The Shayateen
After he refused to prostrate before Adam, and was therefore expelled, Iblis swore to God that he would do his utmost to mislead mankind. It was then that he came to be known as Shaytan or Satan, “the rejected”, and his followers from among the Jinn and mankind as Shayateen. There is little information available about the nature and activities of these Shayateen, but when we look at history, we can begin to discern what has been the basis of their strategy.
It has been, evidently, to mislead mankind. But not just on an individual basis. Shaytan is seeking to submit man to the ultimate humiliation, that is, to enslave himself to the ultimate negation of Islam. This plot began a long time ago, from the time God announces to Shaytan, in Surat al Isra, 64:
Lead to destruction those whom thou canst among them, with thy (seductive) voice; make assaults on them with thy cavalry and thy infantry; mutually share with them wealth and children; and make promises to them. But Satan promises them nothing but deceit.
Some Muslim scholars of Tafsir interpret the share in children as an interbreeding between Jinn and Humans and quote a Hadith related by at-Tirmidhi in which the prophet, peace be with him, said: “Amongst you are aliens” and, when asked by 'Aisha, "what are aliens?” replied: “Those in whom the Jinn have a share”. The interpretation of verses and prophetic traditions, which are not explicit about the way in which the devil or the Jinn interfere with humans, may also have been influenced by Israelite interpretations of the Torah.
This idea of Jinn interbreeding with human beings, is referred to in the Bible, in the story of the “Sons of God”. In Genesis 6:1-4:
Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, that the Sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were beautiful; and they took them wives of all which they chose. Then the Lord said, My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years. The Nephilim were upon the Earth in those days and thereafter too. Those sons of the gods who cohabited with the daughters of Adam, and they bore children into them. They were the Mighty Ones of Eternity (Anakim).
This passage has confused many Christian scholars, however, according to a number of Jewish scriptures from outside the Bible, known collectively as the Apocrypha and the Pseudepigrapha, the Sons of God were identified as “Fallen Angels”, in other words, Shaytan and his Jinn followers who were expelled by God.15
While for many these topics may seem obscure and not immediately relevant, they are essential for understanding the belief-system of the elite. Moreover, these ideas are being increasingly appropriated into the mainstream by authors like Dan Brown of the Da Vinci Code. These are topics which are increasingly becoming a part of mainstream discourse as well as the symbolism of Western culture, and their understanding is essential for a proper understanding of these societies, their direction, and how to cope with them.
Footnotes
