Knowledge Base Article

Do Jinn Have Sex with Your Wife? What Islamic Sources Claim

Published: November 7, 2026Author: Asif Mohiuddin27 min read

Introduction: Satan’s Participation in Sexual Intercourse between Husband and Wife

Islamic religious literature has developed numerous supernatural beliefs about people’s private lives. One such belief holds that if a husband and wife do not pronounce Allah’s name before intercourse, Satan may participate in their sexual act. In accounts collected by several classical Quranic commentators, this extends beyond satanic temptation or an evil influence on the child. They explicitly describe Satan attaching himself to the man’s penis, having intercourse with the same woman, and even ejaculating into her vagina. Intercourse then involves more than two human beings; according to the religious fiction, a third, supernatural being also participates sexually. Several commentaries describe precisely the kind of event that could colloquially be called a “threesome.”

Below is a video of Bangladeshi Islamic preacher Ahmadullah discussing the participation of jinn or Satan in sexual intercourse. Comparing the statement’s classical sources, the relevant Quranic verses, hadiths in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, Sunni and Shia compilations of commentary and hadith, and explanations preserved in modern Islamic fatwas shows that this is not merely an invention by a contemporary preacher. Different forms of this supernatural sexual belief have circulated in Islamic religious literature for centuries.

Verse 64 of Surah al-Isra has been used as the principal religious basis for this belief. Allah addresses Iblis, telling him that he may try to mislead people and share in their wealth and children. The Arabic word وَشَارِكْهُمْ means “share with them.” In explaining this command, classical commentators mention various matters: illegitimate birth, religious conversion, the killing of children, polytheistic names, and Satan’s participation in intercourse. The verse itself says nothing about Satan’s genitals or ejaculation; these are added in particular exegetical accounts. ^[1]

وَاسْتَفْزِزْ مَنِ اسْتَطَعْتَ مِنْهُمْ بِصَوْتِكَ وَأَجْلِبْ عَلَيْهِمْ بِخَيْلِكَ وَرَجِلِكَ وَشَارِكْهُمْ فِي الْأَمْوَالِ وَالْأَوْلَادِ وَعِدْهُمْ وَمَا يَعِدُهُمُ الشَّيْطَانُ إِلَّا غُرُورًا

English translation: Incite whomever you can among them with your voice, attack them with your cavalry and infantry, share in their wealth and children, and make promises to them. Satan’s promises to them are nothing but deception.

The verse does not directly establish that any child’s body contains a hereditary contribution from Satan. Yet the matter did not end there. Commentators have interpreted “sharing in children” as children born through illicit sexual relations, changes in religious identity, or Satan’s own sexual participation. Some accounts describe his intercourse and ejaculation so specifically that they cannot be treated merely as vague symbols of moral temptation.

Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim: Reciting a Prayer before Intercourse Prevents Satan from Harming the Child

In Sahih al-Bukhari 6388, transmitted through Ibn Abbas, Muhammad states that if a man invokes Allah’s name before intercourse with his wife and prays that Satan be kept away from them and any prospective child, Satan will never harm the child born from that union. The same statement appears in Sahih Muslim 1434a. A direct relationship is established between the possible conception of a child through intercourse and Satan’s influence on that child. These particular hadiths in Bukhari and Muslim do not, however, explicitly state that Satan physically joins the couple in intercourse or ejaculates. Those descriptions appear in other exegetical and hadith traditions. ^[2]

حَدَّثَنَا عُثْمَانُ بْنُ أَبِي شَيْبَةَ، حَدَّثَنَا جَرِيرٌ، عَنْ مَنْصُورٍ، عَنْ سَالِمٍ، عَنْ كُرَيْبٍ، عَنِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ ـ رضى الله عنهما ـ قَالَ قَالَ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم «لَوْ أَنَّ أَحَدَهُمْ إِذَا أَرَادَ أَنْ يَأْتِيَ أَهْلَهُ قَالَ بِاسْمِ اللَّهِ، اللَّهُمَّ جَنِّبْنَا الشَّيْطَانَ، وَجَنِّبِ الشَّيْطَانَ مَا رَزَقْتَنَا، فَإِنَّهُ إِنْ يُقَدَّرْ بَيْنَهُمَا وَلَدٌ فِي ذَلِكَ، لَمْ يَضُرَّهُ شَيْطَانٌ أَبَدًا».

English translation: Uthman ibn Abi Shaybah narrated to us; Jarir narrated from Mansur, Mansur from Salim, Salim from Kurayb, and Kurayb from Ibn Abbas. Ibn Abbas said that the Prophet said: “If one of you, when he wishes to approach his wife, says, ‘In the name of Allah. O Allah, keep Satan away from us and keep Satan away from what You grant us,’ and a child is then decreed for them from that union, Satan will never harm that child.”

