ifrit

The word ifrit appears in Surah an-Naml: 39 of the Quran, but only as an epithet and not to designate a specific type of demon.{{cite book

| last = McAuliffe

| first = Jane Dammen

| title = Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān

| publisher = Georgetown University, Washington DC

| volume = 3

| pages = 486–487

}} The term itself is not found in pre-Islamic Arabic poetry, although variants such as ifriya and ifr are recorded prior to the Quran. Traditionally, Arab philologists trace the derivation of the word to {{langx|ar|عفر|ʻafara|to rub with dust, to roll into dust|links=no}}. It is further used to describe sly, malicious, wicked and cunning characteristics.{{cite web|url=http://www.baheth.info/all.jsp?term=%D8%B9%D9%81%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AA|title=الباحث العربي: قاموس عربي عربي|website=www.baheth.info|access-date=2019-02-19|archive-date=2016-03-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304201710/http://www.baheth.info/all.jsp?term=%D8%B9%D9%81%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AA|url-status=dead}}

Some Western philologists suggest a foreign origin of the word and attribute it to Middle Persian āfrītan, which corresponds to New Persian {{Nastaliq|{{lang|fa|آفریدن}}}} "to create", but this is regarded as unlikely by others. Johnny Cheung argued that there is a Zoroastrian spirit called an āfriti- in Avestan. He suggests that this Avestan term might be the ultimate source of Arabic ‘ifrīt."{{cite journal |last1=Cheung |first1=Johnny |title=On the (Middle) Iranian borrowings in Qur'ānic (and pre-Islamic) Arabic |date=2016 |pages=15 |journal=HAL |url=https://shs.hal.science/halshs-01445860 |access-date=26 December 2023 |language=en}}

In folklore, the term developed into a designation of a specific class of demon, though most Islamic scholarly traditions regard the term as an adjective. Popular beliefs were elaborated in works such as in al-Ibshīhī's Mustatraf. They became identified either as a dangerous kind of devil (shayṭān) preying on women, or as spirits of the dead. In Turkish, the term is used for demons of the underworld.{{cite journal | last=Erdağı | first=Deniz Özkan | title=Evil in Turkish Muslim horror film: the demonic in "Semum" | journal=SN Social Sciences | publisher=Springer Science and Business Media LLC | volume=4 | issue=2 | date=2024-02-01 | issn=2662-9283 | doi=10.1007/s43545-024-00832-w| doi-access=free }}

File:Kitab al-Bulhan --- devils talking.jpg{{cite book |first=Maximillien |last=de Lafayette |title=Early & contemporary spirit artists, psychic artists, and medium painters from 5000 BC to the present day economy |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-365-97802-9 |page=95|publisher=Lulu.com }}]]

In Islamic scriptures the term ifrit is always followed by the expression of the jinn.{{EI3 |last=Szombathy |first=Zoltan |title=ʿIfrīt |doi=10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_32379}} Due to the ambiguous meaning of the term jinn, which is applied to a wide range of different spirits, their relation towards the genus of jinn remains vague. However, within the Islamic scriptures, the term is used as an epithet to describe a powerful or malicious spirit of an undefined nature.Vincent Crapanzano The Ḥamadsha: A Study in Moroccan Ethnopsychiatry University of California Press 1973 {{ISBN|9780520022416}} p. 136

In the Quran, such an ifrit is mentioned in surah al-Naml 27:38-40. The ifrit offers to carry the throne of Bilqis, queen of Sheba to King Solomon: "An ifrit from the jinn said: 'I will bring it to you before you rise from your place. And verily, I am indeed strong and trustworthy for such work." However, the duty is not given to him, but to somebody endowed with knowledge of the scripture. An "ifrit among the jinn" is mentioned in a hadith of Muhammad al-Bukhari, attempting to interrupt the prayers of Muhammad{{cite book

| last = Lebling

| first = Robert

| title = Legends of the Fire Spirits: Jinn and Genies from Arabia to Zanzibar

| publisher = I.B.Tauris

| date =2010-07-30

| pages = 141, 151–153

| isbn = 978-0-857-73063-3

}}{{efn|In Shibli's (d. 1367) retelling, he calls the ifrit a shayṭān, underlining the ambiguous nature of the afarit.{{cite book

| last = Nünlist

| first = Tobias

| title = Dämonenglaube im Islam

| publisher = Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

| date = 2015

| pages = 109

| language = de

| isbn = 978-3-110-33168-4

}}}} and in a narrative of Muhammad's night journey recorded in the eighth century by Malik ibn Anas. In the latter account, the "ifrit among the jinn" threatens Muhammad with a fiery presence, after which the Archangel Gabriel taught Muhammad a prayer to defeat it.{{cite book | last=Vuckovic | first=Brooke Olson | title=Heavenly Journeys, Earthly Concerns: The Legacy of the Mi'raj in the Formation of Islam | publisher=Routledge | date=March 2004 | isbn=978-1-135-88524-3 | page=35-36}} Muslim texts explain, God sent the ifrit on purpose so that Gabriel might teach Muhammad and his ummah (Muslim community) to overcome their fear of demons at night.{{cite book |last1=Ürkmez |first1=Ertan |title=Türk-İslâm Mitolojisi Bağlamında Mi‘râç Motifi ve Türkiye Kültür Tarihine Yansımaları |date=2015 |url=https://openaccess.hacettepe.edu.tr/handle/11655/1404}}

