Hatif
Hatif (
Al-Jahiz wrote that the Bedouin believed that important messages could be transmitted without a visible medium. The receiver would hear the message in realtime without seeing the speaker. Al-Masudi focused on the psychological backgrounds of this phenomenon, and explained the hatif as a hallucination caused by loneliness.[2] However, according to al-Jahiz, belief in hatif was so widespread among the Bedouin, they were perplexed if people doubted their existence.[3]
Such hatif was also attributed to jinn by pre-Islamic Arabs. This way, they talk to humans or avenge murder on a fellow jinn by driving the murderer insane.[4]
Hatif doesn't necessarily come from humans or jinn, but also from ghosts, dwelling near graves to remind humans of their mortality or announce their death.[5]
In modern Arabic, the term hatif is also used for a telephone, due to invisible communication.
See also
References
- ISBN 978-0-815-65286-1p. 92
- ISBN 978-3-110-33168-4p. 327 (German)
- ISBN 978-3-110-33168-4p. 327(German)
- ^ Amira El Zein: The Evolution of the Concept of Jinn from Pre-Islam to Islam. p. 113
- ISBN 9783447050838p. 158
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