jins

Jins, also spelled jinn or jin, are supernatural beings mentioned in Islamic theology and Middle Eastern folklore. In Islamic belief, jinn are created by God from smokeless fire and inhabit an unseen world alongside humans and angels. They are considered a separate creation with their own communities and lives that overlap with the human realm in various ways.

Jins possess free will, meaning they can choose to do good or evil. They live for varying lengths of time and can shape-shift or appear in human or animal forms, though they are typically regarded as invisible or partially visible. They are thought to inhabit deserted places, ruins, remote landscapes, and other locations where they might go unnoticed, but they can also interact with people and influence events, for better or worse.

In Islamic texts, jinn are described as beings who, like humans, are accountable to God on the afterlife. They include believers and disbelievers, and their relationships with people range from benign to adversarial. Folklore adds archetypal types such as the powerful Ifrit and the Marid, underscoring a wide spectrum of personalities and abilities. The figure of the jinn also features prominently in cultural storytelling and folklore across different regions.

In popular culture, jinn are often associated with the “genie” trope, particularly in Western adaptations of tales like One Thousand and One Nights. The term jins is a transliteration variant used for the plural, though many sources use jinn or jinns for both singular and plural forms.