The Thousand and One Nights, Vol. I.: Commonly Called the Arabian Nights' Entertainments

In a tradition from the Prophet, it is said, "The Jánn were created of a smokeless fire."[54] The word which signifies "a smokeless fire" has been misunderstood by some as meaning "the flame of fire:" El-Jóharee (in the Ṣeḥáḥ) renders it rightly; and says that of this fire was _the_ Sheyṭán (Iblees) created. "El-Jánn" is sometimes used as a name for Iblees; as in the following verse of the Ḳur-án:--"And the Jánn [the father of the Jinn; _i. e._ Iblees] we had created before [_i. e._ before the creation of Adam] of the fire of the samoom [_i. e._ of fire without smoke]."[55] "Jánn" also signifies "a serpent;" as in other passages of the Ḳur-án;[56] and is used in the same book as synonymous with "Jinn."[57] In the last sense it is generally believed to be used in the tradition quoted in the commencement of this paragraph. There are several apparently contradictory traditions from the Prophet which are reconciled by what has been above stated: in one, it is said, that Iblees was the father of all the Jánn and Sheyṭáns;[58] Jánn being here synonymous with Jinn: in another, that Jánn was the father of all the Jinn;[59] here, Jánn being used as a name of Iblees.