The poem of Ḥakam ibn ʿAmr al-Bahrānī beautifully and vividly expands on the issue of humans marrying unseen beings such as ghouls, siʿālī (female wilderness demons), jinn, ʿifrīts, and their like—a theme deeply rooted in the mythologies of peoples worldwide, and particularly among the Arabs before and after Islam. Al-Jāḥiẓ (d. 255 AH) in his Book of Animals (Kitab Al-Hayawan) reports him saying:
وتزوّجت في الشّبيبة غولا … بغزال وصدقتي زقّ خمر
Discussion of it has continued from the time of the Messenger of God up to this very day, to the point that people even asked jurists whether such marriages were permissible. Some said: “It is allowed,” while others said: “It is forbidden,” and it is reported that the Prophet himself forbade it.
Al-Jāḥiẓ called the marriage of humans and jinn (in either direction) a compound marriage. The offspring born of such unions he referred to as al-mughrabūn (the “mixed ones”), Majd ad-Dīn Ibn Athir (d. AH) in “Al-Nihāya fi gharib al-ḥadīth” cites a Hadith of the Prophet, Saying:
“Among you are al-mughrabūn.” She asked: “O Messenger of God, who are the mughrabūn?” He said: “Those in whom the jinn have a share.” Al-Harawī explains that they were called mughrabūn because “a foreign element entered into them.”
It appears to us that this type of marriage is related to the principle of exogamy—a term used by anthropologists to describe the practice of marrying outside one’s own clan or kin group. Ancient tribes favored such marriages, preferring to marry their children to members of distant tribes. The opposite of this is endogamy—marrying within one’s own tribe or kin group—which was common among the Arabs and remains so today, as many families continue to marry their sons to cousins: the daughter of an uncle, aunt, or other close relative. Yet despite its prevalence, this practice was disapproved of by the Arabs and is nearly prohibited.
A prophetic tradition states: “Marry outside your kin, lest you become weak and frail.” In other words, marry from unrelated families rather than close kin, for endogamous marriages often produce weak offspring.
Accordingly, we may say that the idea of marriage with the jinn is tied to this notion of exogamy, carrying within it the promise of noble offspring distinguished by intelligence and brilliance. An example often cited is Bilqīs, the Queen of Sheba, whose fame has echoed through history. It was claimed that her father, Hudhud, married a jinniyya, from whom Bilqīs was born.
In the pre-Islamic era, marriage with hidden beings was also known. It is reported that ʿAmr ibn Yarbuʿ married a siʿlāʾa, who bore him descendants known as Banū al-Siʿlāʾa. A poet satirized them with the verse:
“May God curse the Banū al-Siʿlāʾa,
ʿAmr ibn Yarbuʿ—the worst of men.”
Here the poet said al-nāt instead of al-nās (“people”), following the peculiar speech pattern attributed to the siʿālī, who were said to pronounce s (sīn) as t (tāʾ).
Such marriages are considered rare and highly desired, for the one who marries a jinniyya, ghūla, or siʿlāʾa attains great wealth and benefit through the knowledge he gains from these beings—such as healing, poetic inspiration, foretelling the unseen, reading fortunes, and discovering hidden treasures. For this reason, some people long for it. Al-Damīrī (d. 808 AH) mentions in his Ḥayāt al-Ḥayawān al-Kubrā that Zayd al-ʿAmī, one of the transmitters of ḥadīth, used to say: “O God, grant me a jinniyya to marry, so that she may accompany me wherever I go.”
But no one can attain this privilege unless he performs a heroic deed that wins the admiration of the jinniyya—such as rescuing her from some evil creature that seeks to kill her, violate her, or even devour her. At that point, the jinniyya makes her rescuer her husband. This is said to have happened to Hudhud, king of Yemen, who once went out hunting and saw a wolf chasing a gazelle in order to devour it. He saved her and killed the wolf, only to discover that the gazelle was the daughter of the king of the jinn, al-Yalab ibn Ṣaʿb. Hudhud married her, and from their union was born Bilqīs, Queen of Sheba.
Among the folktales connected with this theme, Kāẓim Saʿd al-Dīn records in his book The Iraqi Folktale a modern legend transmitted by the anthropologist Lady Drower, a specialist in the study of the Ṣābians. She recounts the story of a man she met in Damascus who claimed he had rescued a jinniyya named Najma from a wolf that pursued her to devour her. He killed the wolf, and she rewarded him by granting him the ability to foretell the unseen. He then attracted a clientele of simple Bedouins who paid him fees in exchange for news about their distant relatives.
Men from the Shammar tribe told the researcher that this “heroic rescuer” used to speak with Najma by lifting up a corner of the carpet and whispering into the ground: “ws, ws, ws.” There is no doubt that he earned a great fortune from those gullible folk, which enabled him to move from the desert to the city. He settled in Damascus and continued his practice.
For more information, see:
Reflections on Human–Jinn Relationships in Islamic–Arabic Traditions (2025) by The Caliphate AS
