Islam, Arabs, and the Intelligent World of the Jinn (Contemporary Issues in the Middle East) Paperback – 30 Jan. 2017

Wonderful book. Very informative

The book is not so much "Islam, Arabs and the Invisible World of the Jinn" as "Early Islam and the Jinn".The content is mainly of two types: (1) quite detailed discussions of passages in the Qur'an and comments by early Islamic thinkers; (2) long digressions into discussions of western poets, folklorists and world mythology (Native American, Babylonian, etc.). The former is actually pretty good, if that's what you're looking for. The latter feels kind of like the early 20th-Century generalisations that we find in scholarship from a century ago (Frazer's Golden Bough leaped to mind).What is therefore completely missing is any discussion of subjects like: what is a Jinn (e.g. how does the term relate to other terms, such as ghūl)? Were did the idea come from? How has the term's meaning changed over time, and how much does it vary geographically? To what extent were ~19th Century Western folklorists true to, or else distorting, beliefs in jinn when they collected and published books like the 1001 Nights? How does/has Arabic belief in jinn relate to neighbouring traditions (e.g. maybe discussing jinn alongside the "demons" of classical Persian literature may be more relevant than references to Native Americans)? How have jinn be used in official texts, propaganda and politically-sponsored/sanctioned modern media, and what movements may have attempted to quash or change these beliefs? Etc, etc. All of this is completely missing.There are some intriguing observations here. I personally found the digression about the Qur'anic concept of multiple worlds interesting; and noting the linguistic closeness of "jinn" with "majnun" made me want to go back and reread the classic story of love and insanity, Layla and Majnun. Other readers may find other interesting snippets.But personally, I came to this because I want to understand the richness of what people have believed about jinn, so that I can better understand what I'm reading if I read folk stories or references in other books and mdeia. The author, however, is far more interested in the Qur'an, religious scholars, and Western poets (Keats etc.) and folklorists.So if - like me - the reader is looking for a book which explores jinn in the Arabic and Islamic traditions, historically and culturally and in terms of popular belief etc. ... well, this book is likely to disappoint.

Knowledgeable thorough read on an esoteric/ spiritual subject that has roots in pre Islamic Middle Eastern mythology & folklore.How it correlates with religious beliefs, philosophy and literature is extensively explained.