Ifrit

The word ifrit appears in Surah an-Naml: 39 of the Quran, but only as an epithet and not to designate a specific type of demon. The term itself is not found in pre-Islamic Arabic poetry, although variants such as ifriya and ifr are recorded prior to the Quran. Some Western philologists suggest a foreign origin of the word and attribute it to Middle Persian āfrītan, which corresponds to New Persian "to create", but this is regarded as unlikely by others. In folklore, the term is used as a substantive, referring to a specific class of demon, though most Islamic scholarly traditions regard the term as an adjective. ==Islamic scriptures==

'' In Islamic scriptures the term ifrit is always followed by the expression of the jinn. Due to the ambiguous meaning of the term jinn, which is applied to a wide range of different spirits, their relation towards the genus of jinn remains vague. and in a narrative of Muhammad's night journey recorded in the eighth century by Malik ibn Anas. In the latter account, the "ifrit among the jinn" threatens Muhammad with a fiery presence, after which the Archangel Gabriel taught Muhammad a prayer to defeat it. Tafsīr of Surah al-Anbiya, on the story of the prophet Job, mentions Job being tested by the torment of three ifrits. After Iblis gains permission to test Job, he descends to earth and summons his most powerful devils (shaytan) and ifrits. In order to torment the prophet, they turn into storms and whirlwinds of fire to destroy Job's properties. ==Islamic folklore==

In Islamic folklore, the afarit became a class of chthonic spirits, inhabiting the layers of the seven earths, generally ruthless and wicked, formed out of smoke and fire. Despite their negative depictions and affiliation to the nether regions, afarit are not fundamentally evil on a moral plane; they might even carry out God's purpose. Such obligations can nevertheless be ruthless, such as obligation to blood vengeance and avenging murder. Further, an ifrit can be compelled by a sorcerer, if summoned. early 4th–1st century BC (Walters Art Museum, Baltimore)|200x200px Although afarit are not necessarily components of a person, but independent entities, a common belief in Islamic Egypt associates afarit with part of a human's soul. Probably influenced by the Ancient Egypt idea of Ka, the afarit are often identified with the spirits of the dead, departing from the body at the moment of death. They live in cemeteries, wander around places the dead person frequently visited, or roam the earth close to the place of death, until the Day of Judgment. A person who died a natural death does not have a malevolent ifrit. Only people who are killed give rise to a dangerous and active ifrit, drawn to the blood of the victim. Driving an unused nail into the blood is supposed to stop their formation. Such afarit might scare and even kill the living or take revenge on the murderer. than other demons. However, their shapeshifting abilities are inferior compared to jinn. Mahan and the Ifrit to Nizami Ganjavi's poem Hamsa. Bukhara, 1648. Nizami Ganjavi (c. 1141–1209) narrates in his Haft Peykar the story of the Egyptian wayfarer Māhān (the "moonlike one") and his travels to a demon-infested desert. Māhān's horse, presented to him by a demon in human disguise, gallops his rider into the desert, where it turns into a seven-headed monster. In the desert, Māhān finds shelter in a mysterious oasis owned by an old man. After Māhān and the old man know each other better, the old man decides to bequeath his legacy and marry him to a beautiful woman. He leaves to prepare for the wedding and warns Māhān that he must not descend from the perch until the old man is back. After that, the house, garden, and wife will belong to him. When a beautiful girl with the face of a parī (fairy) enters the room, Māhān is overwhelmed by his lust and passion and ignores the order of the old man. While the beauty of his desire embraces Māhān, the girl suddenly turns into an ifrit, formed from God's wrath. The demon explains that the fairy turned into a demon because of Māhān's uncontrollable passion. Thereupon, the ifrit explains that he now must tear Māhān apart; if it were to spare him, the monster would be no true demon (dēw). Furthermore, the ifrit, as a demon, is ashamed to have presented as a fairy in the first place. Māhān is saved when the rooster sounds in the morning and everything demonic vanishes. Nizami notes that the meaning of the story is that the ifrit is the consequence of Māhān's moral transgression. The ifrits in the story feature as moral instance and guardians of moral order. ==In fiction==

Afarit appear already in early poems, such as those of Al-Maʿarri (973–1057), who describes his protagonist visiting a paradise with "narrow straits" and "dark valleys" for afarit, between heaven and hell. In later works, the afarit are mentioned among the narratives collected in One Thousand and One Nights. In one tale called "The Porter and the Young Girls", a prince is attacked by pirates and takes refuge with a woodcutter. The prince finds an underground chamber in the forest leading to a beautiful woman who has been kidnapped by an ifrit. The prince sleeps with the woman and both are attacked by the jealous ifrit, who changes the prince into an ape. Later a princess restores the prince and fights a pitched battle with the ifrit, who changes shape into various animals, fruit, and fire until being reduced to cinders. The latter ifrit, however, might be substituted by a marid, another type of powerful demon The latter portrayal of an ifrit, as a wish-granting spirit released from a jar, became characteristic of Western depictions of jinn. In the fifth season of True Blood (2012), an ifrit seeks vengeance for murder of Iraqi civilians by U.S. soldiers. In both the novel American Gods (2001) and the television adaptation by Neil Gaiman an ifrit disguised as a taxi-driver appears, trying to get used to his new role, seeking intimacy in a lonely world. ==See also==