A similar statement is preserved in Sahih Muslim’s chapter on what is recommended to say during intercourse. The same condition is emphasised: pronouncing a particular religious formula before intercourse and thereby protecting a future child from Satan’s harm. There is no testable evidence that an uttered formula makes an invisible being withdraw from human offspring in actual biological reproduction. The religious rule claims ritual protection, but neither the mechanism nor the outcome of that alleged protection has been independently verified. ^[3]

حَدَّثَنَا يَحْيَى بْنُ يَحْيَى، وَإِسْحَاقُ بْنُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ، – وَاللَّفْظُ لِيَحْيَى – قَالاَ أَخْبَرَنَا جَرِيرٌ، عَنْ مَنْصُورٍ، عَنْ سَالِمٍ، عَنْ كُرَيْبٍ، عَنِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ، قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم «لَوْ أَنَّ أَحَدَهُمْ إِذَا أَرَادَ أَنْ يَأْتِيَ أَهْلَهُ قَالَ بِاسْمِ اللَّهِ اللَّهُمَّ جَنِّبْنَا الشَّيْطَانَ وَجَنِّبِ الشَّيْطَانَ مَا رَزَقْتَنَا فَإِنَّهُ إِنْ يُقَدَّرْ بَيْنَهُمَا وَلَدٌ فِي ذَلِكَ لَمْ يَضُرَّهُ شَيْطَانٌ أَبَدًا».

English translation: Yahya ibn Yahya and Ishaq ibn Ibrahim narrated to us. They said that Jarir informed them, from Mansur, from Salim, from Kurayb, from Ibn Abbas. Ibn Abbas said that Allah’s Messenger said: “If one of you, when wishing to have intercourse with his wife, says, ‘In the name of Allah; O Allah, keep Satan away from us and keep the child You grant us away from Satan,’ and a child is then born from that union, Satan will never harm that child.”

The content and transmission routes of the two hadiths quoted from Bukhari and Muslim are very close. Two collected versions of the same hadith cannot be counted as independent testimony to two separate events. They nevertheless make clear the prayer’s established place within Islamic hadith scholarship and the importance of the belief in protecting a prospective child from Satan.

Tafsir al-Mazhari: An Account Attributed to Ja‘far al-Sadiq of Satan’s Intercourse and Ejaculation

The Bengali edition of Tafsir al-Mazhari, volume 7, page 122, quotes an exceptionally explicit statement attributed to Ja‘far al-Sadiq. It says that when a man approaches his wife for intercourse, Satan sits on his penis. If the man does not say “Bismillah,” Satan also has intercourse with the same woman and ejaculates into her vagina. The following passage states that Satan has a share in a child born from such intercourse. An image of the quoted Bengali page appears below. The same basic account also appears in the Arabic commentaries of al-Baghawi, al-Sam‘ani, and Ruh al-Bayan. ^[4] ^[5]

Imam Ja‘far al-Sadiq said that when a man prepares to have intercourse with his wife, Satan sits on his penis. If he begins intercourse without saying ‘Bismillah,’ Satan becomes his partner in intercourse. Satan likewise ejaculates into his wife’s genitals. Satan has a share in the child born from such intercourse.

In this account, Satan’s “sharing” involves specific sexual acts: positioning himself on the man’s penis, having intercourse with the same woman, and ejaculating into her genitals. Restricting this statement to “bad thoughts entering the mind” would therefore erase the original account’s sexual meaning. There is, however, a distinction concerning attribution: al-Mazhari and the other commentaries report the statement in Ja‘far al-Sadiq’s name; this establishes neither that Ja‘far certainly said it nor that such an event actually occurs. What it establishes is the circulation of this particular sexual story within the Islamic exegetical tradition.

