Fath al-Rabbani

Benefits: … You should know that the meaning of this hadith is not that the present-day snakes are the transformed forms of jinn. Its meaning is rather that some jinn were transformed into the form of snakes, just as the Jews were transformed into the forms of monkeys and pigs. However, in such a state, they did not have any progeny, just as Sayyiduna Abdullah ibn Mas‘ud radi Allahu anhu says that in the gathering of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, the discussion arose as to whose transformed forms the monkeys and pigs are. Upon hearing this, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said: “Indeed, Allah does not transform anything and then leave for it any progeny or descendants, and indeed, monkeys and pigs existed before that.” (Sahih Muslim) … “When Allah the Exalted transforms any creature (into the form of another creature), it does not have any further progeny or offspring (i.e., it perishes in that transformed state), and the monkeys and pigs (about whom you are speaking, these existed even before the transformed nations).”