In a tradition from the Prophet, it is said, "The Jánn were created of a smokeless fire."[54] The word which signifies "a smokeless fire" has been misunderstood by some as meaning "the flame of fire:" El-Jóharee (in the Ṣeḥáḥ) renders it rightly; and says that of this fire was _the_ Sheyṭán (Iblees) created. "El-Jánn" is sometimes used as a name for Iblees; as in the following verse of the Ḳur-án:--"And the Jánn [the father of the Jinn; _i. e._ Iblees] we had created before [_i. e._ before the creation of Adam] of the fire of the samoom [_i. e._ of fire without smoke]."[55] "Jánn" also signifies "a serpent;" as in other passages of the Ḳur-án;[56] and is used in the same book as synonymous with "Jinn."[57] In the last sense it is generally believed to be used in the tradition quoted in the commencement of this paragraph. There are several apparently contradictory traditions from the Prophet which are reconciled by what has been above stated: in one, it is said, that Iblees was the father of all the Jánn and Sheyṭáns;[58] Jánn being here synonymous with Jinn: in another, that Jánn was the father of all the Jinn;[59] here, Jánn being used as a name of Iblees. "It is held," says El-Ḳazweenee, "that the Jinn are aerial animals, with transparent bodies, which can assume various forms. People differ in opinion respecting these beings: some consider the Jinn and Sheyṭáns as unruly men; but these persons are of the Moạtezileh [a sect of Muslim freethinkers]: and some hold, that God, whose name be exalted, created the Angels of the light of fire, and the Jinn of its flame [but this is at variance with the general opinion], and the Sheytáns of its smoke [which is also at variance with the common opinion]; and that [all] these kinds of beings are [usually] invisible[60] to men, but that they assume what forms they please, and when their form becomes condensed they are visible."--This last remark illustrates several descriptions of Jinnees in this work; where the form of the monster is at first undefined, or like an enormous pillar, and then gradually assumes a human shape and less gigantic size. The particular forms of brutes, reptiles, &c., in which the Jinn most frequently appear will be mentioned hereafter.