Al-Abyad

What it is

Al-Abyad, al-Malik Al-Abyad or the White King, is a jinn in Islamic tradition. The jinn are beings of Islamic cosmology, and this one is placed at the head of those ruled by Monday, the Moon, the colour white and silver. He is said to belong to the Marid, described as the oldest and most powerful line of giant jinn with a human-like shape. In the hierarchy of the unseen he is counted among Iblis's nearest associates, while the angel Jibril is said to keep him under strict watch. He is known above all as a tempter: the tradition holds that he worked to draw prophets into sin, and that he is a sworn enemy of the Prophet Muhammad.

Where it comes from

The stories told of him are legend rather than record. He is said to have driven the monk Barsisa towards seduction and murder, and to have set himself against prophets before that. He is also said to have tried to fool the Prophet Muhammad by appearing in the likeness of the angel Jibril; the Prophet was given insight that exposed the disguise, and Jibril drove him off and confined him to the furthest regions of India. The tradition holds that he stays there still, cut off from the places where he once acted.

How it is done

Esoteric practice holds that calling on Al-Abyad requires a ritual of its own, not a simple prayer. The preparation is a fast: forty days without meat before the invocation is made. That long stretch gives the working its weight, and it is the part of the procedure the tradition sets out plainly. The figure called is the same one said to have drawn a monk towards seduction and murder, so the calling is framed as a serious matter rather than a casual request.

What people believe

The jinn belong to a world that runs alongside the human one. They are grouped in tribes, and the Marid are held to be the oldest and strongest, giant in size and human in form. Al-Abyad is set among them and also in the court of Iblis, the figure the tradition identifies with Satan, which places him on the side of temptation rather than protection. Over him stands the angel Jibril, whose supervision is said to hold him in check. Prophets, in this view, are given insight that unmasks such deception. Monday, the Moon, white and silver are the shares assigned to him.

When it is done

Al-Abyad is tied to Monday and to the Moon. Among the jinn he rules those of that day and that heavenly body, and white and silver, his colours, follow the same lunar pattern. The invocation described in esoteric practice has its own timing: forty days of abstinence from meat come before the rite itself. The preparation is long enough to count as a discipline in its own right, setting the calling apart from ordinary religious observance.

Questions people ask about Al-Abyad

Good reading and sources

• Al-Abyad (Jinn) on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• Wikidata recordOpen data