Islam, Arabs, and the Intelligent World of the Djinn
If anyone wants me to find resources on specific aspects of the djinn, let me know. I can see what I can find aside from what I know from personal experience.
For the second article you will need to press the “download full text” button to get the whole paper! It is absolutely free so no worries on that. The only book you will have to pay for throughout my resources is the last link provided.
Found this here: Redirecting... and thought it was quite interesting.
Quoted from the article linked above:
Jinaya (the Jinn), the good and rewarding Gods of Palmyra : Origin and Role.
Origin :
Most of you know that the Jinn are Arabian spirits, usually demonic who possess bodies and cause harm, in later Islamic tradition they are seen as a civilization like humans, some of them are good and some are bad
But actually, Jinaya (plural Jinayè) appear to be Aramaic tutelary deities of villages, this beautiful relief from Palmyra mainly the village of Fasi’El (probably from Aramaic meaning God saves us), written in Palmyrene Aramaic was dedicated by Taymo br Zakio (Taymo son of Zakio) to the Jinaya of his village and he thanked them for his and his siblings lives
The relief shows 7 male figures ans 1 female figure, they are the Jinaya
Starkey thought “Jinaya” comes from Arabic mainly Safaic, but Dr. Ahmad Al-Jallad the expert in Safaic inscriptions says that there is no evidence that bedouins and Arabs believed in Jinn, the only place the Arabic root of Jinn was mentioned in Safaic inscriptions was not related to Jinn, but to a shocking state happend to the writer of the inscription (like he went crazy because some bad event happend to him)
So it leaves us that the origin of the Jinn is from the Aramaic civilization, Jinaya.
This word was famed more after Christianity and was absorbed into the Arabic folklore from the Aramaic tradition.
Role :
Jinaya are somehow like the Gads, tutelary Deities who ensure the protection and prosperity of a certain region, the are shown having genders and can have a good relationship with humans.