Corruption and Genies: Are Judges and Businessmen Possessed by Genies in the Middle East?!

Bahla Fort in Oman believed to be built by the jinn. “The day is for us; the night is for them.”

Corruption and Genies: Are Judges and Businessmen Possessed by Genies in the Middle East?!

(This is a serious article, but it has been simplified to make it accessible to the general reader.)

“The very fact that our vision of the world can be falsified as a result of further movement, observation, probing, etc., implies that there is more in the world than what we have perceived and known.” – David Bohm, physicist (Warning: Please Do Not Read this article at night or if you are alone at home!)

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Introduction There has recently been an exciting development in the fight against corruption in the Middle East. A judge and his two consultants have recently been sentenced for 20 years in jail for corruption in Saudi Arabia. The judge claims that “he has been possessed by a genie and he was just carrying out the orders of the genie.” This is an interesting development though it moves up the fight against corruption to a very high level and makes our fight against corruption a great deal more complicated. Is there any scientific or logical evidence for the claim made by the judge in Saudi Arabia? Can we attribute the epidemic of corruption, or at least, some aspects of it to the genies-- those supernatural creatures who see us but we cannot see them?

The topic of the jinn or genies is a fascinating subject matter for almost all human beings, cultures and religions. There are so many misconceptions, myths, and superstitions about the topic. The concept of supernatural jinn is fundamental to understanding Muslim culture and tradition though most people do not have a clear idea about the topic.

According to the Holy Quran, the sacred book of the Muslims, Allah (God) has created human beings and genies to live on this Planet. Allah created the genies (jinn) from the smokeless fire long before the creation of Adam from clay. The jinn thus are not mythical, legendary, or imaginary entities. They are real supernatural creatures created by Allah (God).

In Islam-associated mythology, the jinn are said to be controllable by magically binding them to objects, as Prophet Solomon most famously did; the Genie of the Lamp in the story of Aladdin was bound to an oil lamp.

We cannot see the genies not because they are not there but simply because our eye-sight is too weak to see them. This is why we go on in our lives and conduct our business trying not to think about the genies but Muslims strongly believe that Allah has created these supernatural creatures and they certainly live with us on the planet Earth.

Humans tend to set up laws, policies, rules, and regulations without any consideration for the genies. So it may sound really awkward and ludicrous to talk about genies and corruption as two related things. But in fact, as I said in my previous article (Why Does Corruption Persist in the Middle East? posted on LinkedIn on 13 October, 2019), there is a strong relationship between superstition and corruption, especially in the Middle East. Too many people believe in superstitions one way or another. As I have already said, some corrupt businessmen and officials like Abood Al-Sawafi and Hamed Al-Hajri wash their faces with camels’ urine and drink it! They believe this will give them health and increase their wealth.

Some mistakenly believe that stealing from the Government or the company they work for is a sign of divine “cleverness” and “bravery” and even a divine duty because all the governments, according to them, are non-Islamic and illegitimate. Now, with the claim by the Saudi judge that he has been possessed by a genie who has made him corrupt, we have entered a new area that is too obscure for most people.

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What people believe in is their own business. We have nothing to do with it. But to have such people in companies, in top government positions, and as judges in courts who believe they are actually possessed and controlled by genies is really something very troubling and calls for investigation and action. If we are able to scientifically develop a set of indicators or parameters that may help in identifying and catching up some corrupt officials, we could have then moved a big step forward.

We will take Abood Al-Sawafi and Hamed Al-Hajri as “corruption models” and analyse their characters and actions in an attempt to devise a “combination” of indicators that may help identify corrupt businessmen and officials in companies and higher education institutions in the Middle East.

We will try to suggest such a set of parameters or indicators that point to a strong link between corruption and evil genies. Corrupt people like Abood Al-Sawafi and Hamed AlHajri are certainly possessed by evil spirits or genies and they need to be exorcized; otherwise, they will not be able to get rid of corruption.

What are Genies?

