Question:
Was the worship of jinn also practiced among previous nations?
Answer:
The Divine command is:
قَالُوا سُبْحَانَكَ أَنتَ وَلِيُّنَا مِن دُونِهِم ۖ بَلْ كَانُوا يَعْبُدُونَ الْجِنَّ ۖ أَكْثَرُهُم بِهِم مُّؤْمِنُونَ ﴿٤١﴾
“They will say, ‘Pure is He,’ and He is our friend, not they; rather, those whom the jinn used to worship were mostly believers in them.”
سُبْحَانَكَ
Meaning, You are free and clear from having any other deity or god besides You.
أَنتَ وَلِيُّنَا مِن دُونِهِم ۖ
Meaning, we are Your servants and we disassociate ourselves from them (the polytheists). They are not our friends, so You are our friend.
بَلْ كَانُوا يَعْبُدُونَ الْجِنَّ ۖ
Meaning, those devils and jinn adorned the worship of idols for them and misled them.
فَالْيَوْمَ لَا يَمْلِكُ بَعْضُكُمْ لِبَعْضٍ نَّفْعًا وَلَا ضَرًّا
“So today no one will be of any benefit to anyone, nor will they cause harm.”
Meaning, today (on the Day of Judgment) those people from whom you hoped for benefit, idols and partners will not give you any benefit, those whom you worshipped besides Allah.
Elsewhere, Allah Almighty’s command is also:
وَجَعَلُوا لِلَّـهِ شُرَكَاءَ الْجِنَّ وَخَلَقَهُمْ ۖ وَخَرَقُوا لَهُ بَنِينَ وَبَنَاتٍ بِغَيْرِ عِلْمٍ ۚ سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ عَمَّا يَصِفُونَ ﴿١٠٠﴾
“And they made the jinn equals to Allah, while He created them, and they falsely attributed to Him sons and daughters without knowledge. Exalted is He and high above what they describe.”
This is a refutation of those polytheists who worshipped others along with Allah Almighty and committed shirk in the worship of Allah, meaning they worshipped jinn and through their shirk and disbelief in the worship of Allah, they ascribed partners to them.
