Page-21:Jinns have the power of doing hard laborious activities: Jinns are the divers and builders: Jinns were included in Sulaiman (A.)’s army: Giant and mighty Jinns: Jinns do not know unseen or invisible:

Jinns have the power of doing hard laborious activities:

Allah the almighty said:                                                                                     

              يعملون له ما يشاء من محاريب وتماثيل وجفان كالجواب وقدور راسيات

“These jinns do for Solaiman (A.)what he wants from the beautiful constructions(A.), wonderous monuments(from copper and glass) huge bowls as (large as) tanks, and big cooking pans” (Saba-13) Here تماثيل means monuments, not statues.  Because statues are Haram in Islam as Allah the almighty said - اذ قال لابيه وقومه ما هذه التماثيل التى انتم لها عاكفون “(Remember) when Ibrahim (A.) said to his father and his people: “What are these statues to which you are devoted(to worship) ?” (Al-Ambia:52) This verse says against the statues, which are considered as the medium of Shirk or making partner with Allah the almighty.

Muhammad Ali As-Sabuni described in his Tafsir-  

 قوله تعالى “ومن   الجن من يعمل بين يديه باذن ربه " أى وسخرنا له الجن تعمل بأمره وإرادته ما شاء مما يعجز عنه البشر  يعمل هؤلاء الجن لسليمان ما يريدمن القصور الشامخة والتماثيل العجيبة من النحاس والزجاج قال الحسن ولم تكن يؤمئذ محرمة وقد حرمت فى شريعتنا سدا للذريعة لئلا تعبد من دون الله

Allah’s saying:  -    “and they were Jinns, who worked in front of Solaiman (A.)  by the permission of his Rob.” (Saba: 12)  means- “And I subordinated jinn to him, they act by his command and wish as he wanted, from the activities that human beings are unable to do. These jinns do for Solaiman (A.) what he wanted to build the lofty palaces and the wondrous statues of copper and glass. Al-Hasan said, “It (To make the statues) was not forbidden at that time. It has been made forbidden in our Shariah to stop the pretext of worshiping anything except Allah.” (Ref.1)

Jinns are the divers and builders:

Allah the almighty said in another Ayat: الشياطين كل بناءوغواص“And Satans all were builders and divers. (Sura Saad:37)

 Jinns were included in Sulaiman (A.)’s army:

The Quran says-

    وحشر لسليمان جنوده من الجن والانس والطير فهم يوزعون    “  And for Solaiman his soldiers of the jinn, human being and birds were gathered, and they were distributed in different levels.” (So that no one should advance from his position) ( An-Naml-17) Ibn Kathir said in his Tafsir-

ركب فيهم فى ابهة وعظمة كبيرة, فى الانس وكانوا هم يلونه والجن هم بعدهم فى المنزلة والطير ومنزلتها فوق رأسه فان كان حر اظللته منه   “Solaiman (A.) ascend among them in great pomp and grandeur, and human beings, they used to stay next to him,  the jinns were after them in rank, and the place of birds was over his head. If it is hot, they  shade him with their wings.” (Ref.2)

Giant and mighty Jinns:

Quran says-قال يا ايها  الملاء ايكم يأتنى بعرشها قبل ان يأتونى مسلمين “Solaiman (A.) said to his council, which one of you can bring me her(Bilqis A.) throne before they come to me as Muslims?” (Sura An-Naml-38)قال عفريت من الجن انا أتيك به قبل ان تقوم من مقامك وإنى عليه لقوى امين     

“A Giant jinn replied, ‘I will bring it to you before you can even rise from your seat. Indeed  I am strong and trustworthy enough for that job.” (An-Naml-39) Ibn Jarir said in his Tafsir: قال عفريت means قال رئيس من الجن مارد قوى a leader of Jinn, giant and strong enough said: I will bring her throne to you before you stand up from your this seat. It is said that he (A.) used to sit until midday.” (Ref.3)

Jinns do not know unseen or invisible:

 The Quran says -

 قل لايعلم من فى السموات والأرض الغيب إلا الله” O prophet, you tell -no one in the skies and the earth knows the unseen but Allah.(Sura An-Naml-65)” It means Knowledge of the unseen is fixed with Allah the almighty. So no angel or human being knows the unseen.”(Safwatut Tafasir,Volume-20,page-416  ) Allah, the almighty also  said in another Ayat-وعنده مفاتيح الغيب لايعلمها الا هو “And to Him are the keys of unseen, none but He knows them.” (Al-Anam-59)

References:(المراجع)

1.Safwatut Tafasir, Volume 22,page 448,Author-Muhammad Ali As-Sabuni, Printed in Darul Quran,Bairut-4^th Edition.

2.Mukhtasar Tafsir-i-Ibn Kathir,Volume-2,page 668,Darul Quran ,Beirut.

3, Tafsirut Tabari, Volume -5, page-563,  Author-Abu Ja’far Muhammad Ibn Jarir Ibn Yazid Ibn Kathir At-Tabari,   1^st Edition -1994, with refinement, investigation, checking and commenting by Dr. Bashar A’wad M’aruf and E’sam Fares Al-Harstani, Published by Muasasa –Tur Resalah, Beirut, Lebanon.