Tafsir al-Baghawi: Satan Sits on the Man’s Penis and Ejaculates into the Woman’s Vagina

Al-Baghawi’s commentary on Surah al-Isra 17:64 offers several explanations of Satan’s share in children. It first attributes the killing of daughters to Ibn Abbas’s interpretation, children born of illicit sex to Mujahid and al-Dahhak, raising children as Jews, Christians, or Magians to al-Hasan al-Basri and Qatadah, and religious naming practices to another report. Immediately afterwards, it collects the specific account of Satan’s intercourse and ejaculation attributed to Ja‘far ibn Muhammad. Further accounts follow concerning children born through jinn participation and sexual relations between jinn and women. ^[6]

وأما الشركة في الأولاد : روي عن ابن عباس : أنها الموءودة . وقال مجاهد والضحاك : هم أولاد الزنا . وقال الحسن ، وقتادة : هو أنهم هودوا أولادهم ونصروهم ومجسوهم . وعن ابن عباس رواية أخرى : هو تسميتهم الأولاد عبد الحارث وعبد شمس وعبد العزى وعبد الدار ونحوها . وروي عن جعفر بن محمد أن الشيطان يقعد على ذكر الرجل فإذا لم يقل : «بسم الله» أصاب معه امرأته وأنزل في فرجها كما ينزل الرجل . وروي في بعض الأخبار : إن فيكم مغربين قيل : وما المغربون؟ قال : الذين يشارك فيهم الجن . وروي أن رجلا قال لابن عباس : إن امرأتي استيقظت وفي فرجها شعلة من نار؟ قال : ذلك من وطء الجن .

English translation: Concerning Satan’s share in children, it is reported from Ibn Abbas that this means daughters buried alive. Mujahid and al-Dahhak said it means children born of illicit intercourse. Al-Hasan al-Basri and Qatadah said it means making children Jews, Christians, or Magians. Another report from Ibn Abbas concerns naming children Abd al-Harith, Abd Shams, Abd al-Uzza, Abd al-Dar, and similar names. It is reported from Ja‘far ibn Muhammad that Satan sits on the man’s penis. If the man does not say “Bismillah,” Satan has intercourse with his wife alongside him and ejaculates into her vagina just as the man ejaculates. Some reports state, “There are mugharrabun among you.” Asked who the mugharrabun are, the answer is, “Those in whom the jinn have a share.” It is also reported that a man told Ibn Abbas, “My wife awoke feeling as though there were a flame of fire in her vagina.” He said, “That is from intercourse with the jinn.”

The key Arabic phrases in al-Baghawi’s account are أصاب معه امرأته—“he had intercourse with his wife alongside him”—and أنزل في فرجها كما ينزل الرجل—“he ejaculated into her vagina just as a man ejaculates.” These specific phrases describe intercourse and ejaculation as Satan’s own physical acts. They directly show how an entire supernatural sexual event was imagined on the basis of the Quran’s word “sharing.”

Tafsir al-Sam‘ani: The Same Account Attributed to Ja‘far al-Sadiq and the Idea of Jinn–Human Offspring

Abu al-Muzaffar al-Sam‘ani’s commentary on Surah al-Isra 17:64 contains a similarly detailed account. Al-Sam‘ani collects the statement attributed to Ja‘far ibn Muhammad about Satan’s position on the penis, intercourse, and ejaculation. He notes that a similar statement also circulated in Mujahid’s name. The same discussion preserves the idea of children born through the jinn’s sexual participation. The statement attributed to Ja‘far al-Sadiq therefore appears in classical Arabic exegetical texts, rather than only in a Bengali translation. Al-Baghawi’s and al-Sam‘ani’s quotation of the same story cannot turn their books into two testimonies to separate events; it demonstrates the account’s spread through exegetical literature. ^[7]

وقوله : ( والأولاد ) فيه أقوال : قال ابن عباس : الموءودة . قال مجاهد : أولاد الزنا ، وقال غيره : هو تهويدهم وتنصيرهم وتمجيسهم . وعن ابن عباس في رواية أخرى هو : تسميتهم الأولاد : عبد العزى ، وعبد الدار ، وعبد مناف ، وما أشبه ذلك . وفي بعض المسانيد عن ابن عباس أن رجلا أتاه ، وقال : إن امرأتي استيقظت ، وكأن في فرجها شعلة نار ، قال : ذاك من وطئ الجن . قال : فمن أولادهم ؟ قال : هؤلاء المخنثون . وعن جعفر بن محمد : إن الشيطان يقعد على ذكر الرجل ؛ فإذا لم يسم الله أصاب امرأته معه ، وأنزل في فرجها كما ينزل الرجل . وروي قريبا من هذا عن مجاهد . وفي بعض الأخبار عن النبي قال : «إن فيكم مغربين» . قيل : ومن المغربون ؟ قال : «الذين شارك فيهم الجن» .

