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{{Short description|Supernatural creatures in Arab culture and Islam}}
{{About|the supernatural creature}}
{{Good article}}
[[File:Brooklyn Museum - Arghan Div Brings the Chest of Armor to Hamza.jpg|thumb|The ifrit Arghan's eyes are slightly crossed and his orange skin spotted all over; he carries a chest over the waters on behalf of Hamza, from a illustration in the [[Hamzanama]]<ref>{{cite book| last = Sleigh| first = Tom| title = The Land between Two Rivers: Writing in an Age of Refugees| publisher = Graywolf Press| date = 2018| pages = chapter: 1.11| isbn = 978-1-555-97986-7}}</ref>]]
{{Islam}}

'''Ifrit''', also spelled as '''efreet''', '''afrit''', and '''afreet''' ({{langx|ar|عفريت|ʿifrīt}} {{IPA|ar|ʕifriːt||Q936678-ar.ogg}}), plural {{lang|ar|عفاريت}} {{transliteration|ar|ʿafārīt}}), is a powerful type of [[demon]] in [[Islamic culture]]. The ''ʿafārīt'' are often associated with the underworld and identified with the [[ghost|spirits of the dead]], and have been compared to [[genius loci|evil ''geniī loci'']] in [[Culture of Europe|European culture]].<ref name="Westermarck-2014a">{{cite book | last=Westermarck | first=Edward | title=Ritual and Belief in Morocco: Vol. I (Routledge Revivals) | publisher=Routledge | date=2014-04-23 | isbn=978-1-317-91268-2 | page= 387}}</ref> In [[Quran]], [[hadith]], and [[Isra' and Mi'raj|Mi'raj narrations]] the term functions as an epithet, always followed by the phrase "among the [[jinn]]". Due to the ambiguous meaning of the term ''jinn'', their relation to other spirits is often unclear.<ref>{{Citation |title=ʿIfrīt |url=https://referenceworks.brill.com/doi/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_3502 |access-date=2025-06-19 |language=en |doi=10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_3502|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

In Arabic dialects, the term is a substantive referring to independent entities, powerful chthonic demons or ghosts of the dead who sometimes inhabit desolate places such as ruins and temples.<ref>{{Citation |title=ʿIfrīt |url=https://referenceworks.brill.com/doi/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_3502 |access-date=2025-06-19 |language=en |doi=10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_3502|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Their true habitat is the [[Jahannam]] or underworld.<ref name="Chelhod-2005">{{EI2|last=Chelhod |first=J. |title=ʿIfrīt |doi=10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_3502}}</ref>

==Etymology==
The word ''ifrit'' appears in Surah [[an-Naml]]: 39 of the [[Quran]], but only as an [[epithet]] and not to designate a specific type of demon.<ref name="Westermarck-2014a"/><ref name="McAuliffe">{{cite book
 | last = McAuliffe
 | first = Jane Dammen
 | title = Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān 
 | publisher = Georgetown University, Washington DC 
 | volume = 3
 | pages = 486–487
 }}</ref> The term itself is not found in [[Arabic poetry#Pre-Islamic poetry|pre-Islamic Arabic poetry]], although variants such as ''ifriya'' and ''ifr'' are recorded prior to the Quran.<ref name="McAuliffe"/> Traditionally, Arab philologists trace the derivation of the word to {{langx|ar|[[:wikt:عفر|عفر]]|ʻafara|to rub with dust, to roll into dust|links=no}}.<ref name="Chelhod-2005" /> It is further used to describe sly, malicious, wicked and cunning characteristics.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.baheth.info/all.jsp?term=%D8%B9%D9%81%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AA|title=الباحث العربي: قاموس عربي عربي|website=www.baheth.info|access-date=2019-02-19|archive-date=2016-03-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304201710/http://www.baheth.info/all.jsp?term=%D8%B9%D9%81%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AA|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Some Western philologists suggest a foreign origin of the word and attribute it to [[Middle Persian]] ''āfrītan'', which corresponds to [[New Persian]] {{Nastaliq|{{lang|fa|[[:wikt:آفریدن|آفریدن]]}}}} "to create", but this is regarded as unlikely by others.<ref name="McAuliffe"/> Johnny Cheung argued that there is a [[Zoroastrianism|Zoroastrian]] spirit called an ''āfriti-'' in [[Avestan]]. He suggests that this Avestan term might be the ultimate source of Arabic ''‘ifrīt''."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cheung |first1=Johnny |title=On the (Middle) Iranian borrowings in Qur'ānic (and pre-Islamic) Arabic |date=2016 |pages=15 |journal=HAL |url=https://shs.hal.science/halshs-01445860 |access-date=26 December 2023 |language=en}}</ref>

