Thread by @aaolomi

In Islamic folklore the invisible race known as the djinn are treated with fascination and terror. Though outside mainstream orthodox belief, local tales and legends tell of the jinn coupling with humans resulting in half-djinn offspring

A thread on the half-djinn

The most famous is Bilqis, the Queen of Sheba. In one story she is the daughter of a righteous king and the djinn princess, Ruwaha/Rahwana.

Bilqis’ father inadvertently saved a tribe of djinn when he stayed his hand during a wild animal hunt. For his kindness he was rewarded

The union of human king and djinn princess produced many half djinn offspring who were spirited away to the hidden realms of the djinn with the exception of Bilqis.

In another telling, the rumor of Bilqis’ origin is a lie told by King Solomon’s djinn who feared their union

Another famed half-jinn monarch was the 13th c sorcerer-king Sumanguru who ruled from West Sudan to Ghana and Mali.

A tyrant, he was credited with vast powers and traveled as a whirlwind and when attacked could shapeshift into a palm tree, a bird, or a horde of ants

He was defeated by the Mandinka prince, Sundiata but never killed for he flew away into the mountains

The Javanese Mataram Sultanate also claims djinn ancestry.

The serpentine but beautiful sea goddess Nyai Roro Kidul is reimagined in Islamic lore as a djinn who marries Senapati and together they sire the Mataram Sultanate

In another telling, Nyai Roro Kidul is the child of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba who is sent to the island

This aspect of djinn lore is a fascinating entryway into examining how Islam was localized and how local beliefs were Islamized.

For ex in the local Javanese syncretic tradition of Waktu Telu, shamanic healers called belian occasionally claim djinn ancestry

Either through being adopted midlife or being descended from djinn the belian claims ilmu or knowledge of the hidden which translates to healing powers

Djinn-human couples are found in a variety of stories and highlight pre Islamic beliefs being reworked in an Islamic cosmology

These human-djinn pairings include men and women though among men it’s also common to hear of either the husband or children being spirited away into the misty djinn homeland

While much of the lore talks of half-djinn as bestowed with powers and great beauty there is a dark side that speaks to the othering potential

For ex, the Javanese genderuwo is an ape-like jinn with pre-Islamic roots. A horny beast with powers of shapeshifting, he harasses women by smacking their bottoms or by taking on the visage of their husbands to have sex

It is associated with hyper sexuality and it’s half djinn offspring are considered monstrous and ostracized

We find similar legends in the Middle East, Central Asia, and South Asia where lower, baser djinn mate with humans to produce monstrous creatures.

Sometimes these being are described as literally half-formed, having only one eye, one hand, and one leg

Sometimes whole places & people are described with djinn ancestry. Like some villages of Turkestan, or the Kurdish people who are said to be descendants of the djinn of Solomon.

One legend says Solomon sent out his djinn to find him wives but upon their return the king was dead

So they ended up marrying the women themselves and from their union came the Kurds. While the claim has become a point of pride for some Kurds it was also used as way to distinguish them from Arab conquerors

Half-djinn offspring as strangers is a major theme in Arab lore as well. The half-djinn aren’t fully human and so strangers in the land, marked by their unusual behavior or looks.

There is a narration that warns that half djinn strangers wander among the tribes attributed to Aisha

It is said Ali, the son in law of Muhammad once inquired about a strange child and was told the kid was a half jinn, his mother having conceived him with a smoke-like being

The anxiety of the stranger here is seen within the context of the tight bonds of tribal society, the stranger is an outsider and someone who sleeps with married men’s wives if they aren’t careful!

A tale that highlights the half-djinn as strangers is that of Zarqa al Yamama, the daughter of a tribal chieftain in pre Islamic Arabia. Often viewed as a gifted woman in some tellings she’s the half-djinn daughter of the chief.

She’s reputed to have had special gifts

Born with startlingly blue-eyes she was able to predict the future. Her tribe used her powers to protect themselves and to discover enemies.

This kept them safe for many years until the Himyarite king devised a plan to make his troops carry branches of trees before them

When Zarqa warned her tribe of the moving trees she was ignored and so the forces of Himyar fell upon them, killing them all and tearing out Zarqa’s eyes

Legends of half-djinn tell of beautiful and powerful people as well as monstrous others. It’s both a point that explore the Islamization of local beliefs and the process of otherizing

It’s a fascinatingly rich and often overlooked part of Islamic folklore