They are demonic
creatures that are similar to the Jinn. They are less powerful than the Jinn,
because when a Šejtan enters a human, the human starts enjoying vices, impurity,
lies or theft; but when a Jinn enters a human being, then the person suffers
mental illnesses. Šejtan are easily frightened and they run away from humans as
soon as the following words are uttered: "In the name of Allah, Most Gracious,
Most Merciful". A Bosnian legend claims that that the Šejtan was present when
the first man, Adam, was created. Namely, when God created the human body, He
left it lifeless for three years. Each day the Šejtan would come and observe the
human body and he would batter his fingers on the body. When he would reach the
human's head, he would batter it to and say: "This head won't be empty". At the
passing of the third year Allah gave life to the human and it rose to life.
Allah warned the human immediately about the Šejtan and told him not to speak to
the first creature that approaches him and not to tell him his name. In the
beginning Adam resisted the Šejtan's advances, but after some time he gave in to
the Šejtan's blandishment and questions and he started a conversation with the
Šejtan. The cunning Šejtan jumped on his left shoulder and exclaimed that he
will remain there forever since they are now friends. As soon as God saw what
had happened he sent an angel to land on to Adam's right shoulder to stop the
Šejtan from influencing the human to do evil all the time.
In Bosnia against
the Šejtan there is a saying: "Šejtanu nalet te bilo!"
