Mark Gagnon (15:45)
Think it's really just to cover up the awkwardness of someone having a loud ass sneeze on an airplane. It's just basically being like, oh, all right, you okay? Anyway, there's more jins. There's the Muslim jinn, which this might be the most interesting one to me because they are the jinns that believe in Islam and try to follow the teachings. So these jinns are like the ones we talked about in the Quran that overheard the Prophet reciting the Quran and decided to become Muslim. They pray, they worship, they live peacefully, staying away and you know, they don't cause harm or anything like that. And they have some of the same powers as other jinn, like, you know, invisibility, you know, supernatural, things like that. But they use their abilities for good. And then you also have the shayateen. The singular is the shaytan. And, you know, they follow the. The iblis. This is the Islamic or the Muslim version of Satan. And these guys are a little different because, again, not all Shayateen are jinns. Gets confusing, but follow me here. The shayateen is a descriptive word for someone whose main goal is to lead people away from good. So that means humans can also be shayateen. They whisper bad thoughts and they, you know, try to mess with people's emotions to cause anger or pride. And the Quran talks about them a lot, actually, saying that they, you know, try to eavesdrop on heaven to steal information, but then they got chased away by shooting stars. They also can be involved and like magic and work with people who practice black magic. But what make the Shayateen so sort of unique is that these jinn have chosen to do wrong and are seen as the most harmful. So they're almost the exact opposite. And Iblis is a fascinating, you know, sort of character, I guess you could say, or force if you're, you know, a believer of, of of Islam. So the Iblis is. Is fascinating. So thousands of years before Adam was created, the Jinn lived on earth. And they had their own societies, families, free will, all that stuff. And they weren't all evil, right? Some are, you know, sort of devout. They follow Allah. Others are rebellious, just like humans would be. But here's the interesting thing. The Jinn begin to cause chaos. They start to kill. They're spreading corruption on earth. So according to some Islamic scholars, Allah sent down a group of angels to subdue them. The rebellious Jinn were then cast out and scattered, especially into remote places, like, you know, ruins and oceans and deserts and all that kind of stuff. And among the jinn was a being named Iblis. Now, here's where things get a little crazy. Iblis was not an angel, despite some of the early confusion. And the Quran makes it clear. It says he was one of the Jinn. So he disobeyed the command of his Lord. But Iblis was so righteous and devout that Allah allowed him to rise up and live among the angels he worshiped for thousands of years, thinking of himself as like a. Like a. Like a prodigy of the Jinn. He was highly respected and powerful and pure. Da da da da on the outside. But Then here's the turning point. Allah creates Adam, the first human. And then Allah says to the angels, and Iblis bow to Adam. All the angels obeyed, but Iblis refused. Why? He says, I am better than him. You created me from fire and you created him from clay. And again, it wasn't about obedience necessarily. It was about pride. Iblis, you know, he couldn't accept that a being of clay would be honored above the being of fire. You know, like this, like more powerful, powerful force. He believed. So what does Allah do? He expelled him from his mercy. Then this is what he says in the Quran. Then get out of here. For indeed you are expelled, and indeed upon you is my curse until the day of judgment. But Iblis wasn't done. He vows revenge because you have led me astray, I will surely sit and wait for them on your straight path. So it's very similar to the, you know, the story of the fall of, you know, Lucifer in, you know, Christianity where you have this angel that's in, in heaven and God says, okay, you're going to serve and, you know, have respect from humankind, Adam and Eve, these beings, these humans that I created. And Lucifer refuses and his pride ultimately gets him cast out of heaven. It's a very similar story. Interesting. I did not know that that was the understanding of Iblis or Shaytan. And so Iblis gets cast away and he would now spend his existence leading humans and jinn astray, becoming the shaytan, right? Satan, the whisperer, the deceiver. And many jinn followed Iblis in his rebellion. These became who we mentioned earlier, right? These, these shayatan, the, the plural of shaitan, the evil jinn. They spread mischief, whisper to humans, possess people, do all the bad, evil stuff that you can imagine an evil spirit would do. But not all the jinn followed him. Some jinn are still believers, like the Muslim jinn who overheard the Prophet Muhammad reciting the Quran. So remarkably, the jinn have these physical needs similar to humans. They eat, they drink, they marry, they have kids. There's actually a hadith in which a jinn