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Were the jinn and the Hinn races created before Adam, peace be upon him?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The Qur'an and Sunnah do not contain anything indicating the existence of inhabitants on Earth before Adam (peace be upon him). However, some exegetes have offered opinions regarding this matter:

- The first opinion (most common): That the jinn inhabited the Earth before Adam, and they caused corruption therein and shed blood, as narrated from Ibn Abbas and Al-Rabi' ibn Anas.

- The second opinion: No one inhabited the Earth before Adam, neither jinn nor anyone else. This was reported by Al-Tabari from Abdul Rahman ibn Zayd.

- The scholar Al-Tahir ibn Ashur held that the creation of the vicegerent (Adam) was the first state on Earth after its creation, and that his vicegerency meant his undertaking to cultivate the Earth and instruct his offspring in Allah's will.

- As for what some mention about the existence of a people called "Al-Hinn and Al-Binn" before the jinn, these appear to be stories not based on an authentic chain of narration, and Ibn Ashur considered them to be claims and superstitions.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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