The word jinn is an Arabic collective noun deriving from the Semitic root JNN (Arabic: / ‫ججنن‬ ‫ججنن‬, jann), whose primary meaning is "to hide" or "to conceal". Some authors interpret the word to mean, literally, "beings that are concealed from the senses"(Lane:1968). Jinn is a collective plural in Arabic, with the singular being jinni (Wehr:1994).

The word genies in English is derived from the word jinn in Arabic with the general meaning of spirits, demons, or supernatural creatures in early pre-Islamic Arabian and later Islamic mythology and theology.

According to Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable (19 ed.) (2013) ... “Demons of Arabian mythology fabled to dwell in the mountains of Kâf, which encompass the earth. They were created 2000 years before Adam and assume the forms of serpents, dogs, cats, monsters and even humans. The evil jinn are hideously ugly, but the good are singularly beautiful. Strictly speaking the word is plural, and its singular (from Arabic jinnī) is ‘jinni’ or ‘jinnee’, but in practice it is now widely used as the singular form, with the regular plural ‘jinns’.”

The words “jinn”, “jinns” and “genies” are used interchangeably in this article.

Jinn are either innately evil or innately good, but the lines between demons (shayatteen) and jinn are often blurred since malevolent jinn are also called shayatteen (Lebling 2010:87).

However both Islam and non-Islamic scholarship generally distinguishes between angels, jinn and demons (shayāṭīn) as three different types of spiritual entities in Islamic traditions.

The jinn are distinguished from demons in that they can be both evil and good, while genuine demons are exclusively evil (El-Zein 2017:100).

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The English word genie is a direct borrowing of the French génie, from the Latin genius, a guardian spirit of people and places in Roman religion. It first appeared in Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd ed. "genie, n." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2014 in 18th-century translations of the One Thousand and One Nights from the French, (Arabian Nights' entertainments, Vol. I, 1706, p. 14.) where it had been used owing to its rough similarity in sound and sense and further applies to benevolent intermediary spirits, in contrast to the malevolent spirits called demon and heavenly angels, in literature (Wikipedia, Mckenzie 1995:192).

In the Islamic theology, the term jinn is used in two different ways:  As invisible entities, who roamed the earth before Adam, created by Allah (God) from a mixture of fires or a smokeless fire. They are believed to resemble humans in that they eat and drink, have children and die, are subject to judgment, so they will either be sent to heaven or hell according to their deeds (El-Zein 2017:18). But they are much faster and stronger than humans (Morrow 2013:73). These jinn are distinct from an angelic tribe called Al-jinn, named after Jannah (the Gardens), heavenly creatures created out of the fires of samum in contrast to the genus of jinn created out of mixture of fire, who waged war against the genus of jinn and regarded as able to sin, unlike their light-created counterparts (Vicchio 2008:183).  The second use of the term “jinn” is the opposite of al-Ins (something in shape) referring to any object that cannot be detected by human sensory organs, including angels and demons. Thus every demon and every angel is a jinni, but not every jinni is an angel or a demon. (Noegel and Wheeler 2010: 170); (Asad 2006: 387). Al-Jahiz ( an Arab prose writer and Medieval Islamic scholar 776-868) categorizes the jinn in his work Kitab al-Hayawan (The Book of the Animal) as follows: If he is pure, clean, untouched by any defilement, being entirely good, he is an angel, if he is faithless, dishonest, hostile, wicked, he is demon, if he succeeds in supporting an edifice, lifting a heavy weight and listening at the doors of Heaven he is a marid and if he is more than this, he is an ifrit (Fahd and Rippin 2007). The Jinn are mentioned approximately 29 times in the Holy Quran often together with humans. (Lebling 2010:21) and the 72 Surah (chapter) named after them (Al-Jinn). They are also mentioned in collections of Ṣaḥīḥ (authentic) hadith. One hadith divides them into three groups, with one type flying through the air; another that are snakes and dogs; and a third that moves from place to place like humans (Hughes 1885: 134–6).

According to the Holy Quran, Prophet Muhammad was sent as a prophet to both human and jinn communities, and that prophets and messengers were sent to both communities (Holy Quran 51:56–56) Traditionally Surah 72 is held to tell about the revelation to the jinn communities (El-Zein 2009: 64).