asked the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him for provisions. And he responded by designating bones and animal droppings as their food. True thing. So the Prophet says, every bone over which the name of Allah has been mentioned will be for you more than enough meat and the dung of camels will be food for your animals. It's pretty wild. That's right in there. That's, that's a. That is a hadith, but I did not know that. So for this reason Muslims are instructed not to use bones or droppings for cleaning after relieving themselves. Wow. So they don't use bones. I guess that was a thing that people were using back in the day, a bone, as they're considered provisions for the Jinn described by the Prophet as your brothers. This is. This is fascinating to me. I did not really know any of this. So in pre Islamic Arabia, the Jinn were worshiped by many and thought to inspire poets and prophets. And the Quran explicitly forbids this. They say, don't do this, emphasizing that the Jinn, like humans, are merely the creations of Allah and you cannot worship the creation when you should worship the Creator. This is, you know, the foundational tenet of Islam known as Tawid, the worship of the one God alone. Their interactions with humans can range from benign to harmful. While most jinn simply exist in their own sort of realm without interfering with human affairs. Some, particularly those aligned with evil that follow, you know, Iblis or, you know, the Shaytan, they seek to mislead and harm people. And fundamentally, the Jinn serves the same purpose as humans in creation, to worship Allah alone. That is their job. As the Quran states in Surah Ad Darhiat. And I did not create the Jinn in mankind except to worship me. So despite their supernatural nature, they face the same spiritual tests that all human beings do. What's up, people? Quick announcement. If you are a fan of Camp Gagnon or religion camp, I have great news because we are dropping History Camp. That's right. This is the channel. We're going to be exploring the most interesting, fascinating, controversial topics from all time throughout all history. Right. You probably know about Benjamin Franklin, I don't know, Thomas Jefferson, Nikola Tesla, interesting figures from history, and you probably learned about them school. And they were pretty boring, but not here. Now, as you know, I was raised by a conspiracy theorist. So I'm going to be diving deep into all of the interesting, strange, occult and secretive societal relationships that all of these famous, influential men from our shared past have. So if you're interested, please go ahead and subscribe to the YouTube channel. It will be pinned in the description as well as the comments. And if you're on Spotify, this doesn't really apply to you, but these episodes will be dropping as well. Just go ahead and give us a high rating because it really helps the show. Now, let's get back to it. Now. There's all sorts of interesting implications that occur now in Muslim culture as a result of this idea of jinns. Right in the way that, you know, Christians say, bless you. Muslims have their own version of this. This. So in Muslim communities worldwide, one of the most, I guess, you know, iconic or used phrases is a protective phrase, and it stands above basically all the others. And this is the full phrase here. Bismillah ah rahman a rahim. So this translates literally to in the name of Allah, the most gracious, the most merciful. And this simple invocation serves as both a shield but also a signal to the jinn. Most Muslims today, you know, are just taught to say, you know, bismillah. And they say this all the time before entering a home, specifically, like an abandoned one or anything like that, or really before any type of undertaking or something that they're going to do. So the same applies when entering, you know, maybe like, a bathroom. Places traditionally believed to be, you know, frequented by jinns. And it's not just tradition. It's mentioned in the authentic hadiths where the Prophet Muhammad advised reciting specific prayers when entering places like these bathrooms or, you know, other places that jinns might be in order to seek refuge from these entities. And why is this invocation so effective? According to the Islamic understanding, the uttering bismillah alerts any jinn in the vicinity that a believer is present, someone that follows Allah. It serves as, like, a warning, but also gives the jinn, like, an opportunity to, like, get out of the way and kind of, you know, leave me alone. Basically, it's like, in the power of Christ compels you. Something you might hear Christians say functions in a very similar way. Bismillah. And so the name of Allah literally works as, like, a spiritual barrier. Another interesting thing that, you know, happens sometimes in, you know, I guess you could say more religious Muslim households is that there's a belief that by pouring hot water down a drain without saying bismillah in the name of God, it is possible that someone could unknowingly, like, burn or even, like, kill a jinn that's, like, in the pipes. And then