Jinn and humans are said to live in parallel worlds but sometimes they collide in a mix of passions, obsession, and love.

A thread on jinn-human love and sex

The most famous jinn-human pair were the parents of the Queen of Sheba, Bilqis.

King Al Hadhad was out hunting when he encountered a family of deer. In a moment of mercy, he stayed his hand, sparing their life. The deer turned out to be a tribe of jinn.

Their king, Sakan rewarded Al Hadhad by offering him marriage with a jinn.

Thus was King Hadhad married to jinn princess, Ruwaha. They sired several children who were whisked away into the realms of the jinn.

Their daughter, Bilqis ascended the throne becoming the famed Queen of Sheba, King Solomon’s love

Al Jahiz tells us of Habbah and her jinn lover, Manzur who taught her the secrets of healing. Supposedly she was granted a magic herb which could heal with a touch.

Fatimah bint Najariyah was said to have jinn servants, one of which was her paramour.

They would meet in secret trysts by candle light, the jinn taking corporeal shape to lay with her.

From Sudan to Morocco, relationships with jinn are understood as a fusion of Islam and indigenous practices.

Lalla Mirra, a jinniya and folk-saint, is an amorous jinn who teases and seduces mortal men. She is said to be so seductive her lovers would be enflamed with obsession.

Deeply jealously, she grips humans with maddening passion.

The obsession could only be tempered if the human married her with offerings of henna and candles to slate her desire.

These spirit marriages are found throughout the region sharing commonality with practices found with the Ewe, Igbo, and Yoruba in West Africa. Similar practices are found in Southeast Asian shamanic rites

Other relationships are less commitment-oriented.

Aicha al-Baghiya, the embodiment of alluring and free fire, prefers less licit relationships. She appears as a woman with yellow skirts, dancing joyously.

She prefers nightly trysts, manifesting, seducing, using men for pleasure before disappearing in a perfumed cloud

The Moroccan Haraja appears as part red dog whose presence causees ill ease at night.

Her desire for sex is so consuming she assaults strangers at night. Haraja is another jinn who changes sex and can appear as a he-goat.

Jinn-human relationships also include the succubus and incubus.

Qarinah appears at night, causing sleep paralysis and night-time emissions. Her victims wake groggy and lethargic.

The shapeshifting Basty appears as either male or female, riding in on a nightmare and pressing down on the chest of victims before laying with them sexually. Basty is blamed for unexpected pregnancies, wet dreams, and erotic dreams.

The experience is described as a nightmare

Siluwa, a shapeshifting river jinn appear suddenly to travelers, coupling with them to birth half-jinn children.

Shiqq were also said to lay with humans. Appearing as monstrous, malformed creatures, they lay with men and women and give birth to jinn monsters known as Nasnas.

But jinn-human relationships could also be loving.

In literature, The Nights tells the story of a beggar woman who appeared before a merchant begging marriage. He took her hand not knowing her true nature.

When his life was in danger from being drowned, she revealed herself as a powerful jinnya and saved her beloved husband

Jinn also inspired poetry. While often appearing as a muse, they could also become lovers. Coupling with humans and inspiring passionate love poems.

There are even magic texts detailing the summoning of jinn lovers. From Al Tabasi and Al Tilimsani, the texts detail elaborate rites testing the mettle of the conjurer with days of grueling rituals.

The sorcerer is granted a jinn familiar, or Tabi’ah who becomes his lover

There are also talismans used to attract a jinn lover, traced out in silver during the hour of Venus when Taurus is rising.

Jinn-human relationships are found throughout lore, from literature, to oral traditions, to even the ruling of jurists. They speak to a body of experiences with love and the erotic. They also speak to anxieties around the stranger, female sexuality, and even “forbidden” love

One example is the folk belief in South Asia which states jinn hang around tress at night so women are told to be mindful of their hair lest the jinn fall in love.

I’ll be covering more on the jinn and Islamic esotericism in future threads as well as on my podcast. Releasing an episode on the Qareen or jinn companion today on patreon https://www.patreon.com/headonhistory