Brendan Hubenak

English 2

Ms.Klotz

22 April 2016

Genies, Jinn, Djinn, Jinnis

The majority of people’s perception of genies comes from Aladdin, where the genie

humors us with his adventures. However, genies were not that way in the beginning. Genies can

be frightening creatures with immense power. [THESIS]

Genies go by many names such as: Djinn, Jinni, Djinni, and the original Arabic Jinn. The

other pronunciation/spelling of jinn come romanized versions from the original Arabic word

Genies to seem to have powers that are god-like; however, according to the .(al-jinn) الجن

Quran, genies and humans worship the same god who created them: “Indeed We created man

from dried clay of black smooth mud. And We created the Jinn before that from the smokeless

flame of fire” (Quran 15:26-27) Genies can choose be a Muslim or not. Majority of genies are

not Muslim, due to their fiery natures, and are labeled as devils. Despite the power genies have,

they are not immortal and have a life span; however, that life span is unknown except for the fact

that they live longer than humans.

Christians and Muslims share similarities when it comes to evil beings:” The latter aspect

of Satan is a commonly shared belief of both Muslims and Christians.” The Genies that choose

to not believe and support god are considered demons who work for the devil; however, genies

differ from Christian demons since genies were never angels who betrayed their god and

supported the devil. In both religions, Satan is considered the same being full of evil, but goes by

Iblis. Iblis is a Jinn and is considered their leader, or at least the leader of the Jinns who don’t

believe in god.

Genies have magical abilities given to them by god to test them. Like humans, genies

face judgement whether they go to paradise or hell, and God’s decision will be based on the

genies actions. Genies Genies are able to take any form they want to. The second ability

mentioned is the ability of possession. They have the ability to possess living and nonliving

things.

Due to danger this ability possesses, the use of prohibited, but the use of this ability is

mostly used by malicious genies or ones that were angered.

Genies are an integral part of Muslim beliefs because “Jinn provide Islamic explanations

for evil, illness, health, wealth, and position in society as well as all mundane and inexplicable

phenomena in between (perlmutter).” The powers of the genie can be searched for by regular

people, but can be feared because of the malicious potential actions a genie can do. If possessed,

only the word of god can be used to save people, but “In Saudi Arabia, only qualified

individuals, usually natives designated by the religious authorities, are allowed to practice

Qur'anic treatment methods.” People who try to do healing, whether it’s for their own good

intentions or their own profit, will end being executed for witchcraft.

The next time genies are mentioned is mentioned The Fisherman and the Genie, The

Merchant and the Genie, and Aladdin and the Magic Lamp from the storybook One Thousand

and One Nights. In the Fisherman and the Jinni, an Ifrit (a Fire Djinn) is released when a

fisherman brings a jar up from his fishing net. The Ifrit was angered for being trapped in the jar

for many decades, and in results of his anger, he asked how the fisherman would like to die. To

avoid death, the fisherman tricks the Djinn back in his jar when he asked how he was able to fit.

The Djinn pleaded with the Fisherman to release him and he’d give him what he wants. The

Djinn led the fisherman to a pond with exotic fish, and told him to show the fish to the sultan.

The sultan went to the pond a found a prince with half man and half stone. The sultan befriended

the prince, and the prince and the sultan married the fisherman’s two daughters.(cite) In popular

culture, Ifrits have made an occurring appearance in video games such as Final Fantasy and

Devil May Cry. Also, genies appeared in different video games and movies such as: Sonic the

hedgehog, Kazaam, and even is featured in music from Girls’ Generation’s single Tell Me Your

Wish (Genie).

In the Merchant and the Jinn, a merchant is confronted by an angry jinn who wants to kill

him. It turns out the when the merchant threw a stone on the side, the stone ended up flying into

the jinn’s son’s eye and killed him. The merchant asked for a year to live to make amends for

anything he has done, and meet the jinn back at the same place for his fate. After the jinn gave

him his year to live, the merchant payed his debts, released his slaves, and made donations to the

poor. After his year ended, he went to the desert to await his fate. While waiting, many people

passes by, and after hearing his story, the people stayed to see what would happen. When the

genie arrived, a random person stepped up and asked the genie to hear his story. If the story

ended up being worse than the merchants, the jinn would kill the random man instead. In this

story, the nature of the jinn is fiery and frightening. The story kept with the fire/smoke nature of

the genie when “towards the plain, a thick vapour or smoke, like a column of dust, raised by the

wind. This vapour approached them; and on its sudden disappearance, they saw the Genie”

(cite).

In Aladdin and the Magic Lamp, Aladdin is tricked by a magician to retrieve a lamp

using a magic ring he gives Aladdin. The magician traps Aladdin in the cave when he wouldn’t

give him the lamp. Aladdin accidentally rubs his ring and a genie appears. The genie helps

Aladdin escape the cave and he goes back home. While Aladdin’s mom is cleaning the lamp, the

genie of the lamp appears and grants them wishes. With vast riches, Aladdin goes to the sultan

hoping to marry his daughter. The sultan advisors asks the sultan to see if his son is better, and

Aladdin ends up losing his chance to marry her. Aladdin uses the genie’s magic to “curse” the

couple and they break up. Afterwards, Aladdin marries the daughter. After the magician hears

about the success, he tricks the princess into giving him the lamp and kidnaps her. The sultan

gives him forty days to save her, or he will die. When Aladdin finds the princess, she “forgets

him”. When the Magician was off guard, she poisons his wine and dies. When the brother of the

magician hears of his brother’s death, he goes to the palace hoping to kill Aladdin. The genie

warns Aladdin, and the brother is killed. In this story, we can see how the genie has the ability to

grant wishes. The Disney’s adaptation was made from this story, and invented new laws from

that adaptation such as: not being able to bring back the dead and make people fall in love. The

Disney adaptation is how people think a genie is today.

[Conclusion yet to be written]