Allah says in Surah Rahman that He created Jinns from a smokeless flame of fire. The Prophet (PBUH) said the same, as recorded in Hadith. Allah even named a Surah of the Quran – Surah Jinn. Jinns are similar to human beings, in that they have free will. However, they live in a parallel world where humans can’t generally see them.

The word Jinn is derived from Janna. The meaning of Janna is to hide or conceal. That fits their characteristic of not being visible for humans. As a result of this, many ignorant Muslims, or Muslims who don’t take Islam as seriously as they should, deny the reality of their existence. However, we only need to look at the Quran. Allah says that He created humans and jinn in islam to worship Him in Surah ad-Dhariyat.

Allah says in Surah Hijr that He created Jinns before man. Due to their free will, they may accept Allah as their Lord, i.e., be Muslim or not. Allah says in Surah Jinn that a group of Jinns listened to the recitation of the Quran and accepted it, saying they would never commit shirk. However, Iblis (Satan) is a Jinn as well; he also has many followers among the non-Muslim Jinns.