English translation: There are several interpretations of “share in children.” Ibn Abbas said it means daughters buried alive. Mujahid said it means children born of illicit sex. Others said it means making children Jews, Christians, or Magians. Another report from Ibn Abbas concerns naming children Abd al-Uzza, Abd al-Dar, Abd Manaf, and the like. Some musnad collections report from Ibn Abbas that a man came and said, “My wife awoke feeling something like a flame of fire in her vagina.” He said, “That is from intercourse with the jinn.” The man asked, “Who are their offspring?” He replied, “These mukhannathun.” It is reported from Ja‘far ibn Muhammad that Satan sits on the man’s penis; if the man does not invoke Allah’s name, Satan has intercourse with his wife alongside him and ejaculates into her vagina just as a man does. A similar statement is reported from Mujahid. Another report attributes to the Prophet the statement, “There are mugharrabun among you.” When asked, he said, “Those in whom the jinn have participated.”

The term “mukhannath” quoted by al-Sam‘ani denotes a historical social category; it cannot explain the biological origin of anyone’s sexual characteristics or identity. This tendency in classical religious stories to connect human characteristics with sexual intercourse involving jinn exemplifies ignorance of actual human reproduction. The account also preserves distinct layers of statements circulating in the names of Ja‘far, Mujahid, and Ibn Abbas; they cannot all be labelled sahih hadiths of Muhammad.

Tafsir Ruh al-Bayan: The Continued Circulation of Satan’s Ejaculation in Later Centuries

Isma‘il Haqqi al-Bursawi’s Ruh al-Bayan also preserves the same sexual statement attributed to Ja‘far ibn Muhammad in its commentary on Surah al-Isra 17:64. It first discusses Satan’s share in children in terms of obtaining children through unlawful means, killing daughters, giving polytheistic names, and raising them in other religious identities. The explicit account of Satan’s intercourse and ejaculation follows. Repeatedly compiling such accounts over a long period does not provide independent eyewitness evidence of a miracle; it documents how the belief in Satan’s participation in intercourse persisted into later periods of the Muslim exegetical tradition. ^[8]

وَالْأَوْلَادِ بالحث على التوصل إليهم بالأسباب المحرمة والوأد والإشراك كتسسينهم بعبد العزى وعبد الحارث وعبد الشمس وعبد الدار وغير ذلك . والتضليل بالحمل على الأديان الزائغة والحرف الذميمة والافعال القبيحة وقال في التأويلات النجمية بتضييع زمانهم وإفساد استعدادهم في طلب الدنيا ورياستها متغافلين عن تهذيب نفوسهم وتزكيتها وتأديبها وتوقيها عن الصفات المذمومة وتحليهم بالصفات المحمودة وتعليمهم الفرائض والسنن والعلوم الدينية وتحريضهم على طلب الآخرة والدرجات العلى والنجاة من النار والدركات انتهى وعن جعفر بن محمد ان الشيطان يقعد على ذكر الرجل فإذا لم يقل باسم اللّه أصاب معه امرأته وانزل في فرجها كما ينزل الرجل

English translation: “Share in children” means encouraging prohibited means of obtaining children, killing children, and giving polytheistic names such as Abd al-Uzza, Abd al-Harith, Abd Shams, and Abd al-Dar. It also refers to drawing children into false religions, reprehensible dispositions, and bad deeds. According to Al-Ta’wilat al-Najmiyyah, this sharing also includes wasting children’s time, directing their attention towards worldly advancement, neglecting self-purification and good character, and keeping them from religious duties and a life oriented towards the Hereafter. It is reported from Ja‘far ibn Muhammad that Satan sits on the man’s penis. If the man does not invoke Allah’s name, Satan has intercourse with his wife alongside him and ejaculates into her vagina just as a man does.

Tafsir al-Qurtubi and Surah al-Rahman: Jinn Joining Men in Intercourse and Having Sex with Women

In his commentary on Surah al-Isra 17:64, al-Qurtubi attributes to Mujahid the statement that if a man does not invoke Allah’s name before intercourse, a jinn wraps itself around his penis and has intercourse alongside him. He connects this statement to Quran 55:56 in Surah al-Rahman, which says that no human or jinn has previously had sexual intercourse with the women of Paradise. Al-Qurtubi uses it as evidence of the jinn’s capacity for sexual intercourse. ^[9]

وقول خامس – روي عن مجاهد قال : إذا جامع الرجل ولم يسم انطوى الجان على إحليله فجامع معه ، فذلك قوله – تعالى – : لم يطمثهن إنس قبلهم ولا جان وسيأتي . وروى من حديث عائشة قالت قال رسول الله – صلى الله عليه وسلم – : إن فيكم مغربين قلت : يا رسول الله ، وما المغربون ؟ قال : الذين يشترك فيهم الجن . رواه الترمذي الحكيم في نوادر الأصول . قال الهروي : سموا مغربين لأنه دخل فيهم عرق غريب . قال الترمذي الحكيم : فللجن مساماة بابن آدم في الأمور والاختلاط ; فمنهم من يتزوج فيهم ، وكانت بلقيس ملكة سبأ أحد أبويها من الجن .

