Al-Jinn · Makki · ayah 6 of 28

Al-Jinn 72:6

وَأَنَّهُۥ كَانَ رِجَالٌ مِّنَ ٱلْإِنسِ يَعُوذُونَ بِرِجَالٍ مِّنَ ٱلْجِنِّ فَزَادُوهُمْ رَهَقًا

“And there were men from mankind who sought refuge in men from the jinn, so they [only] increased them in burden [i.e., sin].”

Saheeh International

Essence

Humans who ran to the jinn for shelter in the dark found the shelter closing in: more fear, more sin, bolder jinn.

A reflection

Not a museum piece

A young couple move into their first flat. An older relative arrives with a housewarming gift and a quiet instruction. Leave a saucer of milk and salt in the corner, she says, for the ones who were here first. Keep them sweet, and they will leave you in peace.

It is tempting to read this ayah as a museum piece. Long ago, in the deserts of Arabia, travellers called on spirits, and we have moved on. Or, for readers raised among such customs, the opposite: a little courtesy to the unseen seems only sensible. Neither reading survives the ayah.

The commentators describe the custom precisely. A traveller would reach a desolate valley at nightfall, alone and afraid. He would call out, sometimes at the top of his voice. I seek refuge, he would say, with the master of this valley from the fools among his people. Then he would sleep under that 'protection' until morning. One commentator compares it to entering enemy country under the shelter of a powerful man.

Now notice who is reporting this. Not a human preacher, but believing jinn. The very beings whose protection was sought stand up and say it was a mistake. And they give the result in two words: fa-zādūhum rahaqan. It only increased them in being overtaken. More fear, more sin, more boldness on the jinn's part.

So this is not a quaint custom being recorded. It is a custom being dismantled from the inside, by the only witnesses who could know. One early commentator adds the ending. When Islam came, people sought refuge in Allah and left the jinn alone.

The saucer in the corner is the same transaction in smaller coins. It assumes the unseen can be bought off. It hands a piece of your safety to beings who, by their own testimony here, had nothing to sell. The ayah does not ask anyone to be frightened of the jinn. It asks for something cleaner: that refuge go to the only One who can give it.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.