page_title: Ifrit
section_title: Islamic scriptures
hierarchical_section_title: Ifrit / Islamic scriptures
caption_attribution_description: English: The black king of the djinns, Al-Malik al-Aswad, depicted in Kitab al-Bulhan = composite astrology/astronomy/geomancy Arabic manuscript. Original held by the Bodleian Libraries Shelfmark; MS. Bodl. Or. 133. Fol. 30b
context_page_description: Ifrit, also spelled as efreet and afrit, is a powerful type of demon in Islamic mythology. The afarit are often associated with the underworld and also identified with the spirits of the dead, and have been compared to evil geniī loci in European culture. In Quran, hadith and Mi'raj narrations the term is always followed by the phrase among the jinn. In later folklore, they developed into independent entities, identified as powerful demons or spirits of the dead who sometimes inhabit desolate places such as ruins and temples. Their true habitat is the underworld.
context_section_description: 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. However within the Islamic scriptures themselves, the term is apparently used as an epithet to describe a powerful or malicious spirit of undefined nature.
  In the Quran itself, such an ifrit is mentioned in Sura An-Naml (27:38-40).  The ifrit offers to carry the throne of Bilqis (the Queen of Sheba) to Solomon: "An ifrit from the jinn said: 'I will bring it to you before you rise from your place. And verily, I am indeed strong, and trustworthy for such work." However, the duty is not given to him, but to somebody who is endowed with knowledge of the scripture. An "ifrit among the jinn" is mentioned in a hadith of Muhammad al-Bukhari, attempting to interrupt the prayers of the prophet Muhammed and in a narrative of Muhammad's night journey recorded in the 8th century by Malik ibn Anas. In the latter account, the "ifrit among the jinn" threatens Muhammad with a fiery presence, whereupon the archangel Gabriel taught Muhammad a Du'a (Islamic prayer) to defeat it.
caption: The ifrit Al-Malik al-Aswad (The Black King) sitting on the right listening to the complaints of jinn; from a manuscript in the late 14th century Book of Wonders[7]
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