In Islamic cosmology, the jinn inhabit a place between worlds belonging not quite to the human realm and not in the world of angels. Some however straddle both.

A thread on Al Abyad the jinn king of the Moon

Known as the White Devil, this jinn is the one with the closest relationship to humans, angels, and prophets.

He's said to reside in a palace of silver, hidden from human eyes.

In the oldest layer of the lore, he’s a jinn devil who tempts prophets and ascetics of the desert.

He’s said to prey on the dreams of people, slowly working them into temptation.

According to medieval hadith scholar Qurtubi, Al Abyad was a jinn who took on the guise of the angel Gabriel in order to tempt Muhammad. But he was stopped when the angel showed up and cast the devil out by flinging him with a single push all the way to India.

In other accounts he’s actually a curious jinn who prefers to hang around prophets and learn from them.

In the Bunian corpus he becomes the jinn king of the Moon with a unique relationship to Jibra’il, the angel of revelation.

What makes Abyad unique is he straddles the world of jinn and angels and humans for he is said to govern the ruhaniyya, a group of mysterious celestial beings.

While the Qur’an only refers to angels, humans, and jinn as the three intelligent beings of creation, later Muslim writers would entertain the idea of a host of creatures, monsters, and spirits.

The ruhaniyya show up as the spirits of the planets.

The term is used ambiguously, sometimes referring to a type of celestial jinn and other times as spirits all their own, or even angels.

Some of the ruhanniya seem to be an attempt to explain older pre-Islamic planetary deities within an Islamic cosmology.

In the writings of Samarqandi they explicitly become angels.

He writes the great archangel Jibra’il bathes in a cosmic pool once a day at the foot of God’s Throne and from every single luminous drop a new angel is formed: the ruhaniyya

These angels populate the whole of the cosmos, managing every task in creation at the direction of God

The ruhaniyya become the bridge between the celestial realms and the natural world. Each zodiac sign and planet is given countless ruhaniyya all directed by the Moon.

The moon itself has an additional 28, corresponding to the lunar mansions, stations the Moon travels through.

Each of these ruhaniyya hold immense power and the wily mage could call upon their might with the right timing and appropriate invocations.

In turn this would unlock the mysteries of astrological magic

For example, the 8th mansion is Al Nathrah where dwells the ruhinyya Aqaris, who is linked or Latinized to Annediesh.

It is described as a mighty bird with the head of a man. Talismans made with this mansion and the right invocations grant the person victory in war and love.

The jinn king of the Moon therefore becomes the link to many mysteries and his favor grants the magician the secrets to astrological magic and several charms for love, victory, destruction, knowledge, and healing.

It is no wonder then why his name appears in many talismans as chief among the jinn king.

In the cosmology of jinns, angels, and astrology, the jinn king of the Moon becomes the link between the celestial world and the sublunar natural world.

The world is imagined a symphony of spirits filling the whole of creation following the rhythm and flow of the moon.

The moon and its meaning become central in the astrology and astrological magic of the Islamic world with the jinn king Al Abyad becoming the most sought-after sorcerous ally.

For a history of astrology and magic in the Islamic world check out my latest episodes on patreon: https://www.patreon.com/headonhistory 

I'll cover the planetary spirits, jinn, and talismans in future threads