By definition.. What exactly is the difference between a Demon and a Djinn?

[Anonymous]

[NamerOfStars]

Demons are generally seen as what the angels who teamed up with Lucifer turned into; djinns (what kind of wacky language has the plural form of a word be SHORTER than the singular, anyway?) are more complex, and while they predate Islam, the perception of them changed a LOT with the rise of that faith. If you think Christianity did a number on traditional folklore (and it did), it's got NOTHING on Islam in that department.

As per Islam, jinns were made on the fifth day of creation, Wednesday (since neither Islam nor Judaism use the Gregorian calendar, their week doesn't start on Monday), and are made of "smokeless fire", and opposite of "that which maintains a shape". I have neither the linguistic nor the theological background to understand the implications of all that that means, but basically, humans usually can't see them, unless they want to be seen. They also eat, sleep, breathe, reproduce, and have a normal life cycle, though they live much longer than humans. They also have moral agency, and can be righteous or evil.

The story says that after thousands of years, they grew proud, and turned from Allah, who sent many warnings to them, which they disregarded, and finally He sent an army of angels (which may actually be a subtype of jinn; it seems- to me, at least- that the humans piecing all this together after the fact didn't know) down to whip their butts, which they did. Then Allah made Adam, and this is where a divergence happens.

See, Allah tells all the angels (and the surviving jinns) to bow to Adam, and they all do, save one, who we'll call Steve, for the moment. Steve refuses, and his reasoning, and its consequences, differ according to who you ask:

1. Islam says that Steve (who they called Iblis) claimed Adam was just an animate hunk of mud, clearly inferior to himself, and consequently gets banished from Heaven, but asks to be spared from Hell until Judgement Day, that he may tempt humanity into sinfulness similar to his own. Confusingly, especially in light of the fact that Allah had just put down an entire civilization due to its sinfulness, but maybe that was Iblis's point; that Allah's plan sucked, and he just wanted a chance to prove it. Iblis, in Islam, essentially fills the roles of both Lucifer and Satan.

2. The Druze say that Steve (who they call Melek T'aus) pointed out that he'd been told to bow to Allah alone, and since Adam clearly isn't Allah, he shouldn't. Allah, seeing this, rewards him for his thoughtfulness and loyalty, as opposed to mindlessly following orders, like everyone else, and appoints him as the ruling angel of Earth (since in the Druze faith, God is a more distant figure, akin to God in Voodoo).

This is why- or at least a part of why- things between the two religions are so hostile; the Muslims see the Druze as devil-worshipers, which- to their eyes- they kind of ARE.

[Astarlessnightsky]

The place of origin.
Djinn are from arabian middle eastern folklore, while demons are from european folklore.

You can go into the details how demons are part of the hell narative of later christianity, while Djinn are from the islamic culture. But both are able to "posses" humans.

Demons are more in hell and rarely visit the world of humans, while as far as i understand Djinn live in the same reality as humans and other spirits, they are just invisible to most humans.

And as far as i understand Demons are purely evil while Djinn are also servents of Allah. Not the antagonist like Demons.

[RebelinSteel]

Demons can be male or female, Djinn are male. Djinn wear loud clothing, tad effeminate in their dress sense (rumour in the seven levels is that they cross dress).

[LiamJHayden]

A demon is always evil. A djinn can be evil, helpful, or just mischievous.

[strateguy632]

a demon won't offer me 3 wishes

[Agape93]

Demons are angels, djinn are spirits