Such is the true significance underlying the story of Adam. The devil at first refuses to make obeisance to man, i.e., to become helpful in his spiritual advancement, and is determined, by hook or by crook, to set him on the wrong course and excite his baser passions: “Certainly I will take of Thy servants an appointed portion; and certainly I will lead them astray and excite in them vain desires” (4:118, 119). But he is subdued by the help of the Divine revelation, and those who follow the revelation have no fear of the devil’s misleading: “Then Adam received (revealed) words from his Lord, and he turned to him (mercifully) … Surely there will come to you guidance from Me, then whoever follows My guidance, no fear shall come upon them, nor shall they grieve” (2:37, 38). The presence of the devil thus indicates that, in the earlier stages of spiritual development, man has to contend with him by refusing to obey his evil promptings, and any one who makes this struggle is sure to subdue the evil one; while in the higher stages, the lower passions having been brought into subjection, the devil actually becomes helpful, “commanding naught but good,” so that even physical desires become a help in the spiritual life of man. Without struggle there is no advancement in life, and thus even in the earlier stages, the devil is the ultimate means of man’s good, unless, of course, man chooses to follow instead of stubbornly resisting him.
The other use of the word jinn is with regard to men of a certain class.23 Even the word devil (shaiṭān), or devils (shayāṭīn), has been applied to men in the Holy Qur’ān, and the leaders of evil are again and again called devils.24 But the use of the word jinn when speaking of men was recognized in Arabic literature before Islām. The verse of Mūsā ibn Jābir fa-mā nafarat jinn, which would literally mean, and my jinn did not flee, has been explained as meaning, “and my companions who were like the jinn, did not flee” (LL.). Here the word jinn is clearly explained as meaning human beings. And Tabrezi says, further, that the Arabs liken a man who is sharp and clever in affairs to a jinni and a shaiṭān.25 There are other examples in pre-Islāmic poetry in which the word jinn has been used to denote great and brave men.26 In addition
23 Some authorities have held that the word jinn is also applicable to the angels, but it should be borne in mind that it is in a strictly literal sense that the word has been so used. The literal significance of the word jinn is a being hidden from the human eye, and as the angels are also invisible beings, they may be called jinn in a literal sense. Otherwise they have nothing in common with jinn.
25 TH. I, p. 193.
26 I have quoted these verses in my Urdu commentary, the Bayān al-Qur’ān under 6:128.