Are jinns and demons able to give harm to humans? The short answer is…
Jinns were created as responsible creatures, just like humans. (Dhariyat,51/56). There are jinns that believe in and worship Allah and do good deeds as well as the disbeliever jinns that want to harm people and try to withhold them from having faith and doing good deeds. The devils of humans and jinns are stated in the Holy Qur’an as, “And thus We have made for every prophet an enemy – devils from mankind and jinn, inspiring to one another decorative speech in delusion. But if your Lord had willed, they would not have done it, so leave them and that which they invent.” (An’am,6/112). As pointed out in the verse, jinns that commit deeds like that of devils are called as devil. It is stated in the 50th verse of Surah al-Kahf that Iblis, the head of the devils, is one of jinns as follows, “And [mention] when We said to the angels, “Prostrate to Adam,” and they prostrated, except for Iblees. He was of the jinn and departed from [i.e., disobeyed] the command of his Lord. Then will you take him and his descendants as allies other than Me while they are enemies to you? Wretched it is for the wrongdoers as an exchange.”
When we think about the Holy Qur’an in general and particularly about these two verses whose English meanings are given below, we see that the devils and jinns want to give harm to people primarily related to belief and deeds. Because when we look at the Holy Qur’an and the explanations of the Prophet (saw), we see that the hostility of devils and the jinns that commit bad deeds are in the nature of deceiving people and encouraging them to be evil; so any material or physical harm is not mentioned. For this reason, it is expressed in the Holy Qur’an, “… and do not follow the footsteps of Satan. Indeed, he is to you a clear enemy.” (Baqarah, 2/208) Here it is clear that what is meant by the expression “not to follow the footsteps of devil” is to not commit bad deeds by obeying the misgivings of devils and jinns. It is stated in the 6th verse of Surah al-Jinn, “And there were men from mankind who sought refuge in men from the jinn, so they [only] increased them in burden [i.e., sin].” As explained in this verse, jinns harm people because of humans’ desire to communicate and get help from them despite all the clear warnings of Allah (swt).
This point is mentioned in the Surah al-Falaq and al-Nas and people are encouraged to take refuge in Allah against the evil and misgivings of humans, jinn, and all kinds of creatures. It means that it is not possible for devils and jinns to dominate over and give harm to true believers of Allah. The domination of devils and the devils of jinns will only be over those who become friends with them and associate partners to Allah (see Nahl, 16/99-100).
In this respect, believers must take refuge with Allah against all the evil and harm of jinn and human devils and should not be afraid of them. The people who do not incline towards them by any means and who use their will in line with only the right and the truth will be protected from all effects and harms that may come from jinns and devils.
Source: Presidency Of Religious Affairs The Turkey, High Board of Religious Affairs FATWAS
Is There Any Creature Called “Jinn”?
