I have recently been writing about occultism throughout the world, focusing on practices largely undertaken by individuals. So, imagine my surprise to read an article by an Iranian news agency that claims that the nation of Israel relied on occult practices during its recent war with Iran.
They reported that Abdullah Ganji, former chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)-affiliated Javan, wrote the following to his 150,000 followers on X on July 9: “After the recent war, several pieces of paper were found on the streets of Tehran containing talismans with Jewish symbols. A few years ago, the Supreme Leader said that hostile countries and Western and Hebrew intelligence services use occult sciences and jinn beings for espionage.”
His reference to the Supreme Leader’s statement is likely related to the March 2020 televised address in which Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei alleged that Iran had “enemies from among both jinn and human beings”—remarks that were later removed from some official transcripts.
Following the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, similar claims were made by Iranian seminary teacher Mostafa Karami, who, in a televised interview, said: “Considering the Zionists’ history of subjugating genies, they carry out many of their missions through this means, and demons are their secret army.”
There is a lot to unpack here, so let’s begin with an understanding of how Islamic clerics define “jinn.”
The word “jinn” (or “jinni” in the singular) comes from the Arabic root verb “janna,” meaning “to hide or conceal.” The terms “jinn” and “genie” are used interchangeably. In fact, the English word “genie“ comes from the French “génie” which was coined as a translation of the Arabic word “jinni” in the book The Arabian Nights. Definitive information about jinn is difficult to source due to the varied interpretations and opinions of Islamic scholars over hundreds of years. According to the website whyislam.org, “Jinn are a widely misunderstood topic. Over millennia, folklore has mixed up Islamic tradition with mythological creatures, fantastical adventures, and ghost stories.”
According to Islamic teaching, jinn are spirits unseen to humans, but which inhabit the earth alongside us. They were supposedly created by Allah from smokeless flame, and they claim that every person has a jinni as his constant companion (which sounds somewhat similar to the belief in a guardian angel). Muslim scholars claim all jinn have free will, which means there are Muslim jinn, Christian jinn, Jewish jinn, and atheist jinn. Jinn are also believed to be shapeshifters, meaning that they are able to take on any physical form, including that of humans and animals.
Interestingly, some Islamic scholars claim that jinn were involved in soothsaying and psychic arts. They say that after eavesdropping on discussions taking place among angels, jinn would cause corruption on the earth using that information, also providing it to help psychics seem as if they were predicting the future.
In yet another antisemitic trope, there is even a claim amongst some Muslims that Jews have a special relationship with jinn and they know the proper magical procedure to exploit the jinn to their advantage. No doubt this belief led to Iranian cleric Hojatoleslam Mehdi Karami claiming that, “Given the Zionists’ history of controlling jinn, many of their missions are carried out through them.”
These comments from Iranian hardliners were not just reserved for Israel’s direct conflict with Iran, with some claiming a year ago that Israel had an advantage against Hamas and Hezbollah due to their manipulation of the jinn. However, not everybody is convinced, with many pointing out that the Iranian regime is simply looking for a convenient scapegoat to explain why they could not withstand the military might of the Israeli armed forces.
Bizarrely, the jinn aren’t just a convenient scapegoat for military failure, they are also frequently mentioned as the cause of moral failure in court cases in Muslim countries. In 2014, a Saudi news agency reported that a judge who allegedly confiscated large plots of empty government land using forged deeds claimed it was a jinn who made him carry out his illegal activities. Considering there is a widespread Islamic belief that jinn are able to possess humans, he claimed he was, in fact, possessed and did not know what he was doing. A similar defense was used in a 2020 British murder case wherein the defendant claimed he did not commit the crime but pointed to the real culprit being a 620-year-old jinni named Robert Smith Wood.
The Islamic view of jinn is evidently a way for Muslims to explain the entities that inhabit the unseen realm. Whenever we encounter matters we cannot explain, we must always turn to God’s Word. In this instance, we must affirm that the Bible does not refer to jinn at all. Although we may see similarities between the Islamic concept of jinn and the biblical description of demons, there are notable differences between the two, and therefore, we should be careful not to definitively connect the two. We must also reject claims from the Iranian regime that Jews use jinn to gain a battlefield advantage. Such claims are not only without any basis whatsoever, they are also clearly antisemitic in nature.
What the Iranian regime fails to understand are the biblical promises made to Israel. Although they may ascribe Israel’s strength and existence to the occult, in reality, we know that God has His hand on His people and is sovereignly directing the affairs of mankind with a view to fulfilling the promises of His Word.
One such promise is beautifully laid out in Jeremiah 32:37-42: “Behold, I will gather them out of all countries where I have driven them in My anger, in My fury, and in great wrath; I will bring them back to this place [the land of Israel], and I will cause them to dwell safely. They shall be My people, and I will be their God; then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me. Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will assuredly plant them in this land, with all My heart and with all My soul.” For thus says the Lᴏʀᴅ: ‘Just as I have brought all this great calamity on this people, so I will bring on them all the good that I have promised them.'”
To that we say, “Amen” and “Maranatha”!
