Everyone has heard of the old adage, “Be careful what you wish for, you just may get it!” Well, when
it comes to the Djinn, no truer words were ever spoken. To say that
they were “tricksters” would undoubtedly be a huge understatement! So who exactly were these so-called “Djinn” and where did they come from? According
to the Koran, they were originally called the “Shayahteen”
(Sha-ha-teen) and then later became known as the Djinn or Jinn. In
Islamic scripture, they were made out of fire with no fixed appearance
and, like the transformative element of fire, they could change their
form and appearance – human or animal. Needless to say, they were far
from the Hollywood-created version we call Genies. They
were adversaries of humanity, but they were not; however, adversaries
of God. They were said to have been created before man and may well
predate both Christianity and Islam. In Zoroastrian Persia, before the
coming of Islam, evil spirits called jaini were thought to cause disease
and misfortune. The word djinn is derived from the Arabic “jinni” or
demon and its’ root word is janna which means “to cover or conceal.”
In "The X-Files" episode, " Je Souhaite," FBI Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully investigate a case involving a female djinn who teaches them all about "being careful what you wish for ..." and that no matter how clever you may think that you are when making the perfect wish, the djinn are almost always more clever in the end! In the final scene, the djinn offers Mulder his three wishes. He thought about it long and hard, and his first wish was for world peace. And in the blink of an eye, the djinn made everyone in the world vanish. Ergo, his second wish was to undo his first one, and his final and third wish was to free the djinn forever from her fate of damnation as such an entity.
Although,
in Islam, they were originally believed to be good or evil, we in the
Western world, view them much as we view demons – sent to ruin our
world any way they can. Just like humans, the Djinn were held
accountable for their actions and indeed Allah would take the day of
the last Judgment to them.
It is also said that humans can call the Djinn forth to do their bidding.
This is, of course, how the story of the Genie came about - along with
the idea of free wishes. However,
there appears to be no evidence that the Djinn could actually do
little more than trick magick and perform minor spells and charms.
I, personally, do not believe in the existence of the Djinn anymore than I believe in the devil or Satan himself. As
a student of mythology and ancient religions; however, I thought that
the subject might make for an interesting read.
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Alexandra: A djinn? A genie? Wendy: Now hold on a minute. Forget what our culture has made
of the Djinn. Forget Barbara Eden. Forget Robin Williams. To the people
of ancient Arabia, the Djinn was neither cute not funny. It was
something else entirely. It was the face of fear itself. (taken from the movie, "Wishmaster")
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