In folklore, the term is used as a substantive, referring to a specific class of [[demon]], though most Islamic scholarly traditions regard the term as an adjective.<ref name="Chelhod-2005" /><ref name="McAuliffe"/><ref>{{Citation |title=ʿIfrīt |url=https://referenceworks.brill.com/doi/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_3502 |access-date=2025-06-19 |language=en |doi=10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_3502|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Popular beliefs were elaborated in works such as in [[al-Ibshihi|al-Ibshīhī]]'s ''Mustatraf''. They became identified either as a dangerous kind of [[Shayatin|devil]] (''shayṭān'') preying on women, or as spirits of the dead.<ref name="McAuliffe"/> In [[Turkish language|Turkish]], the term is generally used for demons of the underworld in contrast to demons on the surface such as jinn.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Erdağı | first=Deniz Özkan | title=Evil in Turkish Muslim horror film: the demonic in "Semum" | journal=SN Social Sciences | publisher=Springer Science and Business Media LLC | volume=4 | issue=2 | date=2024-02-01 | issn=2662-9283 | doi=10.1007/s43545-024-00832-w| doi-access=free }}</ref>

==Islamic scriptures==
[[File:Kitab al-Bulhan --- devils talking.jpg|thumb|right|upright|The ifrit Al-Malik al-Aswad (The Black King) sitting on the right listening to the complaints of jinn; from an Arabic manuscript in the late 14th&nbsp;century ''[[Book of Wonders]]''<ref>{{cite book |first=Maximillien |last=de Lafayette |title=Early & contemporary spirit artists, psychic artists, and medium painters from 5000&nbsp;BC to the present day economy |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-365-97802-9 |page=95|publisher=Lulu.com }}</ref>]]

In Islamic scriptures the term ''ifrit'' is always followed by the expression ''of the jinn''.<ref name="Szombathy">{{EI3 |last=Szombathy |first=Zoltan |title=ʿIfrīt |doi=10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_32379}}</ref> Due to the ambiguous meaning of the term ''jinn'', which is applied to a wide range of different spirits, their relation towards the genus of jinn remains vague.<ref name="Chelhod-2005" /> However, within the Islamic scriptures, the term is used as an epithet to describe a powerful or malicious spirit of an undefined nature.<ref>Vincent Crapanzano ''The Ḥamadsha: A Study in Moroccan Ethnopsychiatry'' University of California Press 1973 {{ISBN|9780520022416}} p. 136</ref><ref name="McAuliffe"/><ref name="Chelhod-2005"/>

In the Quran, such an ifrit is mentioned in [[an-Naml|surah al-Naml 27]]:38-40. The ifrit offers to carry the throne of [[Queen of Sheba|Bilqis, queen of Sheba]] to [[Solomon in Islam|King Solomon]]: "An ifrit from the jinn said: 'I will bring it to you before you rise from your place. And verily, I am indeed strong and trustworthy for such work." However, the duty is not given to him, but to somebody endowed with knowledge of the scripture.<ref name="McAuliffe"/> An "ifrit among the jinn" is mentioned in a ''hadith'' of [[Muhammad al-Bukhari]], attempting to interrupt the prayers of [[Muhammad]]<ref>{{cite book
 | last = Lebling
 | first = Robert 
 | title = Legends of the Fire Spirits: Jinn and Genies from Arabia to Zanzibar
 | publisher = I.B.Tauris
 | date =2010-07-30
 | pages = 141, 151–153
 | isbn = 978-0-857-73063-3
 }}</ref>{{efn|In [[Shibli Badr al-Din Abu Muhammad ibn ʻAbd Allah|Shibli's]] (d. 1367) retelling, he calls the ifrit a ''shayṭān'', underlining the ambiguous nature of the afarit.<ref>{{cite book
 | last = Nünlist 
 | first = Tobias 
 | title = Dämonenglaube im Islam
 | publisher = Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
 | date = 2015
 | pages = 109
 | language = de
 | isbn = 978-3-110-33168-4
 }}</ref>}} and in a narrative of Muhammad's night journey recorded in the eighth century by [[Malik ibn Anas]]. In the latter account, the "ifrit among the jinn" threatens Muhammad with a fiery presence, after which the [[Gabriel#Islam|Archangel Gabriel]] taught Muhammad a prayer to defeat it.<ref>{{cite book | last=Vuckovic | first=Brooke Olson | title=Heavenly Journeys, Earthly Concerns: The Legacy of the Mi'raj in the Formation of Islam | publisher=Routledge | date=March 2004 | isbn=978-1-135-88524-3 | page=35-36}}</ref><ref name="Szombathy"/> Muslim texts explain, God sent the ifrit on purpose so that Gabriel might teach Muhammad and his ''[[ummah]]'' (Muslim community) to overcome their fear of demons at night.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ürkmez |first1=Ertan |title=Türk-İslâm Mitolojisi Bağlamında Mi‘râç Motifi ve Türkiye Kültür Tarihine Yansımaları |date=2015 |url=https://openaccess.hacettepe.edu.tr/handle/11655/1404}}</ref>

