Ginn or Jân

(singular masculine Jinnee, feminine Jinniyeh), a species of beings created long before Adam. They were formed of “smokele fire” or fire of the simoom, and were governed by monarchs named suleyman, the last of whom was Jân-ibn-Jân or Gian-ben-Gian, who “built the pyramids of Egypt.” Prophets were sent to convert them, but on their persistent disobedience, an army of angels drove them from the earth. Among the Ginn was one named Aza´zel. When Adam was created, and God commanded the angels to worship him, Azazel refused, saying, “Why should the spirits of fire worship a creature made of earth?” Whereupon God changed him into a devil, and called him Iblis or Eblis (“despair”). Spelt also Djinn.