Demonology

Ancient Sumerian cylinder seal impression showing the god Dumuzid being tortured in the underworld by galla demons

The ancient Mesopotamians believed that the underworld (Kur) was home to many demons,[14] which are sometimes referred to as "offspring of arali".[14] These demons could sometimes leave the underworld and terrorize mortals on earth.[14] One class of demons that were believed to reside in the underworld were known as galla;[15] their primary purpose appears to have been to drag unfortunate mortals back to Kur.[15] They are frequently referenced in magical texts,[16] and some texts describe them as being seven in number.[16] Several extant poems describe the galla dragging the god Dumuzid into the underworld.[17] Like other demons, however, galla could also be benevolent[17] and, in a hymn from King Gudea of Lagash (c. 2144 – 2124 BCE), a minor god named Ig-alima is described as "the great galla of Girsu".[17] Demons had no cult in Mesopotamian religious practice since demons "know no food, know no drink, eat no flour offering and drink no libation."[18]

Christian demonology is the study of demons from a Christian point of view. It is primarily based on the Bible (Old Testament and New Testament), the exegesis of scriptures, the writings of early Christian philosophers and hermits, tradition, and legends incorporated from other beliefs.

Some scholars suggest the origins of early Greek Old Testament demonology can be traced to two distinctive and often competing mythologies of evil – Adamic and Enochic, one of which was tied to the fall of man caused by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and the other to the fall of angels in the antediluvian period.[19] Thus, the Adamic story traces the source of evil to Satan's transgression and the fall of man, a trend reflected in the Books of Adam and Eve which explains the reason for Satan's demotion by his refusal to obey God's command to venerate newly created Adam.

In contrast, the early Enochic tradition bases its understanding of the origin of demons on the story of the fallen Watchers led by Azazel. Scholars believe these two enigmatic figures - Azazel and Satan exercised formative influence on early Jewish demonology. While in the beginning of their conceptual journeys Azazel and Satan are posited as representatives of two distinctive and often rival trends tied to the distinctive etiologies of corruption, in later Jewish and Christian demonological lore both antagonists are able to enter each other's respective stories in new conceptual capacities. In these later traditions Satanael is often depicted as the leader of the fallen angels while his conceptual rival Azazel is portrayed as a seducer of Adam and Eve.[20] While historical Judaism never recognized any set of doctrines about demons,[21] scholars believe its post-exilic concepts of eschatology, angelology, and demonology were influenced by Zoroastrianism.[22][23] Some, however, believe these concepts were received as part of the Kabbalistic tradition.[24] While many people believe today Lucifer and Satan are different names for the same being, not all scholars subscribe to this view.[25]

A number of authors throughout Christian history have written about demons for a variety of purposes. Theologians like Thomas Aquinas wrote concerning the behaviors of which Christians should be aware,[26] while witchhunters like Heinrich Kramer wrote about how to find and what to do with people they believed were involved with demons.[27] Some texts such as the Lesser Key of Solomon[28] or The Grimoire of Pope Honorius (although these, the earliest manuscripts, were from well after these individuals had died) are written with instructions on how to summon demons in the name of God and often were claimed to have been written by individuals respected within the Church.[29] These latter texts were usually more detailed, giving names, ranks, and descriptions of demons individually and categorically.[30] Most Christians commonly reject these texts as either diabolical or fictitious.[30]

In modern times, some demonological texts have been written by Christians, usually in a similar vein of Thomas Aquinas, explaining their effects in the world and how faith may lessen or eliminate damage by them.[31] A few Christian authors, such as Jack Chick and John Todd, write with intentions similar to Kramer, proclaiming that demons and their human agents are active in the world.[32] These claims can stray from mainstream ideology, and may include such beliefs as that Christian rock is a means through which demons influence people.

Not all Christians believe that demons exist in the literal sense. There is the view that the language of exorcism in the New Testament is an example of what was once employed to describe the healings of what would be classified in modern days as epilepsy, mental illness etc.[33]

Islam has no doctrinal hierarchy of demonology. Even though some Muslim scholars tried to classify jinn and demons, there is no established classification and terms for jinn may overlap or be used interchangeably. Naming the jinn also depends on cultural influences. Julius Wellhausen states, that Islamic demonology is also zoology.[34] Many demonic or demon-like entities are not purely spiritual, but also physical in nature and related to animals. One prominent classification is made by Jahiz:[35]

• Angel: a jinni, which is pure and good[36]
• Amir: a jinni, who lives among humans
• Shaitan: a malicious and rebellious jinn
• Marid: a stronger type of jinn, trying to steal information from heaven
• Ifrit: the most powerful type of jinn

The German orientalist Almut Wieland-Karimi classified the Jinn in the ten most common categories mentioned in folklore literature:[37]

• Jinn or Jann: ordinary jinn, a class apart from other jinn types, but also used as a collective to refer to invisible beings in general
• Shaitan: Malevolent jinni, who causes illness and madness
• Ifrit: delimitation to ordinary jinn remains unclear. Can be either a powerful cunning Jinn or strong Shaitan. Ifrits are generally bad.
• Marid: a haughty and powerful Shaitan or very malevolent Ifrit.
• Bu'Bu: a jinn that frightens children.
• Si'lah: a female demon who seduces men.
• Amir: spirits dwelling in houses.
• Ghul: generally evil, lives in the desert.
• Qarînah: name for a specific demon strangling children.
• Hatif: a mysterious phenomenon, which can only be heard but never seen.