''[[Tafsir|Tafsīr]]'' of [[Al-Anbiya|Surah al-Anbiya]], on the story of the [[Job in Islam|prophet Job]], mentions Job being tested by the torment of three ifrits. After [[Iblis]] gains permission to test Job, he descends to earth and summons his most powerful devils (''shaytan'') and ifrits. In order to torment the prophet, they turn into storms and whirlwinds of fire to destroy Job's properties.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Macdonald |first1=Duncan B. |title=Some External Evidence on the Original Form of the Legend of Job |journal=The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures |date=April 1898 |volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=137–164 |doi=10.1086/369274}}</ref>

==Islamic folklore==
In Islamic folklore, the afarit became a class of [[chthonic]] spirits, inhabiting the layers of the [[Jahannam#Seven levels|seven earths]],<ref>{{cite book |first1=Sebastian |last1=Günther |first2=Dorothee |last2=Pielow |date=18 October 2018 |title=Die Geheimnisse der oberen und der unteren Welt: Magie im Islam zwischen Glaube und Wissenschaft |language=de |trans-title=The Secrets of the Upper and Lower Worlds: Magic in Islam between faith and science |publisher=BRILL |isbn=9789004387577 |page=597}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Stephan |last=Conermann |year=2014 |title=History and Society During the Mamluk Period (1250-1517) |publisher=V&R unipress GmbH |isbn=9783847102281 |page=25}}</ref> generally ruthless and wicked, formed out of smoke and fire.{{efn|
The description "smoke and fire" is contrary to the jinn in Quranic traditions, who are created out of smokeless (clear) fire,<ref name="Chelhod-2005"/> but is in accord with a common tradition depicting the devils (''shayāṭīn''), as created out of smoke.}}<ref>
{{cite book
 | last = Hossein Nasr | first = Seyyed
 | year = 2013 
 | title = Islamic Life and Thought
 | publisher = Routledge 
 | page = 135
 | isbn = 978-1-134-53818-8
}}
</ref> Despite their negative depictions and affiliation to the nether regions, afarit are not fundamentally evil on a moral plane; they might even carry out God's purpose. Such obligations can nevertheless be ruthless, such as obligation to blood vengeance and avenging murder.<ref name="Chelhod-2005"/> [[Nizami Ganjavi]] describes an ''ifrit'' tormenting Mahan, as created from "God's wrath", thus underpinning the ifrit's role secondary to God's will.<ref>
{{cite book
 | last1 = Annabelle | first1 = Birgit 
 | last2 = Böttcher | first2 = Krawietz
 | year = 2021
 | title = Islam, Migration and Jinn: Spiritual Medicine in Muslim Health Management.
 | publisher = Deutschland: Springer International Publishing
 | page = 30
 | isbn = 978-3-030-61247-4}}
</ref> Further, an ifrit can be compelled by a [[Magic (supernatural)|sorcerer]], if summoned.<ref name="Szombathy"/>

===Egypt===
[[Image:Egyptian - Bes Mask - Walters 481661.jpg|thumb|Mask depicting [[Bes]], ancient Egypt deity, sometimes identified with afarit by Muslim Egyptians,<ref>{{cite book |first=Hans Alexander |last=Winkler |year=2009 |title=Ghost Riders of Upper Egypt: A study of spirit possession |place=Cairo, EG |publisher=American University in Press |isbn=9789774162503 |page=29}}</ref> early 4th–1st century BC ([[Walters Art Museum]], Baltimore)|200x200px]]