Tafsīr of Surah al-Anbiya, on the story of the prophet Job, mentions Job being tested by the torment of three ifrits. After Iblis gains permission to test Job, he descends to earth and summons his most powerful devils (shaytan) and ifrits. In order to torment the prophet, they turn into storms and whirlwinds of fire to destroy Job's properties.{{cite journal |last1=Macdonald |first1=Duncan B. |title=Some External Evidence on the Original Form of the Legend of Job |journal=The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures |date=April 1898 |volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=137–164 |doi=10.1086/369274}}

In Islamic folklore, the afarit became a class of chthonic spirits, inhabiting the layers of the seven earths,{{cite book |first1=Sebastian |last1=Günther |first2=Dorothee |last2=Pielow |date=18 October 2018 |title=Die Geheimnisse der oberen und der unteren Welt: Magie im Islam zwischen Glaube und Wissenschaft |language=de |trans-title=The Secrets of the Upper and Lower Worlds: Magic in Islam between faith and science |publisher=BRILL |isbn=9789004387577 |page=597}}{{cite book |first=Stephan |last=Conermann |year=2014 |title=History and Society During the Mamluk Period (1250-1517) |publisher=V&R unipress GmbH |isbn=9783847102281 |page=25}} generally ruthless and wicked, formed out of smoke and fire.{{efn|

The description "smoke and fire" is contrary to the jinn in Quranic traditions, who are created out of smokeless (clear) fire, but is in accord with a common tradition depicting the devils (shayāṭīn), as created out of smoke.}}

{{cite book

| last = Hossein Nasr | first = Seyyed

| year = 2013

| title = Islamic Life and Thought

| publisher = Routledge

| page = 135

| isbn = 978-1-134-53818-8

}}

Despite their negative depictions and affiliation to the nether regions, afarit are not fundamentally evil on a moral plane; they might even carry out God's purpose. Such obligations can nevertheless be ruthless, such as obligation to blood vengeance and avenging murder. Nizami Ganjavi describes an ifrit tormenting Mahan, as created from "God's wrath", thus underpinning the ifrit's role secondary to God's will.

{{cite book

| last1 = Annabelle | first1 = Birgit

| last2 = Böttcher | first2 = Krawietz

| year = 2021

| title = Islam, Migration and Jinn: Spiritual Medicine in Muslim Health Management.

| publisher = Deutschland: Springer International Publishing

| page = 30

| isbn = 978-3-030-61247-4}}

Further, an ifrit can be compelled by a sorcerer, if summoned.

Image:Egyptian - Bes Mask - Walters 481661.jpg, ancient Egypt deity, sometimes identified with afarit by Muslim Egyptians,{{cite book |first=Hans Alexander |last=Winkler |year=2009 |title=Ghost Riders of Upper Egypt: A study of spirit possession |place=Cairo, EG |publisher=American University in Press |isbn=9789774162503 |page=29}} early 4th–1st century BC (Walters Art Museum, Baltimore)|200x200px]]

Although afarit are not necessarily components of a person, but independent entities, a common belief in Islamic Egypt{{efn|

Although the identification of afarit with ghosts is usually associated with Muslims in Egypt, it is also attested among Muslims in India, Syria, and Javan Muslims in Cirebon.

{{cite book |first=A.G. |last=Muhaimin |year=2006 |title=The Islamic Traditions of Cirebon: Ibadat and Adat among Javanese Muslims |publisher=ANU E Press |isbn=978-1-920942-31-1 |page=38}}

{{cite book |first=Gebhard |last=Fartacek |year=2010 |title=Unheil durch Dämonen?: Geschichten und Diskurse über das Wirken der Ǧinn; eine sozialanthropologische Spurensuche in Syrien |language=de |trans-title=Evil from Demons? |quote=Stories and discourses on the works of the djinn; a socio-anthropological search for clues in Syria. |publisher=Böhlau Verlag Wien |isbn=9783205784852 |page=68}}

{{cite book |first=Frederick M. |last=Smith |year=2012 |title=The Self Possessed: Deity and spirit possession in South Asian literature and civilization |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-51065-3 |page=570}}

