The story of a man’s house being burned down, with claims that the jinn were responsible, and whether the jinn can interfere with the property of humans

The questioner : They do so, and they burned down the house of one of our distinguished brothers in Bahrain. He was performing ruqyah, and his house caught fire without any apparent cause; all they saw was the fire breaking out in it, to the point that those who entered the house found that the fire had no material explanation!

The Shaykh : Now, if someone were to ask you, or a questioner were to ask you, how did you know that this was the work of the jinn?

The questioner : There is no analysis except experience.

The Shaykh : I am surprised that the word "experience" has become your constant reference point. What is the answer?

The questioner : Our Shaykh, the one who treats [patients] is exposed to harm from the jinn.

The Shaykh : What is the answer?

The questioner : There is no answer...

The Shaykh : It has become Sufi, it has become Sufi mystical experience, meaning...

The questioner : ...There is no cause, our Shaykh, he set his house on fire, there is no cause at all, there is no apparent cause...

The Shaykh : No, no. Causes are of two types: apparent causes and hidden causes, correct?

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : And for your sake, there are material causes and there are spiritual causes, good.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : Now, even as I am speaking, yes, I made this division for your sake, so that I am always close to you.

The questioner : May Allah bless you.

The Shaykh : That material causes are of two types, apparent and hidden, and then there are spiritual, conceptual causes. Among these conceptual causes are the spirits and the jinn, whom the Most Merciful described in the Qur'an So if someone says now, "Satan passed through here," for example, or "a jinni," what is our position?

The questioner : We cannot believe it.

The Shaykh : I see that you are not being frank like in my story. I am speaking from your side, why are you not speaking from my side? We do not believe and we do not deny.

The questioner : We deny.

The Shaykh : But there is a difference between denying and not believing, correct?

The questioner : Correct.

The Shaykh : Now, if we believe, do we not believe or do we deny?

The questioner : We deny.

The Shaykh : We deny, so if someone tells us that the house over there burned down and the cause was a jinni, do we believe or do we deny?

Another questioner : We deny.

The questioner : But our Shaykh, we need to pause here.

The Shaykh : And I am standing with you.

The questioner : This brother whose house burned down is known for confronting the jinn!

The Shaykh : Known for what?

The questioner : Confronting the jinn.

The Shaykh : For what? Confronting the jinn.

The questioner : He is always in conflict with them.

The Shaykh : That is the problem.

The questioner : Therefore, they harm him.

The Shaykh : That is the problem.

The questioner : The problem?
Al-Halabi : ...He confronts them and they confront him.

The Shaykh : ... .

The questioner : This is between him and them, my brother.

The Shaykh : ... .

The questioner : Allah is the helper, when I strike the jinni and use electricity against it and kill some of the jinn.
Al-Halabi : Are there jinn that were killed by your hand?

The Shaykh : This is the problem, and the problem, and the problem... regarding the unseen matters, and among them are the angels and the jinn, one must believe, but expanding on that is not allowed. Now, there will be an expansion that contradicts the Shari'ah if we say that any connection between humans and jinn is something we deny, no. It is not any connection, but rather intermarriage and sexual intercourse.

Another questioner : And connection?

The Shaykh : I am coming to you, and as they say, "Do not advise one who is careful," we have texts that clarify that a human can grab a jinni and overpower it and defeat it, but this jinni is assuming a form other than its true form. Allah the Exalted said in the Noble Qur'an: You do not see them as Allah created them, but they have the ability to evolve and assume shapes and colors. Before you honored us with your presence, we were discussing the topic of killing snakes and vipers, and a detail came to us: that if a Muslim sees a snake in his house, he should not kill it, but rather he should warn it three times. Why? Because the Messenger (peace be upon him) said: meaning a viper or a snake This is one thing, and the second thing, or perhaps this is the reason for this hadith, is that a young man from the Ansar, from the youth of the Ansar, got married and left his house. When he returned, he found his bride at the door; she could not enter the house and she could not leave the house, because they had a balcony and they had modesty, but she could not enter the house. He intended to stab her, and she said to him, "Wait, enter the house and see what is in it." And there was a large snake coiled up on itself. So he stabbed it with his spear. It was said, "We do not know which died faster, the snake or the newly married young Ansari man." So he (peace be upon him) said the aforementioned hadith, meaning this snake that was coiled in the house was from the jinn, and therefore when he stabbed it, the jinn stabbed him and killed him. So these are detailed incidents, may Allah bless you, of some of these unseen matters. So we believe in what is authentic among them. Similarly, for example, the story of Abu Hurayrah and others of the Companions guarding the house of dates belonging to the zakah charity. He was guarding it at night, and a person came to take some dates and put them in his tail and wanted to run away. So he pounced on him. Of course, this will be explicitly stated to be a jinni shaytan, but he was assuming a form. Abu Hurayrah intended to take him and hand him over to the Messenger (peace be upon him) on the grounds that he was a thief. He said, "Let me go, and enter the house and have mercy on him, for he has children and kids, and so on." He felt compassion and left him. In the morning, he told the story to the Messenger (peace be upon him), who said: And indeed, he returned, and without a long story, on the second night and the third night, and every time Abu Hurayrah caught him. On the third time, when Abu Hurayrah resolved to hand him over to the Messenger (peace be upon him), he said, "Let me go, and I will teach you a benefit: recite every night when you put your side to sleep the Verse of the Throne, and nothing will harm you that night from human or jinn." So it seems he believed his words and left him. And when morning came, he told the story to the Messenger (peace be upon him), who said: So the point here is that there was a connection. So what we deny is not this connection, but the intermarriage and sexual intercourse, which is subject to many, many questions. This is what we deny. So here, there is excess and deficiency. People—may Allah protect us from the accursed Shaytan—neglect texts that have come in the Shari'ah, and people add to the texts that have come in the Shari'ah, and the truth is We affirm what the Shari'ah has affirmed and we deny what the Shari'ah has denied.