Although afarit are not necessarily components of a person, but independent entities, a common belief in [[Islam in Egypt|Islamic Egypt]]{{efn|
Although the identification of afarit with [[ghost]]s is usually associated with Muslims in Egypt, it is also attested among Muslims in India, [[Syria]], and [[Javanese people|Javan]] Muslims in [[Cirebon]].<ref>
{{cite book |first=A.G. |last=Muhaimin |year=2006 |title=The Islamic Traditions of Cirebon: Ibadat and Adat among Javanese Muslims |publisher=ANU E Press |isbn=978-1-920942-31-1 |page=38}}
</ref><ref>
{{cite book |first=Gebhard |last=Fartacek |year=2010 |title=Unheil durch Dämonen?: Geschichten und Diskurse über das Wirken der Ǧinn; eine sozialanthropologische Spurensuche in Syrien |language=de |trans-title=Evil from Demons? |quote=Stories and discourses on the works of the djinn; a socio-anthropological search for clues in Syria. |publisher=Böhlau Verlag Wien |isbn=9783205784852 |page=68}}
</ref><ref>
{{cite book |first=Frederick M. |last=Smith |year=2012 |title=The Self Possessed: Deity and spirit possession in South Asian literature and civilization |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-51065-3 |page=570}}
</ref>
}}
associates afarit with part of a human's soul.<ref name=al-Aswad-2002>{{cite book |first=el-Sayed |last=al-Aswad |year=2002 |title=Religion and Folk Cosmology: Scenarios of the visible and invisible in rural Egypt |place=Westport, CT |publisher=Praeger / Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=9780897899246 |pages=103–104, 153}}</ref>{{rp|style=ama|pages=103–104}}

Probably influenced by the [[Ancient Egypt]] idea of [[Ancient Egyptian concept of the soul#kꜣ "double"|''Ka'']], the afarit are often identified with the spirits of the dead, departing from the body at the moment of death. They live in cemeteries, wander around places the dead person frequently visited, or roam the earth close to the place of death, until [[Islamic eschatology|the Day of Judgment]]. A person who died a natural death does not have a malevolent ifrit. Only people who are killed give rise to a dangerous and active ifrit, drawn to the blood of the victim. Driving an unused nail into the blood is supposed to stop their formation.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | title = Aeromancy | year = 2006 | encyclopedia = The Element Encyclopedia of the Psychic World | pages = 10 | publisher = Harper Element}}</ref> Such afarit might scare and even kill the living or take revenge on the murderer.<ref>{{cite book |first=Robert |last=Lebling |title=Legends of the Fire Spirits: Jinn and genies from Arabia to Zanzibar |publisher=I.B. Tauris |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-85773-063-3 |pages=151–153}}</ref><ref name=al-Aswad-2002/>{{rp|style=ama|page=153}} [[Islamic martyrs|Martyrs]], [[Islamic saints|saints]] and [[Prophets in Islam|prophets]] do not have a ghost, and therefore no ifrit.<ref name=al-Aswad-2002/>{{rp|style=ama|page=153}}

===Morocco===
In [[Morocco|Moroccan]] belief, the afarit form a more powerful type of demon, comparable to [[jinn]] and other supernatural creatures. They have more substantial existence, and are greater in scale and capacity<ref name="Crapanzano-1973">{{cite book |first=Vincent |last=Crapanzano |year=1973 |title=The Ḥamadsha: A study in Moroccan ethnopsychiatry |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520022416 |page=137}}</ref> than other demons.<ref name="Westermarck-2014">{{cite book |first=Edward |last=Westermarck |date=23 April 2014 |title=Ritual and Belief in Morocco |volume=I |series=Routledge Revivals |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781317912682 |pages=263–264}}</ref> However, their shapeshifting abilities are inferior compared to jinn.<ref>{{Citation |title=ʿIfrīt |url=https://referenceworks.brill.com/doi/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_3502 |access-date=2025-06-19 |language=en |doi=10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_3502|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Their physical appearance is often portrayed as having monstrous deformities, such as claw-like or thorny hands, flaming eyes or seven heads.<ref name="Westermarck-2014"/><ref name="Szombathy"/>

Just as with jinn, an ifrit might possess an individual. Such persons gain some abilities from the ifrit, such as getting stronger and more brave, but the ifrit renders them insane.<ref name="Crapanzano-1973"/><ref name="Westermarck-2014"/> With the aid of a magical ring, the afarit might be forced to perform certain orders, such as carrying heavy stones.<ref name="Westermarck-2014"/>

