Qareen

A Qareen (Arabic: قرين qarīn, literally meaning: 'constant companion') is a spiritual double of a human, either part of the human himself or a complementary creature in a parallel dimension.

The qareen belongs to the jinn in regards to its ghostly nature, yet distinct from the genus of jinn. Although the qareen can be either a devil or an angel, they are more often associated with malevolent spirits tempting into sin.

The idea of a spiritual double accompany humans might be a remnant of older Semitic beliefs, such as the Egypt kꜣ which in turn resembles the Babylonian idea of an undefined personal deity accompanying a person.

The Qareen as an accompanying spirit should not be confused with the Qarinah, a female "childbed demon" in Middle Eastern traditions.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.