Hinn (mythology)

Hinn (حنّ) are both a kind of supernatural creature in Arabian lore—along with jinn and various kinds of devils (shaitan)—as well as a pre-Adamitic race in Islam-related beliefs. Their existence, along with that of binn, timm, and rimm, is accepted by the Druze.

Pre-Adamitic circles
According to the Alawi sect, the jinn are part of the "circle of time", belonging to a period preceding the creation of mankind. Therefore before humans, the hinn, binn, timm, rimm, jann, and jinn resided on the earth. These six periods symbolize negative progress, until humans emerge; thus the first letters of the first four circles mean Habtar (here referring to the personification of evil) and the latter referring to jann and jinn as subordinates of the devil. The following circle divides human history, starting with Adam and ends with Muhammad, the period in which humans now live.

Alternatively, hinn have been said to be associated with air and another creature, binn, with water in a document called "Revelations of ʻAbdullah Al-Sayid Muhammad Habib". In the same document, hinn and binn are said to be extinct, unlike jinn.

According to Ibn Kathir, the hinn belongs together with the jinn to those creatures who shed blood on earth before humankind, causing the angels to question God's command to place Adam as a viceregent. In his work Al-Bidāya wa-n-Nihāya, he relates that the Hinn and binn were exterminated by the jinn, so that the jinn could dwell on the earth.

Although many sources describe the hinn and binn as powerful gigantic primordial creatures, Al-Jahiz mentions them as a "weak type" of demons in his Kitāb al-Ḥayawān.

Hinn fighting alongside angels
According to some accounts, the hinn supported the angels, led by Iblis during a battle against the earthen jinn, who bore disaster on the world. Tabari explained the hinn were created out of fire, like the jinn. But the hinn, who belong to Iblis's group, are created out of the fire of samum ("poisonous fire"), which is mentioned in the Quran at (15:27), while the regular jinn are created out of marij min nar (translated as "fire and air", "smokeless fire", or "mixture of flame"), mentioned in (55:15).

In folklore and poems
According to some folklore, hinn are believed to be still alive and take the shape of dogs. Based on a hadith, if a wild dog approaches a Muslim, they shall throw some food to it and chase it away, because it could have an evil soul.

Along with the jinn, the Hinn were referred to in pre-Islamic poems.