The Ghul and the Si'lah often challenge orientalists to tell them apart, because both are shapeshifters also appearing as females to seduce men. A Ghul in Arabic meaning, term for any shapeshifting spirit, including the Si'lah.[38] Furthermore, Marid and Ifrit may be hard to distinguish, since they are often used interchangeably, for example in "One Thousand and One Nights ". However both entities have properties apart from the other. The Ifrit is also related to the ghosts of the dead, seeking revenge, unlike the Marid. On the other hand, the Marid is related to those assistants of truthsayers, striving to heaven to access informations from the angels, while the Ifrit does not.

Additionally the Peri and the Daeva are kinds of Jinn in Persian lore. While the Daeva are akin to the Shayateen, subordinates of Satan, the Peris are good Jinn fighting the Daeva. However the Peri may endanger people, if they become angered.[39]^:185

Ahmad al-Buni relates four Ifrits to archdemons, diametric opposites to the four archangels of Islam. They have their own Shayātīn (plural of "Shaytan") under command, and are subordinate to Iblis, who is thought to be the leader of Shayātīn.[40]

Judaism does not have a demonology or any set of doctrines about demons.[21] Use of the name "Lucifer" stems from Isaiah 14:3–20, a passage which does speak of the defeat of a particular Babylonian King, to whom it gives a title which refers to what in English is called the Day Star or Morning Star (in Latin, lucifer, meaning "light-bearer", from the words lucem ferre).[25]

There is more than one instance in Jewish medieval myth and lore where demons are said to have come to be, as seen by the Grigori angels, of Lilith leaving Adam, of demons such as vampires, unrest spirits in Jewish folklore such as the dybbuk.[41][42]

Traditionally, Buddhism affirms the existence of hells[43] peopled by demons who torment sinners and tempt mortals to sin, or who seek to thwart their enlightenment, with a demon named Mara as chief tempter, "prince of darkness," or "Evil One" in Sanskrit sources.[44][45]

The followers of Mara were also called mara, the devils, and are frequently cited as a cause of disease or representations of mental obstructions.[45] The mara became fully assimilated into the Chinese worldview, and were called mo.

The idea of the imminent decline and collapse of the Buddhist religion amid a "great cacophony of demonic influences" was already a significant component of Buddhism when it reached China in the first century A.D., according to Michel Strickmann.[45] Demonic forces had attained enormous power in the world. For some writers of the time this state of affairs had been ordained to serve the higher purpose of effecting a "preliminary cleansing" that would purge and purify humanity in preparation for an ultimate, messianic renewal.[45]

Medieval Chinese Buddhist demonology was heavily influenced by Indian Buddhism. Indian demonology is also fully and systematically described in written sources, though during Buddhism's centuries of direct influence in China, "Chinese demonology was whipped into respectable shape," with a number of Indian demons finding permanent niches even in Taoist ritual texts.[45]

Also, the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, a major Mahayana Buddhist text, describes fifty demonic states: the so-called fifty skandha maras, which are "negative" mirror-like reflections of or deviations from correct samādhi (meditative absorption) states. In this context demons are considered by Buddhists to be beings possessing some supernatural powers, who, in the past, might have practiced Dharma, the Buddha's teaching, but due to practicing it incorrectly failed to develop true wisdom and true compassion, which are inseparable attributes of an enlightened being such as a Buddha or a Bodhisattva. In his autobiography, The Blazing Splendor, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, a prominent Tibetan Buddhist master of the 20th century describes encounters with such beings. Therefore, depending on the context, in Buddhism demons may refer to both disturbed mind states and actual beings.

Vedic Scriptures include a range of spirits (Vetalas, Rakshasas, Bhutas and Pishachas) that might be classified as demons. These spirits are souls of beings that have committed certain specific sins. As a purging punishment, they are condemned to roam without a physical form for a length of time, until a rebirth. Beings that died with unfulfilled desires or anger are also said to "linger" until such issues are resolved. Hindu text Atharvaveda gives an account of nature and habitats of such spirits including how to persuade/control them. There are occult traditions in Hinduism that seek to control such spirits to do their bidding. Hindu text Garuda Purana details other kinds of punishments and judgments given out in Hell; this also given an account of how the spirit travels to nether worlds.

In the Zoroastrian tradition, Ahura Mazda, as the force of good Spenta Mainyu, will eventually be victorious in a cosmic battle with an evil force known as Angra Mainyu or Ahriman.[46]