A Jinn Defined by Power, Not by Species

An ifrit (ifrit, plural afarit) is a kind of jinn distinguished by strength and formidableness rather than by being a separate species. The word appears once in the Quran, in the account of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, where "an ifrit of the jinn" offers to bring her throne before Solomon can rise from his seat (27:39), a display of raw capacity, and notably not an evil act.

In later tradition and in the Thousand and One Nights the afarit become powerful and often dangerous jinn, associated with the lower or infernal ranks, with fire, ruins and the dead; a common folk belief holds that a person violently killed may give rise to an ifrit at the place of death. The precise taxonomy of jinn, ordinary jinn, shaytan, ifrit, marid, is not fixed in the sources and varies between authorities, but ifrit consistently marks the upper end of strength and menace. Modern fantasy and gaming have taken the ifrit as a fire-elemental creature, keeping the association with flame and dropping its place within the created order of the jinn.