English translation: A fifth interpretation is reported from Mujahid: when a man has intercourse with his wife without invoking Allah’s name, a jinn wraps itself around his penis and has intercourse alongside him. Allah’s statement “No human or jinn has previously had intercourse with them” is quoted in this connection. Another report attributed to the Prophet through Aisha says, “There are mugharrabun among you.” Aisha asks, “O Messenger of Allah, who are the mugharrabun?” He replies, “Those in whom the jinn have participated.” Al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi collected this in Nawadir al-Usul. Al-Harawi said that they are called mugharrabun because a foreign or unfamiliar element of ancestry has entered them. Al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi said that jinn mingle with humans in various affairs, and some even marry humans. The statement that one of the parents of Bilqis, Queen of Sheba, was a jinn also appears here.

Surah al-Rahman 55:56 itself states that no human or jinn has previously touched or had intercourse with the women of Paradise. It does not directly report a jinn having sexual relations with any woman on earth. Al-Qurtubi nevertheless draws on Mujahid’s statement in accepting intercourse between jinn and human women as a real possibility. His interpretation makes a considerably more specific claim than the Quranic text itself. ^[10]

فِيهِنَّ قَاصِرَاتُ الطَّرْفِ لَمْ يَطْمِثْهُنَّ إِنسٌ قَبْلَهُمْ وَلَا جَانٌّ

English translation: There are women who restrain their glances, with whom no human or jinn has previously had sexual intercourse.

Commenting on the same verse, al-Qurtubi states more directly that jinn can have intercourse with human women; he illustrates this with Mujahid’s account of a jinn wrapping itself around a man’s penis and having intercourse alongside him when he does not invoke Allah’s name. On this reasoning, he contrasts the description of the sexual purity of Paradise’s women with the possibility of jinn having sexual relations with earthly women. ^[11]

الثالثة : في هذه الآية دليل على أن الجن تغشى كالإنس ، وتدخل الجنة ويكون لهم فيها جنيات . قال ضمرة : للمؤمنين منهم أزواج من الحور العين ، فالإنسيات للإنس ، والجنيات للجن . وقيل : أي لم يطمث ما وهب الله للمؤمنين من الجن في الجنة من الحور العين من الجنيات جن ، ولم يطمث ما وهب الله للمؤمنين من الإنس في الجنة من الحور العين من الإنسيات إنس ، وذلك لأن الجن لا تطأ بنات آدم في الدنيا . ذكره القشيري . قلت : قد مضى في ( النمل ) القول في هذا وفي ( الإسراء ) أيضا ، وأنه جائز أن تطأ بنات آدم . وقد قال مجاهد : إذا جامع الرجل ولم يسم انطوى الجان على إحليله فجامع معه فذلك قوله تعالى : لم يطمثهن إنس قبلهم ولا جان وذلك بأن الله تبارك وتعالى وصف الحور العين بأنه لم يطمثهن إنس قبلهم ولا جان . يعلمك أن نساء الآدميات قد يطمثهن الجان ، وأن الحور العين قد برئن من هذا العيب ونزهن ، والطمث الجماع .

English translation: Third discussion: this verse is taken as evidence that jinn have intercourse like humans and enter Paradise, where they have female jinn. Damrah said that believing jinn will have houris; human women are for humans and female jinn for jinn. Another interpretation says that no jinn has previously had intercourse with the women assigned to jinn in Paradise, and no human with the women assigned to humans, because jinn do not have intercourse with the daughters of Adam on earth. Al-Qushayri mentions this view. Al-Qurtubi says that he has already discussed the possibility of jinn having intercourse with human women in his commentaries on Surahs al-Naml and al-Isra. Mujahid said that when a man has intercourse with his wife without invoking the name, a jinn wraps itself around his penis and has intercourse alongside him. Connecting this with the Quranic statement “No human or jinn has previously had intercourse with them,” al-Qurtubi says that jinn may have intercourse with the daughters of Adam, whereas Paradise’s women are described as free from such intercourse. Here, tamth means sexual intercourse.