===Shabakism===
A story circulates among the [[Shabakism|Shabak]] community in [[Disputed territories of Northern Iraq|Northern Iraq]] about a certain ifrit who incensed [[Ali]] by his evil nature long before the creation of [[Adam in Islam|Adam]].{{efn|It is a common belief among Muslims that Muhammad's creation precedes that of Adam. Shia sources, often add Ali to the human beings predating the creation of Adam and the earth.<ref>M.J. Kister ''Adam: A Study of Some Legends in Tafsir and Hadit Literature'' ''Approaches to the History of the Interpretation of The Qur'an, Oxford 1988'' p. 129</ref>}} Consequently, for the ifrit's wickedness, Ali chained the ifrit and left him alone. When the prophets arrived on earth, he appeared to all of them, beginning with Adam, and begged them for his release, but no prophet was able to break the chains. When Muhammad met the ifrit, he brought him to Ali for release. Ali was merciful to the ifrit, and decided to release him under the condition that he surrenders to the will of God.<ref>{{cite book |first=Matti |last=Moosa |year=1987 |title=Extremist Shiites: The Ghulat sects |place=Syracuse, NY |publisher=Syracuse University Press |isbn=978-0-815-62411-0 |page=69}}</ref>

===Mahan and the Ifrit===
[[File:MakhanEmbracedByAnEfreeti.jpg|thumb|upright|Māhān embraced by an ifrit. [[Persian miniature|Illustration]] to [[Nizami Ganjavi]]'s poem ''Hamsa''. [[Bukhara]], 1648.]]
[[Nizami Ganjavi]] (c. 1141–1209) narrates in his ''[[Haft Peykar]]'' the story of the Egyptian wayfarer Māhān (the "moonlike one") and his travels to a demon-infested desert.<ref>Brend, Barbara. "Figurative Art in Medieval Islam and the Riddle of Bihzād of Herāt (1465–1535). By Michael Barry. pp. 408. Paris, Flammarion, 2004." Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 17.1 (2007): 64-68. pp. 361-363</ref> Māhān's horse, presented to him by a demon in human disguise, gallops his rider into the desert, where it turns into a seven-headed monster. In the desert, Māhān finds shelter in a mysterious [[oasis]] owned by an old man. After Māhān and the old man know each other better, the old man decides to bequeath his legacy and marry him to a beautiful woman. He leaves to prepare for the wedding and warns Māhān that he must not descend from the perch until the old man is back. After that, the house, garden, and wife will belong to him.

When a beautiful girl with the face of a ''[[peri|parī]]'' (fairy) enters the room, Māhān is overwhelmed by his lust and passion and ignores the order of the old man. While the beauty of his desire embraces Māhān, the girl suddenly turns into an ifrit, formed from God's wrath.<ref>Nünlist, Tobias (2015). Dämonenglaube im Islam [Daemonic Belief in Islam] (in German). Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. ISBN 978-3-110-33168-4. pp. 235-239</ref><ref>Brend, Barbara. "Figurative Art in Medieval Islam and the Riddle of Bihzād of Herāt (1465–1535). By Michael Barry. pp. 408. Paris, Flammarion, 2004." Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 17.1 (2007): 64-68. pp. 361-363</ref> The demon explains that the fairy turned into a demon because of Māhān's uncontrollable passion.<ref>Brend, Barbara. "Figurative Art in Medieval Islam and the Riddle of Bihzād of Herāt (1465–1535). By Michael Barry. pp. 408. Paris, Flammarion, 2004." Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 17.1 (2007): 64-68. pp. 361-363</ref> Thereupon, the ifrit explains that he now must tear Māhān apart; if it were to spare him, the monster would be no true demon ([[div (mythology)|''dēw'']]). Furthermore, the ifrit, as a demon, is ashamed to have presented as a fairy in the first place. Māhān is saved when the rooster sounds in the morning and everything demonic vanishes.<ref>Nünlist, Tobias (2015). Dämonenglaube im Islam [Daemonic Belief in Islam] (in German). Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. ISBN 978-3-110-33168-4. pp. 235-239</ref>

Nizami notes that the meaning of the story is that the ifrit is the consequence of Māhān's moral transgression. The ifrits in the story feature as moral instance and guardians of moral order.

