al-Jinn

وَأَنَّهُ كَانَ رِجَالٌ مِّنَ الْإِنسِ يَعُوذُونَ بِرِجَالٍ مِّنَ الْجِنِّ فَزَادُوهُمْ رَهَقًا

6. 'And there were men amongst mankind who took shelter with the males amongst the jinn, but they increased them in their error and disobedience.

The blessed Verse in question is saying that some men sought refuge in the male jinn and their error and disobedience to God were thereby increased. The Arabic root z-h-q etymologically denotes "to cover by using force" and since error, sins, disobedience, and fear overwhelm human heart and soul and thereby cover them, hence the connotation of the word. The clause

reflect that superstitions engender decadence in thought, fear, and error. It is worthy of note that the blessed Verse indicates that male and female jinn exist, since the blessed Verse says:

However, the contextual meaning of the blessed Verse is broad in its semantic scope such that it includes all instances of men seeking refuge in the jinn and the aforesaid superstition bear testimony to the same. There existed numerous soothsayers amongst the Arabs who claimed that they were able to solve many a problem by taking recourse to the jinn and predict the future. In this vein, it is narrated from Allah’s Messenger (S) that whoever goes to a sorcerer, a soothsayer, or a liar and acknowledges their words certainly disbelieves in all Divine Scriptures.⁵

It is also narrated from the Noble Prophet (S) that who acknowledges the words of a soothsayer or an astrologer disbelieves what is revealed to Allah’s Messenger (S).⁶