The idea of Satan’s sexual participation extends beyond Sunni commentary. Shia hadith literature contains more specific accounts attributed to Ja‘far al-Sadiq. Several reports quoted from Al-Kafi are collected in the section on preliminary marriage etiquette in Wasa’il al-Shia. They describe Satan’s presence during a man’s intercourse, ejaculation like a human’s, a share in the child’s birth, and love or hatred for the Ahl al-Bayt as the criterion for identifying that share. ^[12]

و عنهم عن أحمد عن أبيه عن حمزة بن عبد اللّه عن جميل بن درّاج عن أبي الوليد عن أبي بصير قال قال لي أبو عبد اللّه ع يا أبا محمّد إذا أتيت أهلك فأيّ شي‏ء تقول قال قلت جعلت فداك و أطيق أن أقول شيئا قال بلى قل اللّهمّ بكلماتك استحللت فرجها و بأمانتك أخذتها فإن قضيت في رحمها شيئا فاجعله تقيّا زكيّا و لا تجعل فيه شركا للشّيطان قال قلت جعلت فداك و يكون فيه شرك الشّيطان قال نعم أ ما تسمع قول اللّه عزّ و جلّ في كتابه و شاركهم في الأموال و الأولاد إنّ الشّيطان يجي‏ء فيقعد كما يقعد الرّجل و ينزل كما ينزل الرّجل قلت فبأيّ شي‏ء يعرف ذلك قال بحبّنا و بغضنا

English translation: Through Ahmad, from his father, from Hamzah ibn Abdullah, from Jamil ibn Darraj, from Abu al-Walid, Abu Basir narrated: Ja‘far al-Sadiq said to me, “O Abu Muhammad, what do you say when you approach your wife?” I replied, “May I be sacrificed for you, what could I say in that state?” He said, “Certainly. Say, ‘O Allah, through Your words I have made intercourse with her lawful, and under Your trust I have taken her. If You decree anything in her womb, make it pious and pure, and give Satan no share in it.’” I asked, “Can Satan have a share in a child?” He replied, “Yes. Have you not read in Allah’s Book, ‘Share in their wealth and children’?” Satan comes, sits as a man sits, and ejaculates as a man ejaculates. I asked, “How can that share be identified?” He said, “By love and hatred for us.”

In another report, Ja‘far al-Sadiq treats Satan’s participation so gravely that his listener becomes frightened. He then teaches a lengthy prayer to recite before intercourse, asking that Satan have no share, portion, or claim in the prospective child. Satan’s sharing is thus more than a symbol of a child’s bad behaviour later in life: a preventive religious ritual is prescribed on the assumption that Satan is present at intercourse and procreation themselves. ^[13]

و عنهم عن أحمد بن محمّد بن خالد عن عليّ بن حسّان عن عبد الرّحمن بن كثير قال كنت عند أبي عبد اللّه ع جالسا فذكر شرك الشّيطان فعظّمه حتّى أفزعني قلت جعلت فداك فما المخرج من ذلك فقال إذا أردت الجماع فقل بسم اللّه الرّحمن الرّحيم الّذي لا إله إلّا هو بديع السّماوات و الأرض اللهم إن قضيت منّي في هذه اللّيلة خليفة فلا تجعل للشّيطان فيه شركا و لا نصيبا و لا حظّا و اجعله مؤمنا مخلصا مصفّى من الشّيطان و رجزه جلّ ثناؤك

English translation: Abd al-Rahman ibn Kathir said: I was sitting with Ja‘far al-Sadiq. He spoke so gravely about Satan’s sharing that I became frightened. I asked, “What is the way out of this?” He said, “When you wish to have intercourse, say: ‘In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful, besides whom there is no deity, the Creator of the heavens and the earth. O Allah, if You decree a descendant from me this night, let Satan have no partnership, share, or claim in it. Make the child a believer, sincere and free from Satan’s impurity. Exalted is Your praise.’”

The most striking aspect of these Shia accounts is the method for identifying Satan’s share. Love or hatred for the Ahl al-Bayt later in life is presented as a sign of Satan’s participation, rather than the child’s biological characteristics or medical information concerning birth. Making religious and sectarian allegiance a criterion for determining the supernatural origin of reproduction is scientifically groundless. A person’s political or religious views are no evidence of birth from an invisible being’s semen.

The commentaries of al-Tabari and Ibn Kathir interpret Satan’s “share in children” in Surah al-Isra 17:64 more broadly. Al-Tabari’s collection attributes children born of illicit sex and infanticide to Ibn Abbas’s interpretation, initiation into various non-Muslim religions to Qatadah and al-Hasan al-Basri, and religious naming practices to other sources. Rather than restricting the meaning to any one of these, al-Tabari offers a general explanation of Satan’s participation wherever Allah is disobeyed in a child’s birth, upbringing, naming, or other matters. His preferred interpretation thus principally concerns moral and religious obedience. It is not an account of Satan directly ejaculating. ^[14]

وأولى الأقوال في ذلك بالصواب أن يقال: كل ولد ولدته أنثى عصى الله بتسميته ما يكرهه الله، أو بإدخاله في غير الدين الذي ارتضاه الله، أو بالزنا بأمه، أو قتله ووأده، أو غير ذلك من الأمور التي يخصص بقوله ( وَشَارِكْهُمْ فِي الأَمْوَالِ وَالأولادِ ) معنى الشركة فيه بمعنى دون معنى، فكلّ ما عصى الله فيه أو به، وأطيع به الشيطان أو فيه، فهو مشاركة من عصى الله فيه أو به إبليس فيه.