this can lead to retaliation, as the jinns are believed to, like, have families and, you know, communities. They might seek revenge. Which is why many Muslims will have a habit to say bismillah before boiling, you know, pouring out boiling water. You know, it's partially out of superstition, but it's also this root, this, like, you know, old tradition of respecting the unseen or these, you know, supernatural beings, some of which, you know, might be, you know, Muslim or, you know, believers in Allah. And the traditional advice avoids, you know, even urinating in like, Like a hole. Or something, or, you know, near bushes or stagnant water without saying bismillah first, as it might be possible you're disrupting or disturbing jinn, which then can retaliate against you. Another interesting thing is the passage of night and how nighttime is seen as a, you know, a playground for the jinn to actually cause, you know, problems. So in Islamic culture worldwide, specifically in sort of the Middle east, parents will call their children indoors at maghrib or sunset. And this practice is actually rooted in, you know, prophetic guidance. You know, there's been, it's been narrated by a gentleman, Jabir IBN Abdullah, who reported that the prophet Muhammad said, when the wings of the night spread, or when evening comes, keep your children in, for the devils come out at that time. So again, if this is in your holy book, at nighttime, kids got to come inside the, you know, street lights. Come on, get in there. And the night is considered the domain of the jinn, a time when the barrier of the world becomes thinner. I think, you know, even Christians have this something known as like the witching hour. You know, like Christian lore will have like 3am it's the time where, you know, the, the evil world and our world have like, you know, the veil is, is closer. And so that becomes this sort of like superstition. You could say, hey, don't play outside after dark. And it has a fundamental, you know, basis in religious texts. Another interesting thing that again, I don't know how prevalent these are. I don't know if they're widespread or if like a lot of Muslims practice this or maybe it's something you've heard like your parents say or something. But there's a taboo or you perhaps a superstition around whistling specifically at night. Fascinating. Again, I never knew this. So again, on this topic, there's a lot of different variations or opinions specifically from Islamic scholars and depending on the region, etc. But there's a superstition or a strong discouragement of whistling in the evening time. Some of these scholars have said that they consider whistling as a dislike or something that could, you know, come with, you know, I guess, invoking a jinn. And some people believe that this whistling sort of superstition has a, you know, pre Islamic sort of Arabic custom where, you know, various sounds were thought to communicate with the unseen. So, you know, nowadays mainstream Muslim scholarship doesn't, you know, definitively connect whistling with the jinn. But there is sort of like this weird cultural avoidance that persists, you know, even to today in some communities. Here is a bullet. Imagine this. You're 30ft underground, digging through frozen earth with spoons and mess hall plates. Nazi guards patrol overhead. One wrong move, one loose pebble, and it's over. But on this night in 1944, 76 Allied prisoners would attempt the impossible, tunneling their way to freedom in the largest prisoner of war escape of World War II. And centuries earlier. In a cold stone chamber, a teenage girl in armor stood before her accusers. Her crime? Leading armies, speaking to angels, and daring to challenge the most powerful men in Europe. Joan of Arc's trial would become one of history's most infamous moments. These are just two stories from Today in History, the newsletter that brings you the most fascinating events from the past, delivered fresh to your inbox. From epic wars to religious rebellions, ancient mysteries to modern marvels, don't miss another piece of history. Scan the QR code now or click the link in the description to sign up for Today in History. In a secret CIA facility, doctors administered mysterious substances to unwitting Americans. Their goal? Mind control. The year was 1973, and as agents frantically burned thousands of documents, Project MK Ultra's darkest secrets nearly vanished into smoke. Now step back to Friday the 13th, 1314. The Grand Master of history's most powerful military order kneels before the flames. As the fire rises, Jacques de Molay, last leader of the Knights Templar, utters a curse so chilling that when both the French king and pope die within the year, whispers of dark prophecy spread across Europe. Now these aren't crazy conspiracy theories or something you read in, you know, some fan fiction. These are real historical events you'll discover in Today in History, the newsletter that uncovers the strange, shocking and sublime moments that shape our world. Get your daily dose of mind bending history. Scan the QR code or click the link below to join Today in History.
