A Handsome Master, Barbara Eden and Oh My! (revised)

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? Well, 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 be it 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  eternal 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 of course, 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.

Personally, I 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")

(An ole pic of me dressed up as "Genie" for a Halloween Party back in 1996).