Jinn (Arabic: جن‎ ǧinn, singular جني ǧinnī ; variant spelling djinn) or genies are supernatural creatures in Arab folklore and Islamic teachings that occupy a parallel world to that of mankind. Together, jinn, humans and angels make up the three sentient creations of Allah. Religious sources say barely anything about them; however, the Qur'an mentions that Jinn are made of smokeless flame or "scorching fire".[1] Like human beings, the Jinn can also be good, evil, or neutrally benevolent.[2] The jinn are mentioned frequently in the Qur'an, and there is a surah entitled Sūrat al-Jinn in the Qur'an. In many modern cultures, a Genie is portrayed as a magical being that grants wishes. The earliest of such Jinn stories in folklore originate in the book of the One Thousand and One Nights.[3] Jinn is a word of the collective number in Arabic, derived from the Arabic root ǧ-n-n meaning 'to hide' or 'be hidden'. Other words derived from this root are maǧnūn 'mad' (literally, 'one whose intellect is hidden'), ǧunūn 'madness', and ǧanīn 'embryo, fetus' ('hidden inside the womb').[4] The Arabic root ǧ-n-n means 'to hide, conceal'. A word for garden or Paradise, جنّة ǧannah, is a cognate of the Hebrew word גן gan 'garden', derived from the same Semitic root. In arid climates, gardens have to be protected against desertification by walls; this is the same concept as in the word "paradise" from pairi-daêza, an Avestan word for garden that literally means 'having walls built around'. Thus the protection of a garden behind walls implies its being hidden from the outside. Arabic lexicons such as Edward William Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon define ǧinn not only as spirits, but also anything concealed through time, status, and even physical darkness.[5] The word genie in English is derived from Latin genius, which meant a sort of tutelary or guardian spirit thought to be assigned to each person at their birth. English borrowed the French descendant of this word, génie; its earliest written attestation in English, in 1655, is a plural spelled "genyes." The French translators of The Book of One Thousand and One Nights used génie as a translation of jinnī because it was similar to the Arabic word in sound and in meaning. This use was also adopted in English and has since become dominant. Many cultural interpretations noted the Jinn as having distinct male and females, they would often appear wearing vests and sashes, various interpretations note that they tied their hair long vertically and most probably had some or no facial hair. According to various stories Jinn could exist independently or bound to any particular object. In Arabic, the word ǧinn is in the collective number, translated in English as plural (e.g., "several genies"); ǧinnī is in the singulative number, used to refer to one individual, which is translated by the singular in English (e.g., "one genie"). Therefore, the word 'jinn' in English writing is treated as a plural. Amongst archaeologists dealing with ancient Middle Eastern cultures, any spirit lesser than angels is often referred to as a jinni, especially when describing stone carvings or other forms of art. Kanzul Itman is the name of the 1910 Urdu translation of the Qur'an by Ahmad Raza Khan. It was subsequently translated into English by Professor Shah Faridul Haque. Recently, it has been translated into many other regional languages and become popular on the internet. Kanzul Iman has been translated into the English language by many Islamic scholars. This task was first of this was published by Professor Fatimi of the University of Kuwait, in Karachi, Pakistan. The second translation was completed by Professor Shah Fareed al Haq of Pakistan[when?] and was published in India and Pakistan. The commentary notes on Kanz al Imaan by Sadr al Faadhil, Mawlana Na'eem al-Din Muradabadi has been translated into the English language by Dr. Professor Majeedullah of Lahore, Pakistan. Kanzul Imaan has also been translated into the Sindhi language by Mufti Muhammad Raheem Sikandari. In the nation of Mauritius Kanzul Iman has been translated into the Creole language, by the combined effort of Mawlana Mansoor and Mawlana Najeeb both of Mauritius. This translation of the Qur'an was first published on January 17, 1996 under the supervision of Shameem Ashraf Azhari, the khatib (resident Imam) of the Jaame Masjid, Mauritius. He was assisted by many ulema and politicians in this task.

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