}}

associates afarit with part of a human's soul.{{cite book |first=el-Sayed |last=al-Aswad |year=2002 |title=Religion and Folk Cosmology: Scenarios of the visible and invisible in rural Egypt |place=Westport, CT |publisher=Praeger / Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=9780897899246 |pages=103–104, 153}}{{rp|style=ama|pages=103–104}}

Probably influenced by the Ancient Egypt idea of Ka, the afarit are often identified with the spirits of the dead, departing from the body at the moment of death. They live in cemeteries, wander around places the dead person frequently visited, or roam the earth close to the place of death, until the Day of Judgment. A person who died a natural death does not have a malevolent ifrit. Only people who are killed give rise to a dangerous and active ifrit, drawn to the blood of the victim. Driving an unused nail into the blood is supposed to stop their formation.{{cite encyclopedia | title = Aeromancy | year = 2006 | encyclopedia = The Element Encyclopedia of the Psychic World | pages = 10 | publisher = Harper Element}} Such afarit might scare and even kill the living or take revenge on the murderer.{{cite book |first=Robert |last=Lebling |title=Legends of the Fire Spirits: Jinn and genies from Arabia to Zanzibar |publisher=I.B. Tauris |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-85773-063-3 |pages=151–153}}{{rp|style=ama|page=153}} Martyrs, saints and prophets do not have a ghost, and therefore no ifrit.{{rp|style=ama|page=153}}

In Moroccan belief, the afarit form a more powerful type of demon, comparable to jinn and other supernatural creatures. They have more substantial existence, and are greater in scale and capacity{{cite book |first=Vincent |last=Crapanzano |year=1973 |title=The Ḥamadsha: A study in Moroccan ethnopsychiatry |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520022416 |page=137}} than other demons.{{cite book |first=Edward |last=Westermarck |date=23 April 2014 |title=Ritual and Belief in Morocco |volume=I |series=Routledge Revivals |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781317912682 |pages=263–264}} Their physical appearance is often portrayed as having monstrous deformities, such as claw-like or thorny hands, flaming eyes or seven heads.

Just as with jinn, an ifrit might possess an individual. Such persons gain some abilities from the ifrit, such as getting stronger and more brave, but the ifrit renders them insane. With the aid of a magical ring, the afarit might be forced to perform certain orders, such as carrying heavy stones.

A story circulates among the Shabak community in Northern Iraq about a certain ifrit who incensed Ali by his evil nature long before the creation of Adam.{{efn|It is a common belief among Muslims that Muhammad's creation precedes that of Adam. Shia sources, often add Ali to the human beings predating the creation of Adam and the earth.M.J. Kister Adam: A Study of Some Legends in Tafsir and Hadit Literature Approaches to the History of the Interpretation of The Qur'an, Oxford 1988 p. 129}} Consequently, for the ifrit's wickedness, Ali chained the ifrit and left him alone. When the prophets arrived on earth, he appeared to all of them, beginning with Adam, and begged them for his release, but no prophet was able to break the chains. When Muhammad met the ifrit, he brought him to Ali for release. Ali was merciful to the ifrit, and decided to release him under the condition that he surrenders to the will of God.{{cite book |first=Matti |last=Moosa |year=1987 |title=Extremist Shiites: The Ghulat sects |place=Syracuse, NY |publisher=Syracuse University Press |isbn=978-0-815-62411-0 |page=69}}

File:MakhanEmbracedByAnEfreeti.jpg to Nizami Ganjavi's poem Hamsa. Bukhara, 1648.]]

Nizami Ganjavi (c. 1141–1209) narrates in his Haft Peykar the story of the Egyptian wayfarer Māhān (the "moonlike one") and his travels to a demon-infested desert.Brend, Barbara. "Figurative Art in Medieval Islam and the Riddle of Bihzād of Herāt (1465–1535). By Michael Barry. pp. 408. Paris, Flammarion, 2004." Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 17.1 (2007): 64-68. pp. 361-363 Māhān's horse, presented to him by a demon in human disguise, gallops his rider into the desert, where it turns into a seven-headed monster. In the desert, Māhān finds shelter in a mysterious oasis owned by an old man. After Māhān and the old man know each other better, the old man decides to bequeath his legacy and marry him to a beautiful woman. He leaves to prepare for the wedding and warns Māhān that he must not descend from the perch until the old man is back. After that, the house, garden, and wife will belong to him.

