people to be in touch with Jinns, but it is very unlikely. My analysis, as many people, the average person who claims to have heard a Jinn,see a Jinn, it is just their imagination, let us say. Sometimes where you are in a certain psychological state, you actually start hearing things and seeing things. Right? It is not necessarily to the point of hallucination, but it is a type of it. So, I would probably discredit many of these claims.

Nonetheless, it is possible. There have been some correct accounts of people, even in our modern era, who have had contact with the Jinn, but it is very rare and isolated. But before the Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa aalihi, it was very common.

[So are we still superior to the Jinn or at the same level?] So, the human being is potentially superior than the Jinn? Yes. The intellectual capacity Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala, has given to the human being, and it is fully embodied in the Ma'sumin [infallibles], of course, is higher than the capacity of the Jinn.

So, they are tested like we are tested, but because they do not have our physical desires and bodies, they are tested differently. So, their Salah, fasting would be a different form than our Salah and fasting. But, just like us, Allah has given them an intellect. They can choose right or wrong. Yes.

[Sayyid, I have heard claims that the Imams used to have contact with the jinns?] Yes, we do have authentic hadiths, the Imams, because they are universal leaders, they had contact with the Jinn. There is a famous story of the Jinn walking in the form of a python in the Masjid ul-Kufa, the Mosque of 'Ali Ibn Talib, 'alayhi as-salam, and it spoke to the Imam, 'alayhi as-salam. This has been documented in history. That is why, if you've gone to Masjid ul-Kufa, there is a door called what? Baab.... Python. Yeah. What is python in Arabic? Thu'ban. Have you passed through Baab Thu'ban? That is the gate where the Jinn, in the form of a python, entered the mosque and spoke to Imam 'Ali, 'alayhi as-salam. No, no, of course, it is not the original door, but it is the place of it. Yeah, same area.

[Is that just a vessel that the jinn came from or is it something they are able to do? ] So, the Jinns, sometimes they can take physical forms? They do have that capacity within certain conditions, of course. And sometimes the Shaytan. We have in our hadiths, in history of the prophets and even in history of Ahl ul-Bayt sometimes Shaytan, the devil would take on some human forms of some other forms.