الجن في الشعر الجاهلي

Abstract EN

The research discusses the concept of jinn in the pre-Islamic poetry in the light of mythology.

Firstly, it discusses Arabs early beliefs about jinns as creatures that could change their shapes to dangerous forms such as snakes and goblins.

Rituals are performed in women holiness of those creatures.

The early Arabs believed in seeking good from those creatures and asking for their protection from evil or any form of danger that might cause harm to them.

The research goes on in depth to discuss what the Arabs used to believe in.

They mentioned the dwelling-places 0/ the jinns in their pre-Islamic poems, According to those early Arabs, the jinns had specials relationships with certain animals such as rabbits and hedgehogs which they used as their vehicles of transpiration from one place to another.

They also used oxen, camels and horses as faster means of transportation.

However, they preferred the last three for their fiirious behavior.

The Arabs believed that male human beings get married to female jinns and male jinns married female humans.

They believed that all mothers of the non-existing first generations of the Arabs were dependants of the jiims, For the important role that the jinns had played in the early Arabs lives, the Arabs had irformed different types of rituals so as to please the jinns and be protected from their dangers.

Crossing rituals, for example, was the first type of all rituals.

There are divided into expressive rituals like uttering of some charms, braying of the donkeys or associating companionship to God.

The second type are called provocative rituals which had to do with making places look filthy or putting bones of the dead in different places.

Another type of ritual is known as expectation whereby the Arabs believed that all types of sickness originated from the jinns such as insanity madness.

There was also the ritual of success which took place only when someone is trapped by the jinns.

It was in the belief of the early Arabs that when they killed a snake, they became afraid of the jinns for revenge.

To avoid revenge, they used snake dung (droppings) and applied it to the head of the dead snake.

They also used to put some ashes on the snake that was killed.

Finally, the research discusses poetry contents of the pre-Islamic era which deals mainly with such beliefs.

Such poetry contents are evidence on their beliefs and practices before islam.