Other Beings…
I’m probably a bit late on this but there are a fascinating couple of posts on the nature of the Jinn in Islamic cosmology (and their relationship to Fortean phenomena) over at Fantastic Planet and the theme has also been taken up by Alchemical Braindamage and Tim Boucher.
All this got me thinking of other instances of such non-human beings in the world’s Scriptures. I suppose the most likely mention of the Jinn in non-Islamic religions would be the concept of the ‘Sons of God’ (interesting that the same title is used as would later be applied to Christ) from the Bible in Genesis 6:1
Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them that the Sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. And the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the Sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
But there are other anomalous figures in Islamic tradition that are as interesting as the Jinn. Perhaps the most interesting of these is the figure of al-Khidr - a being who is immortal and who appears as completely clothed in green in order to help and assistant people of his choosing. Clearly this figure has parallels with the folklore of many non-Islamic countries. Britain in particular has a particular connection with Khidr in the figures of the Green Man, Robin Hood and the Arthurian Legend of Gawain and the Green Knight. Interestingly, Khidr is also synonymous with Saint George - England’s patron Saint (as well as the patron Saint of the Sufis) and alleged founder of the Order of the Garter.
Khidr makes his first appearance in the Qur’an in a story - see Wiki link above for full overview - which is as mysterious as it is fascinating (as an aside, I shall shortly post an analysis of these Qur’anic verses which are strongly suggestive of malamati behaviour on the part of Khidr. Essentially, an accepted prophet, Moses, criticizes Khidr for breaking Islamic law on several occasions but it is Khidr who is ‘right’ in the tale and Moses who is ‘wrong’ - Khidr is a kind of ‘hidden teacher’ who is immortal because he has discovered the ‘water of life’.
This element is a clear tie in to the later alchemical tradition and such figures as the Count Saint Germain of whom similar tales of longevity were told, and of course there is the figure of the Wandering Jew as another archetype of this kind. Numerous legends surrounding several alchemists - Flamel and Helvetius for example - also speak of meetings with ‘the Wandering Jew’ or other figure who has lived for several hundred years.
In the Islamic sense, Khidr is not so much regarded as a folkloric figure but as an actuality and reports of encounters with him are numerous. The great Sufi Ibn Arabi (among others) claimed to be personally initiated into Sufism by Khidr rather than by a living Sheikh and there are many other stories of meetings with this figure - some even in a modern context.
For anyone interested in following up on the Khidr motifs, khidr.org is a great place to start and there is some useful reference material here.
