The Ifrit
In Islamic lore, the most powerful of the jinn is the ifrit. One offered to carry the Queen of Sheba's throne to King Solomon before he could rise from his seat.
What was reported
The word ifrit appears once in the Quran, in the story of King Solomon, where 'an ifrit of the jinn' offers to bring the Queen of Sheba's throne to him in an instant. In later Arabic folklore, ifrits became a class of mighty, often wicked jinn, made of smokeless fire.
They appear in the Thousand and One Nights as huge, terrifying beings trapped in bottles or rings. In Egyptian folklore, they were said to haunt places where something terrible had happened.
Explanations offered
Belief in jinn is part of Islamic teaching; ifrits are mostly a figure of storytelling and folklore. They've become familiar worldwide through translations of the Nights and modern games and films.
- When
- Told since the Quran and before
- Where
- Cairo, Egypt
- Witnesses
- Islamic tradition and Arabic folklore
- Status
- Legend
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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