English translation: The more correct position is this: naming a child born to a woman with a name Allah dislikes, introducing the child into a religion other than the one Allah approves, committing illicit intercourse with its mother, killing it or burying it alive, or disobeying Allah in any other matter concerning children—all fall within Satan’s sharing. The statement “Share in their wealth and children” has not been restricted to one particular kind of participation. Wherever Allah is disobeyed and Satan obeyed concerning a child, the disobedient person has made Satan a partner.

Ibn Kathir also collects this broader explanation. He additionally quotes the hadith about invoking Allah’s name before intercourse and protecting the child from Satan. Two levels are therefore clear: in al-Tabari’s general explanation, Satan’s sharing denotes a category of religious wrongdoing; in specific passages of al-Baghawi, al-Sam‘ani, al-Qurtubi, and Shia reports, it becomes a narrative of intercourse and ejaculation. A broad moral interpretation in one text does not erase explicit sexual acts described in another. Conversely, finding descriptions of sexual acts does not make them the sole meaning throughout the Islamic exegetical tradition. ^[15]

Modern Islamic Fatwas: Belief in Satan’s Participation in Intercourse Persists

Modern Islamic question-and-answer sites also discuss the same belief. Question 21946, published by IslamQA on 8 August 2001, directly asks whether Satan participates in intercourse if “Bismillah” is not said beforehand. Citing explanations by al-Qurtubi, Mujahid, Ibn Kathir, al-Tabari, and al-Sa‘di, the answer accepts Satan’s participation in intercourse as an interpretation encompassed by Quran 17:64. The idea therefore extends beyond the pages of centuries-old commentaries; modern religious advice has also promoted it as an acceptable interpretation. ^[16]

Islamweb’s 2002 fatwa 15979 addresses a question about a woman experiencing sensations of sexual activity during sleep. The answer describes sexual relations between humans and devils as religiously established and mentions the explanation attributed to Mujahid in which Satan wraps himself around the penis and participates in intercourse. It also quotes the pre-intercourse prayer hadith from Bukhari and Muslim. No independent medical examination or verification capable of identifying the actual cause of such personal sensations is presented in the answer. ^[17]

Another Islamweb fatwa from 2014, answering questions about intercourse between humans and jinn and possible offspring, again quotes al-Baghawi’s account concerning Ja‘far al-Sadiq and al-Qurtubi’s statement. It also attributes to Ibn Taymiyyah the claim that offspring can result from human–jinn unions. The fatwa itself acknowledges the absence of conclusive evidence, yet discusses sexual participation by jinn as a potentially real event. Observation and experimentation play no role in this method of presenting a possibility described in religious literature as evidence of an actual occurrence. ^[18]

The pre-intercourse prayer also remains part of conventional Islamic religious etiquette. Islamweb’s fatwa 58691 cites Ibn Qudamah and al-Nawawi in stating that the prayer is recommended, rather than obligatory. Having intercourse without it therefore does not become forbidden for that reason alone. Explanations of Satan’s participation in intercourse and protecting children from him nevertheless remain elsewhere in religious literature. Whether the rule is obligatory does not answer whether the alleged supernatural event is real. ^[19]

Satan’s Ejaculation and Offspring: A Direct Conflict with Reproductive Science

The most significant element in the story attributed to Ja‘far al-Sadiq is Satan’s ejaculation. The Arabic texts of al-Baghawi and al-Sam‘ani state that Satan ejaculates into the woman’s vagina like a man. Shia reports also describe Satan having a “share” in the child. The observation-based explanation of human reproduction is entirely different. In human reproduction, fertilisation occurs through the union of sperm and egg; the new embryo’s hereditary material comes from the genetic contributions of its biological parents. No sperm, semen, or separate hereditary contribution from a being called Satan has been identified in human reproduction. Nor is there evidence that pronouncing or omitting a religious formula changes this process of genetic paternity. ^[20]

The story poses another problem: what observation would identify Satan’s presence? If Satan simultaneously participates in intercourse and ejaculates, there should be a reliable way to identify his body, genitals, the cellular composition of his semen, his role in fertilisation, or that contribution in the child. None of the quoted religious accounts provides such measurable information. Shia reports propose identifying Satan’s share through love or hatred for the Ahl al-Bayt. Far from being an alternative to genetic testing, this is a groundless superstition that treats religious identity as an explanation of a person’s origin.

