سورة الحجر

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him) — under the verse: وَ الْجَانَّ خَلَقْنَاهُ مِنْ قَبْلُ مِنْ نَارِ السَّمُومِ [And the jinn We created before, of intensely hot fire] — said: al-Jann is the father of Iblis, and the jinn are the descendants of al-Jann. Some of them are believers and some are disbelievers; some are Jews and some are Christians, and they have differing religions. The satans (shayatin) are the descendants of Iblis, and among them there is only one believer, whose name is Ham ibn Him ibn Laqis ibn Iblis. He came to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), and the Prophet saw him as a huge, enormous, fearsome being. He said to him: "Who are you?" He replied: "I am Ham ibn Him ibn Laqis ibn Iblis. On the day when Qabil killed Habil (peace be upon him), I was a boy of several years, and I used to forbid piety and command the corruption of food." The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said: "By my own life! How evil is a youth who hopes [to lead others astray], and how evil is a middle-aged man who commands [evil]." He said: "O Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family)! Set aside this speech, for indeed I repented at the hand of Nuh (peace be upon him), and I was with him in the ark, and I reproached him for cursing his people. And when Ibrahim (peace be upon him) was cast into the fire, I was with him, and Allah made the fire cool and safe for him. And when Allah drowned Fir'awn and saved the Children of Israel, I was with Musa (peace be upon him). And when Hud (peace be upon him) cursed his people, I was with him and reproached him. And I was with Salih (peace be upon him) and reproached him for cursing his people. And I have read all the heavenly scriptures, and every one of them has given me the good tidings of your coming, and all the prophets (peace be upon them) sent you their greetings and said that you are the best and most noble of the prophets (peace be upon them). Now teach me something from what Allah has revealed to you." The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said to Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him): "Teach him!" Ham said: "O Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family)! We obey none but a prophet or the successor of a prophet; who is this?" He said: "This is my brother, my successor, my minister and my heir, Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him)." Ham said: "Yes! His name appears in the heavenly scriptures as 'Ilya'." Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) [also] taught Ham [certain matters], and he came to His Eminence at the Battle of Siffin on Laylat al-Harir (the night on which the battle between the army of Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) and the army of Mu'awiya reached its peak).

Imam Askari (peace be upon him): Yusuf ibn Muhammad ibn Ziyad and Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Sayyar narrated from their fathers that they said: We said to Imam Askari (peace be upon him): "So then Iblis was not an angel either?" The Imam (peace be upon him) said: "No, rather he was of the jinn. Have you not heard that Allah the Mighty and Majestic says: Remember when We said to the angels, 'Prostrate before Adam,' and they all prostrated except Iblis, who was of the jinn. (al-Kahf/50) So [in this verse] Allah the Mighty and Majestic has informed that he was of the jinn; and Iblis is the one about whom Allah the Mighty and Majestic said: وَ الْجَانَّ خَلَقْناهُ مِنْ قَبْلُ مِنْ نارِ السَّمُومِ [And the jinn We created before, of intensely hot fire]."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): When Allah the Exalted created the fire of samum — which is a fire without heat and without smoke — He created from that fire the Jann. And this is the meaning of the word of Allah, who says: وَ الْجَانَّ خَلَقْناهُ مِنْ قَبْلُ مِنْ نارِ السَّمُومِ [And the jinn We created before, of intensely hot fire]. He named him "Marij," and from him He created a mate for him and named her "Marijah." They came together, and after a time Marijah bore a child. Then the Jann too had a child, and He named him Jinn, and from him the various tribes of jinn branched out, and Iblis the accursed is from among them. The Jann would always have two children at a time, one boy and one girl; the Jinn likewise always had twins; until their number reached ninety thousand men and women, and they went on multiplying until they reached the number of the sands of the desert. Iblis married a woman from the descendants of the Jann named "Lahba," daughter of Ruha ibn Salsasil. Lahba bore in one womb Bilqis and Tunah, then in one womb Sha'la and Sha'ilah, then in one womb Dawhar and Dawharah, then in one womb Shawza and Shizah, and then in one womb Faqtas and Faqtasah. As a result, the number of the children of Iblis grew so much that they became beyond counting. They were wandering and roaming about like dust, ants, mosquitoes, locusts, birds and flies, and they lived in the deserts, the wastes, the pools, the thickets, the roads, the rubbish heaps, the latrines, the rivers, the wells, the graveyards of the Christians, and every waterless and grassless place, until the earth became filled with them. Then those who were in the form of horses, donkeys, mules, camels, goats, cows, sheep, dogs, beasts of prey and tortoises, took on the form of human beings. When the earth was filled with the offspring of Iblis, Allah settled the Jann in the air below the sky, and settled the children of Jinn in the sky of the world, and commanded them to worship and to servanthood, as He has said: "I did not create the jinn and mankind except that they should worship Me" (al-Dhariyat/56). The sky was continually boasting over the earth and saying: "My Lord has [given me superiority over you and] raised me above you, and I am the abode of the angels; the Throne and the seat of Allah's sovereignty, the sun and the moon and the stars and the treasuries of mercy — all are within me, and revelation is sent down from my side." The earth [replied]: "Allah has spread me out, and has entrusted to me the roots of trees and plants and springs, and has created upon me fruits and rivers and trees." The sky said to it: "There is no one upon you who remembers Allah the Exalted." The earth submitted: "O my Lord! The sky boasts over me that there is no one upon me who remembers You." A call came: "Be at peace, O earth! I will create out of your dust a form the like of which no jinn is, and I shall give him intellect and knowledge and a book and a tongue, and I shall send down My word upon him; then I shall fill your upper and lower and east and west [with them], whose colour, inside and outside, will be of the substance of your dust; so, O earth, on account of this matter, boast over the sky." The earth was set at peace, and asked its Lord to send down a creation upon it. Allah granted it permission, on condition that they worship Allah and not disobey Him. [Following this divine permission] the jinn and Iblis the accursed came to the earth and settled upon it, and acted according to that covenant, and all the jinn — who were seventy thousand tribes — came to the earth, and for a long time worshipped Allah as He deserves to be worshipped. Then Allah raised Iblis, because of the abundance of his worship, up to the sky of the world, and there for a thousand years he worshipped Allah the Exalted. After a time he was raised up to the second sky, and there too for a thousand years he worshipped Allah the Exalted, and he continued to worship Allah in each sky for a thousand years, until Allah raised him up to the seventh sky. The first day on which he went to the sky of the world was Saturday, and on Sunday he was in the second sky, until finally, on Friday, he reached the seventh sky. He worshipped Allah as He is worthy of, and confessed His oneness as should be confessed. He had reached such a great station that when Jibra'il and Mika'il passed by him, they would say to one another: "To this servant such power and capacity for the worship of Allah has been given as has not been given to any angel." After a very long time had passed, Allah the Exalted commanded Jibra'il to descend to the earth and to bring a handful of dust from its east and west and its low and high places, so that Allah might create from it a new creation and make him the noblest of creatures.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Fathers are of three kinds: Adam (peace be upon him), who fathered a believing child; al-Jann, who fathered both believing and disbelieving children; and Iblis, who fathered a disbelieving child. Among the satans there is no live birth; rather, Satan lays eggs and hatches chicks, and his offspring are all male — there are no females among them.