==In fiction==
Afarit appear already in early poems, such as those of [[Al-Maʿarri]] (973–1057), who describes his protagonist visiting a [[paradise]] with "narrow straits" and "dark valleys" for afarit, between heaven and hell.<ref>''Islam, Arabs, and Intelligent World of the Jinn'' Amira El-Zein 2009 {{ISBN|978-0-815-65070-6}} page 20</ref> In later works, the afarit are mentioned among the narratives collected in ''[[One Thousand and One Nights]]''. In one tale called "The Porter and the Young Girls", a prince is attacked by pirates and takes refuge with a woodcutter. The prince finds an underground chamber in the forest leading to a beautiful woman who has been kidnapped by an ifrit. The prince sleeps with the woman and both are attacked by the jealous ifrit, who changes the prince into an ape. Later a princess restores the prince and fights a [[pitched battle]] with the ifrit, who changes shape into various animals, fruit, and fire until being reduced to cinders.<ref name="Duggan-2016">{{cite book | first1=Anne E. |last1=Duggan | first2=Donald |last2=Haase | last3=Callow | first3=Helen J. | title=Folktales and Fairy Tales: Traditions and Texts from around the World |edition=2nd | publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA | publication-place=Santa Barbara, California | date=2016-02-12 | isbn=978-1-61069-254-0 |volume=2 | page= 402}}</ref><ref name="Chelhod-2005"/> In "[[The Fisherman and the Jinni]]" an ifrit, locked in a jar by the [[Seal of Solomon]], is released but later tricked by the fisherman again into the jar. Under the condition that the ifrit aids him to achieve riches, he releases the ifrit again.<ref name="Weinstock-2016">{{cite book | last=Weinstock | first=Jeffrey Andrew | title=The Ashgate Encyclopedia of Literary and Cinematic Monsters | publisher=Routledge | date=2016-04-01 | isbn=978-1-317-04425-3 | pages=166–169}}</ref> The latter ifrit, however, might be substituted by a [[marid]], another type of powerful demon<ref name="Duggan-2016"/><ref name="Chelhod-2005"/> easily tricked by the protagonist.<ref>{{cite news|author = Leon Hale|title = Arabic mythology is worth revisiting|newspaper = [[Houston Chronicle]]|date = January 13, 2002}}</ref> The latter portrayal of an ifrit, as a wish-granting spirit released from a jar, became characteristic of Western depictions of jinn.<ref name="Weinstock-2016"/>

Afarit feature frequently in [[film]] and [[video games]]. In the ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' video game series, an ifrit appears as a summonable spirit and an enemy. Like its mythological counterpart, it is a spirit of fire and can use an iconic spell called ''Hellfire''.<ref>Ruth Ayaß, Cornelia Gerhardt ''The Appropriation of Media in Everyday Life'' John Benjamins Publishing 2012 {{ISBN|9789027273376}} p. 205</ref> In the fifth season of ''[[True Blood]]'' (2012), an ifrit seeks vengeance for murder of Iraqi civilians by U.S soldiers.<ref>Hudson, Dale. "'Of course there are Werewolves and Vampires': 'True Blood' and the Right to Rights for other Species." American Quarterly, vol. 65, no. 3, 2013, pp. 661–687., www.jstor.org/stable/43822924.</ref> In both the novel ''[[American Gods]]'' (2001) and the [[American Gods (TV series)|television adaptation]] by [[Neil Gaiman]] an ifrit disguised as a taxi-driver appears, trying to get used to his new role, seeking intimacy in a lonely world.<ref>Tara Prescott ''Neil Gaiman in the 21st Century: Essays on the Novels, Children's Stories, Online Writings, Comics and Other Works'' McFarland, 11.02.2015 {{ISBN|9780786494774}} p. 25.</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Islam}}
* [[Archdemon]]
* [[Dybbuk]]
* [[Div (mythology)|dīv]]
* [[Genie in popular culture]]
* [[Imp]]
* [[Oni]]
* [[Rakshasa]]
* {{lang|ja-latn|[[Yūrei]]}}
* [[Zabaniyya]]

==Explanatory notes==
{{Notelist}}
{{clear}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Wiktionary inline|عفريت}}

{{Characters and Names in Quran}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Chthonic beings]]
[[Category:Demons in Islam]]
[[Category:Ghosts]]
[[Category:Jahannam]]
[[Category:Jinn]]
[[Category:Ifrits| ]]