I think they're the same (don't you spell them 'Djinn' though? ) Except that Djinn's the way you call it in Arabic...
Yea they are the basis for the genie, there not really like demons, because they have free will so according to the qu'ran they are basically ethereal beings similar to humans, that can see us and affect us but we cant see them. They can do good or bad, and the qu'ran says that they can submit to allah and achieve paradise just like the human. The whole genie mythos comes from the fact that you can trap the ethereal beings inside of material objects with certain spells, and force them to be your slave. Supposedly Solomon used the occult powers of the hexagram/star of david to trap a whole mess of jinn into a brass vessel, and forced them to build his temple and a city. Even furthermore it was said that in a pre-Adamic time Jinn populated the earth alone without humans, and the actual title for the King of the Jinn is Suleyman (Solomon). They built the pyramids.
Any possibility jinn are just a metaphor for our little furry buddies? Allah (swt) is the 'maker of metaphors,' is He not?
you mean animals, I doubt it dude. THere elemental beings made of smokeless fire, just like humans are made of earth.
