Surah Al-An'aam (6) — Ayah 128

(Ayah 128) ➊ {وَ يَوْمَ يَحْشُرُهُمْ جَمِيْعًا:} Here, by jinn is meant the satanic jinn. Their making many humans their own means leading them astray and setting them on their own path, and the benefit the jinn take from humans is that they invited them to misguidance and the humans accepted it, began to honor and revere them, and started calling upon them in times of distress, and this is the success of the devils. The benefit humans take from the jinn is to listen to the news they have heard from the angels of the heavens, which they relate mixed with lies, and then to promote their own false claims of knowledge of the unseen, to seek their help in magic and sorcery, etc., and then to extort money from people, gain further benefits, and mislead them.

➋ {قَالَ النَّارُ مَثْوٰىكُمْ: } This verse is evidence that after Sulaiman (peace be upon him), whoever seeks any benefit from a jinn or imprisons one to achieve any purpose, then the abode of both that person and the jinn is Hell. That is why the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) once captured a satanic jinn who attacked him during prayer and intended to tie him to a pillar of the mosque, but remembering the supplication of Sulaiman (peace be upon him), he let him go, for he had prayed: «رَبِّ اغْفِرْ لِيْ وَهَبْ لِيْ مُلْكًا لَّا يَنْۢبَغِيْ لِاَحَدٍ مِّنْۢ بَعْدِيْ ……» [صٓ : ۳۴ تا ۴۰ ] See also: Surah Ash-Shu'ara (221–223) and Surah Al-Jinn (6).

➌ { اِلَّا مَا شَآءَ اللّٰهُ:} Regarding the doubt that arises from this word, that Hell will eventually end, Shah Abdul Qadir (may Allah have mercy on him) says that the statement "they will remain in the Fire except as Allah wills" is because if the punishment of Hell is eternal, it is by His will; if He wills, He may end it, but He has already willed otherwise. (Mawdih)

128. 1. That is, you have led a very large number of humans astray and made them your followers. Just as Allah Almighty has said in Surah Ya-Sin: "O children of Adam, did I not warn you not to worship Satan? He is your open enemy, and that you should worship only Me; this is the straight path. And Satan has led a very large number of you astray. Will you not then understand?" (یٰسین۔ 60، 62).

128. 2. What benefit did the jinn and humans derive from each other? Two meanings have been stated. The benefit of the jinn from humans is that they derived pleasure by making them their followers, and the benefit of humans from the jinn is that Satan made sins appear attractive to them, which they accepted and remained entangled in the pleasure of sins. The second meaning is that humans continued to affirm those unseen reports that were spread as soothsaying by the devils and jinn. Thus, the jinn deceived humans and took advantage of them, and these same humans enjoyed the false conjectural statements narrated by the jinn, and people of the soothsayer type derived worldly benefits from them.

128. 3. That is, the Day of Judgment has occurred, which we did not believe in during the world. In response, Allah Almighty will say that now Hell is your eternal abode.

128. On the Day when Allah will gather them all together, He will say, "O assembly of jinn! You have misled many of mankind." And their human friends will say, "Our Lord! We benefited from each other [135] until the term You appointed for us came to pass." He will say, "The Fire is your abode [136], to remain therein forever, except as Allah wills to save [137]. Surely, your Lord is All-Wise, All-Knowing."

[135]
Jinns Overpowering Humans:

In Surah Jinn, Allah the Exalted has mentioned a similar subject, that there were some people among mankind who used to seek refuge with the jinn. This act of humans further increased the arrogance of the jinn, meaning those jinn who overpowered certain humans. In the era of ignorance, when a person got stuck in a jungle or faced a life-threatening situation during a journey, he would say, “I seek refuge in the master of this jungle.” According to their superstition, every jungle had a separate king, and whoever sought refuge from him, he would respond to his plea, and this king was usually a devil or a jinn. Upon hearing such pleas from humans, the jinn would swell with pride and say, “Now I have become the chief not only of the jinn but also of humans.” Jinn are an unseen creation who can take on various forms. Among them, just like among humans, the majority are evil, who are also called wicked spirits. These spirits sometimes, especially during travel or in impure places, take on a frightening form to scare humans and impose their dominance over them. Such evil spirits are commonly called ghosts and witches among us. The supplication that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ taught us to recite when entering the toilet is as follows: “O Allah! I seek refuge in You from the male and female jinn (whether the evil spirits are masculine or feminine).” [بخاري۔ كتاب الاستيذان۔ باب الدعاء عندالخلاء] The clear meaning of this is that such evil spirits can trouble and disturb humans.

Mutual Benefit Between Jinn and Humans:

Now, the exact forms of mutual benefit between jinn and humans are not known to us, but one well-known form that we observe is the subjugation of jinn. The humans who subjugate jinn are called “Aamil” in our language. These people perform “zakat” of various Surahs, verses of the Noble Quran, or other incantations and charms. The term “zakat” here is coined to describe their entire process. The method of their zakat is such that, for example, if a person wants to perform the zakat of Surah Jinn, he will go to a jungle at night for forty days and recite the mentioned Surah a specified number of times, drawing a protective circle or boundary around himself, and will continue this practice for forty days, abstaining from certain foods or acts during this period. While performing this act at night, jinn will come in various forms to frighten him, but they will not be able to enter the protective circle and attack him. If during this time the Aamil becomes afraid of the jinn, the jinn will take revenge on him, for example, by making him sick, paralyzed, insane, clinging to him and causing various torments, or even killing him. This punishment will be according to the acts performed by the Aamil up to that point. But if the Aamil continues his practice with full determination and is never frightened by the evil spirits, and completes the forty-day course, then he is successful. Some jinn will become subservient to him, from whom he can get various tasks done. Whenever he needs that jinn, he can recite Surah Jinn once to summon him, and the Aamil can assign him the required task and get it done. It is obvious that if an Aamil has subjugated a jinn or evil spirit, he can use it for worldly benefits by assigning it to the desired task. When a jinn possesses a woman and troubles her (note that jinn usually possess women, rarely men), the Aamil is called. He summons the jinn, finds out the situation, promises to treat the patient, and collects offerings from the family. Here, another noteworthy point is that jinn usually trouble women in the locality where an Aamil resides. This leads to the conclusion that sometimes, for their own interests, Aamils themselves send jinn, and when called for treatment, they collect their offerings. In any case, there are many stories about jinn troubling humans and the feats of Aamils, and some incidents are also observed, but the reality is known only to Allah.

[136] Since this entire business closely resembles magic, and the practice of seeking knowledge of the unseen through jinn is also included in it, therefore, in the view of the Quran, this too is disbelief. That is why Allah has prescribed Hell as the punishment for such jinn and humans.

[137] The punishment for sins is given with consideration to the circumstances and conditions, and this is what justice demands. Therefore, the duration of the punishment in Hell for such people will be increased or decreased exactly according to justice.