Classifying chains of transmission does not resolve this scientific problem. Calling an account sahih, hasan, gharib, or weak under the internal criteria of Islamic hadith scholarship does not test its physical truth. The pre-intercourse prayer is established within the Islamic hadith collections of Bukhari and Muslim; the transmission status of the sexual story concerning Ja‘far al-Sadiq in al-Baghawi and al-Sam‘ani is a separate question. In both cases, however, determining the truth of claims about actual biology requires verifiable evidence. That evidence is absent.

This belief also raises an uncomfortable question about Muhammad’s own birth. His father Abdullah and mother Aminah lived before Muhammad’s prophetic mission. Islamic literature contains separate debates about their religious status and fate in the Hereafter; the related discussion is available here. There is no historical information showing that they recited during intercourse the specific prayer taught in later Islamic hadiths. Nor is there direct evidence that they never invoked Allah’s name under any circumstances. What was said during their intercourse therefore cannot be asserted as certain fact.

Nevertheless, if the accounts in al-Baghawi and al-Sam‘ani are treated as an actual natural rule applying to all humans—that whenever a man fails to invoke Allah’s name, Satan has intercourse with the same woman and ejaculates—the question of applying that rule to Muhammad’s birth cannot be avoided. If Abdullah did not invoke Allah’s name during intercourse, the account’s own conditions would entail Satan having sexual relations with Aminah and ejaculating. The question then arises: following this account, must Satan’s share in Muhammad’s birth also be acknowledged? Taking the story circulating in Ja‘far al-Sadiq’s name as literal truth requires no separate invented event to raise this question; it follows from the story’s general rule.

This does not, however, establish a historical or biological conclusion that Muhammad was actually “Satan’s child” or “half Satan’s son.” First, there is no information about Abdullah and Aminah’s particular religious utterances during that union. Second, the actual existence of Satan’s semen or genetic participation in human reproduction is itself unproven. Third, “sharing” does not itself mean half of biological paternity. The question’s significance lies elsewhere: **if a supernatural sexual story promoted as true is treated as a universal rule, no particular religious figure can be placed beyond the reach of reasoning about its uncomfortable implications.** The rule itself lacks evidence—that is the root of the problem.

Conclusion

Quran 17:64, in Surah al-Isra, refers to Satan’s sharing in human wealth and children. Classical interpretations of this statement differ. Al-Tabari’s and Ibn Kathir’s collections include explanations involving religious disobedience, illicit sex, the killing of children, and naming practices. The commentaries of al-Baghawi, al-Sam‘ani, and Ruh al-Bayan, meanwhile, contain specific descriptions of Satan’s intercourse and ejaculation attributed to Ja‘far al-Sadiq. Al-Qurtubi describes similar physical participation in Mujahid’s name. Shia hadith collections also contain accounts of Satan’s ejaculation, his share in a child’s birth, and identifying that share through the child’s religious allegiance.

Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim preserve instructions attributed to Muhammad for protecting a prospective child from Satan by reciting a particular prayer before intercourse. Modern IslamQA and Islamweb have also discussed and circulated the older accounts of Satan’s participation in sex. Satan’s sexual sharing is therefore no story invented by a critic; it is an extensive supernatural belief preserved across different strands of Islamic religious literature. The sources do not all make claims of the same specificity, however: the Quran’s general “sharing,” Bukhari and Muslim’s prayer, and the explicit intercourse and ejaculation in certain commentaries are genuine textual distinctions.

In actual human reproduction, a child develops through fertilisation involving sperm and egg. There is no scientific evidence identifying an invisible Satan’s participation in human intercourse, his ejaculation, or his hereditary contribution to a child. Biological paternity does not depend on whether a religious incantation is pronounced. These stories have no testable relationship to the actual processes of intercourse, conception, and birth. They directly illustrate how classical Islamic sexual superstitions acquired the status of knowledge through commentary, hadith, and modern religious interpretation.

References

About This Article

Genre: Semi-Academic Skeptical Analysis

Epistemic Position: Scientific Skepticism and Secular Humanist Ethics

This article belongs to the skeptical-rationalist analytical tradition of Shongshoy.com.

Its purpose is evidence-based critical examination of religious, philosophical, moral, and historical claims.