Islam, Arabs and the Intelligent World of the Jinn.

• Author: Krawietz, Birgit
• Position: Book review

Islam, Arabs and the Intelligent World of the Jinn. By AMIRA EL-ZEIN. Contemporary Issues in the Middle East. Syracuse: SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2009. Pp. xxiii + 215. $39.95.

The very first sentences of the introduction of the volume under review announce that the "book is long overdue. After years of painstaking investigation, this thorough work is based on an extensive and intricate research in Arabic and several European languages. I have attempted to present an all-embracing examination of the jinn's concept in classical Islam including most types of supposed interactions of the jinn with humans, angels, and animals" (p. ix). While the "several European languages" actually boil down to only English and French--at least according to the references--thereby especially missing the wealth of scholarship written in German on the topic (e.g., Josef von Hammer-Purgstall, Julius Wellhausen, Ignaz Goldziher, Arent Jan Wensinck, Fritz Meier, etc.), the description may well be true for the English market.

It must be conceded that dealing with demons is extremely demanding on different levels. The "scholar, poet, and translator" El-Zein has relied on a convincing array of Arabic sources. Because of the lack of innovative research in modern Arabic publications, according to the author, she concentrates on Arabic writings from "Islam's golden age" (p. ix), thereby--as indicated already in the volume's title--excluding especially the important Iranian branch of this heritage as exemplified by Firdawsi's Shahname. In a broad sweep El-Zein includes among Arabic literature a wide range of official and more popular writings as well as Sufi Qur'an commentaries (pp. xix xxi). However, this type of approach does not necessarily allow for a presentation that conveys the manifold decisive implications of these different strands of text production and their complex systems of thought. Beyond casual remarks, key authors are not really introduced nor are the exact contributions of specific genres of Arabic literature specifically marked. Therefore it is often difficult for the reader to follow the stream of narration in an analytical manner. But the format chosen for this welcome English overview is defensible, and the author must be especially credited for her resolve to present jinn as deeply embedded in Islamic culture (although, unfortunately, not by way of full Arabic diacritics, not even in the glossary, pp. 179-84) and as in no way at odds with Islam's...