The Quran

100

وَجَعَلوا لِلَّهِ شُرَكاءَ الجِنَّ وَخَلَقَهُم ۖ وَخَرَقوا لَهُ بَنينَ وَبَناتٍ بِغَيرِ عِلمٍ ۚ سُبحانَهُ وَتَعالىٰ عَمّا يَصِفونَ

Muhammad Asad

And yet, some [people] have come to attribute to all manner of invisible beings¹ a place side by side with God - although it is He who has created them [all]; and in their ignorance they have invented for Him sons and daughters!² Limitless is He is His glory, and sublimely exalted above anything that men may devise by way of definition:³

The plural noun jinn (popularly, but incorrectly, taken to denote "genii" or "demons") is derived from the verb janna, "he was (or "became"] concealed" or "veiled from sight"; thus, the veiling darkness of night is called jinn (Jawhari). According to Arab philologists, the term jinn signifies, primarily, "beings that are concealed from [man's] senses" (Qamus, Lisan al-'Arab, Raghib), and is thus applicable to all kinds of invisible beings or forces. For a further discussion of this term and of its wider implications, see Appendix III.
Lit., "they have invented for Him [or "falsely attributed to Him'"] sons and daughters without [having any] knowledge": a reference to the beliefs of the pre-Islamic Arabs who regarded the angels as "God's daughters" (a designation which they also applied to certain of their goddesses), as well as to the Christian view of Jesus as "the son of God". See also 19:92 and the corresponding note 77.
I.e., utterly remote is He from all imperfection and from the incompleteness which is implied in the concept of having progeny. The very concept of "definition" implies the possibility of a comparison or correlation of an object with other objects; God, however, is unique, there being "nothing like unto Him" (42:11) and, therefore, "nothing that could be compared with Him" (112:4) - with the result that any attempt at defining Him or His "attributes" is a logical impossibility and, from the ethical point of view, a sin. The fact that He is undefinable makes it clear that the "attributes" (sifat) of God mentioned in the Qur'an do not circumscribe His reality but, rather, the perceptible effect of His activity on and within the universe created by Him.