When a beautiful girl with the face of a parī (fairy) enters the room, Māhān is overwhelmed by his lust and passion and ignores the order of the old man. While the beauty of his desire embraces Māhān, the girl suddenly turns into an ifrit, formed from God's wrath.Nünlist, Tobias (2015). Dämonenglaube im Islam [Daemonic Belief in Islam] (in German). Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. ISBN 978-3-110-33168-4. pp. 235-239Brend, Barbara. "Figurative Art in Medieval Islam and the Riddle of Bihzād of Herāt (1465–1535). By Michael Barry. pp. 408. Paris, Flammarion, 2004." Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 17.1 (2007): 64-68. pp. 361-363 The demon explains that the fairy turned into a demon because of Māhān's uncontrollable passion.Brend, Barbara. "Figurative Art in Medieval Islam and the Riddle of Bihzād of Herāt (1465–1535). By Michael Barry. pp. 408. Paris, Flammarion, 2004." Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 17.1 (2007): 64-68. pp. 361-363 Thereupon, the ifrit explains that he now must tear Māhān apart; if it were to spare him, the monster would be no true demon (dēw). Furthermore, the demon considers it ashamed to present as a fairy in the first place. Māhān is saved when the rooster sounds in the morning and everything demonic vanishes.Nünlist, Tobias (2015). Dämonenglaube im Islam [Daemonic Belief in Islam] (in German). Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. ISBN 978-3-110-33168-4. pp. 235-239

Nizami notes that the meaning of the story is that the ifrit is the consequence of Māhān's moral transgression. The ifrits in the story feature as moral instance and guardians of moral order.

Afarit appear already in early poems, such as those of Al-Maʿarri (973–1057), who describes his protagonist visiting a paradise with "narrow straits" and "dark valleys" for afarit, between heaven and hell.Islam, Arabs, and Intelligent World of the Jinn Amira El-Zein 2009 {{ISBN|978-0-815-65070-6}} page 20 In later works, the afarit are mentioned among the narratives collected in One Thousand and One Nights. In one tale called "The Porter and the Young Girls", a prince is attacked by pirates and takes refuge with a woodcutter. The prince finds an underground chamber in the forest leading to a beautiful woman who has been kidnapped by an ifrit. The prince sleeps with the woman and both are attacked by the jealous ifrit, who changes the prince into an ape. Later a princess restores the prince and fights a pitched battle with the ifrit, who changes shape into various animals, fruit, and fire until being reduced to cinders.{{cite book | first1=Anne E. |last1=Duggan | first2=Donald |last2=Haase | last3=Callow | first3=Helen J. | title=Folktales and Fairy Tales: Traditions and Texts from around the World |edition=2nd | publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA | publication-place=Santa Barbara, California | date=2016-02-12 | isbn=978-1-61069-254-0 |volume=2 | page= 402}} In "The Fisherman and the Jinni" an ifrit, locked in a jar by the Seal of Solomon, is released but later tricked by the fisherman again into the jar. Under the condition that the ifrit aids him to achieve riches, he releases the ifrit again.{{cite book | last=Weinstock | first=Jeffrey Andrew | title=The Ashgate Encyclopedia of Literary and Cinematic Monsters | publisher=Routledge | date=2016-04-01 | isbn=978-1-317-04425-3 | pages=166–169}} The latter ifrit, however, might be substituted by a marid, another type of powerful demon easily tricked by the protagonist.{{cite news|author = Leon Hale|title = Arabic mythology is worth revisiting|newspaper = Houston Chronicle|date = January 13, 2002}} The latter portrayal of an ifrit, as a wish-granting spirit released from a jar, became characteristic of Western depictions of jinn.

Afarit feature frequently in film and video games. In the Final Fantasy video game series, an ifrit appears as a summonable spirit and an enemy. Like its mythological counterpart, it is a spirit of fire and can use an iconic spell called Hellfire.Ruth Ayaß, Cornelia Gerhardt The Appropriation of Media in Everyday Life John Benjamins Publishing 2012 {{ISBN|9789027273376}} p. 205 In the fifth season of True Blood (2012), an ifrit seeks vengeance for murder of Iraqi civilians by U.S soldiers.Hudson, Dale. "'Of course there are Werewolves and Vampires': 'True Blood' and the Right to Rights for other Species." American Quarterly, vol. 65, no. 3, 2013, pp. 661–687., www.jstor.org/stable/43822924. In both the novel American Gods (2001) and the television adaptation by Neil Gaiman an ifrit disguised as a taxi-driver appears, trying to get used to his new role, seeking intimacy in a lonely world.Tara Prescott Neil Gaiman in the 21st Century: Essays on the Novels, Children's Stories, Online Writings, Comics and Other Works McFarland, 11.02.2015 {{ISBN|9780786494774}} p. 25.

{{Portal|Islam}}

• Archdemon
• Dybbuk
• dīv
• Genie in popular culture
• Imp
• Oni
• Rakshasa
• {{lang|ja-latn|Yūrei}}
• Zabaniyya

{{Notelist}}

{{clear}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{Wiktionary inline|عفريت}}

{{Characters and Names in Quran}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Chthonic beings

Category:Demons in Islam

Category:Ghosts

Category:Jahannam

Category:Jinn