Al-An‘ām 6:130
The verse
O ye assembly of the jinn and humankind! Came there not unto you messengers of your own who recounted unto you My tokens and warned you of the meeting of this your Day? They will say: We testify against ourselves. And the life of the world beguiled them. And they testify against themselves that they were disbelievers. — Marmaduke Pickthall
The issue
The verse says that “messengers” came to mankind and also to the jinn
(ginn), who are believed to be invisible beings that coexist with humans. According to the way the verse reads in the Arabic text, Allah sent these messengers to the jinn from their own kind. However, Muslim scholars were divided into two opinions regarding this issue:
The first opinion states that Allah sent messengers to mankind from their own kind
(men), and he sent messengers to the jinn from their own kind (jinn).
The second opinion states that messengers were sent from mankind to both the jinn
and mankind.
Questions:
(1) Is the existence of jinn a scientific fact? (2) If the existence of jinn is hypothetically
accepted, has it ever been heard that one of the prophets was sent to the jinn?
(3) According to this verse, it is assumed that the jinn world is divided into different
religions. Therefore, are the jinn involved in the religious turmoil that is taking place
in the world, with one group of jinn supporting the followers of one religion, while
another group is supporting another religion?
Based on the first view, verse Q 6.130 conveys the idea that Allah sends jinn messengers from among the jinn. However, there are other verses with texts that emphasize that all the messengers are men of human origin: “Nor did we ever send before thee any save men whom we inspired” (Q 12.109). Other verses use similar words: “Nor did we send before them any but men whom we inspired” (Q 21.7) and “We have not sent before thee any messengers but that they ate food and walked in the markets” (Q 25.20).
Arabic text of this item
تذكر الآية أن رسلاً قد جاءوا إلى الْجِنِّ وَالإِنسِ. وحسب منطوق الآية، فإن الله أرسل أنبياءً إلى الجن من جنسهم، ولكن الشارحين المسلمين انقسموا حول هذه المسألة إلى رأييْن:
الرأي الأول: يفسرها بأن الله أرسل رسلاً إلى الناس منهم، ورسلاً إلى الجن منهم؛
الرأي الثاني: يقول بأن الرسل كانوا من الإنس إلى الْجِنِّ وَالإِنسِ معاً.
ولدينا هنا سؤالان:
هل وجود الجن حقيقة علمية؟
وإن قبلنا جدلاً بوجود الجن، فهل سُمع من قبل أن أحد الأنبياء قد أرسل إلى الجن؟
وفقاً لهذه الآية، ُيفترض أن عالم الجن منقسم دينياً، وعليه، فإن الصراع الديني الذين يجري في العالم، يشارك فيه الجن وفقاً لانتماءاتهم؛ فطائفة من الجن تساند أتباع دين ما، وطائفة أخرى تدعم ديناً آخر.
وثمة تعارض:
استناداَ على الرأي الأول فإن آية (الأنعام 6: 130) تتضمن فكرة أن الله يرسل رسلاً من الجن، إلاّ أن لدينا في آيات أخرى نصوصا تجزم ببشرية كل الرسل:
<وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا مِن قَبْلِكَ إِلاَّ رِجَالاً نُّوحِي إِلَيْهِم> (يوسف 12: 109)، وتشابه هذه الآية لفظاً: <وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا قَبْلَكَ إِلاَّ رِجَالاً نُّوحِي إِلَيْهِمْ> (الأنبياء 21: 7)؛ و<وَما أَرْسَلْنَا قَبْلَكَ مِنَ الْمُرْسَلِينَ إِلَّا إِنَّهُمْ لَيَأْكُلُونَ الطَّعَامَ وَيَمْشُونَ فِي الْأَسْوَاقِ> (الفرقان 25: 20).
Sources cited
- انظر الطبري 9: 560.