Another prophet, who is related to interactions with the jinn, is Solomon. In the Holy Quran, he is said to be a king in ancient Israel and was gifted by God to talk to animals and jinn.

Allah (God) granted him authority over the rebellious jinn or marid, thus Solomon forced them to build the First Temple. Beliefs regarding Solomon and his power over the jinn were later extended in folklore and folktales.

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The community of the jinn race were like those of humans, but then corruption and injustice among them increased and all warnings sent by Allah (God) were ignored. Consequently, Allah sent his angels to battle the infidel jinn. Just a few survived, and were ousted to far islands or to the mountains. With the revelation of Islam, the jinn were given a new chance to access salvation. (Reynolds 2010:41) (Ozkan 2016: 141). But because of their prior creation, the jinn would attribute themselves to a superiority over humans and envy them for their place and rank on Earth.

Islam strictly forbids magic. Orthodox Muslims however, recite various verses from the Qur’an such as the Throne Verse, Surat an-Nas and Suart al-Falaq as means of protection and prayer. In Islam-associated mythology, the Jinn were said to be controllable by magically binding them to objects, as prophet Solomon most famously did; the Spirit of the Lamp in the story of Aladdin was such a Jinni, bound to an oil lamp.

Genies (Jinn), however, are not the lamp-dwelling, wish-granting benevolent servants that Westerners know from popular culture.

The image that most Americans probably have of genies comes from the 1960s sitcom "I Dream of Jeannie" or the animated big blue Robin Williams-voiced wiseacre in Disney's "Aladdin." More recently, in the television adaptation of Neil Gaiman's 2001 novel "American Gods," audiences have come to know a cab-driving jinn who switches identities with an Omani salesman named Salim. Salim had recognized the jinn from a story told to him by his grandmother (Radford 2017).

Aladdin is a fictional person from the story Aladdin and the Enchanted Lamp, which is mentioned in the Book of One Thousand and One Nights.

The young man Aladdin is told by a sorcerer (magician), who is pretending to be his uncle, to get him an oil lamp from a cave. Aladdin gets the lamp, but the sorcerer tries to trick him.

So, Aladdin keeps the lamp for himself. Aladdin learns that inside the lamp there is a jinni.

The jinni can fulfill every wish of the lamp's owner. With the jinni's help, Aladdin becomes rich and powerful and marries a princess.

The sorcerer returns and tricks Aladdin's wife into giving him the magic lamp. Aladdin finds out that in a ring he has, there is another jinni. This jinni helps Aladdin defeat the sorcerer, get back the magic lamp, and save his wife.

Genies in Middle East Culture The exact origins of belief in jinn are not entirely clear. Some scholars of the Middle East hold that they originated as malevolent spirits residing in deserts and unclean places, who often took the forms of animals; others hold that they were originally pagan nature deities who gradually became marginalized as other deities took greater importance (Lebling 2010).

According to common Arabian belief, soothsayers, pre-Islamic philosophers, and poets were

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inspired by the jinn. However, jinn were also feared and thought to be responsible for causing various diseases and mental illnesses (El-Zein Islam 2009).

Most of the people in the people of the Middle East believe in the jinn (genies) as characterized by the Encyclopaedia Britannica: “They possess the bodily needs of human beings and can even be killed, but they are free from all physical restraints. Jinn delight in punishing humans for any harm done them, intentionally or unintentionally, and are said to be responsible for many diseases and all kinds of accidents; however, those human beings knowing the proper magical procedure can exploit the jinn to their advantage.” (Encyclopaedia Britannica 2019).

Jinn are sometimes blamed for unexplained minor health scares, accidents and misfortune.

For example, in 2000, teachers at an all-girls school in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah began having mysterious fits and seizures. Though doctors attributed that incident to mass hysteria (a mild and harmless form of social contagion and psychological suggestion), many believed that jinn haunted the school and were to blame for the attack. In May 2015, nine elementary and middle school students at a girls' school in southern Madinah, Saudi Arabia, claimed that jinns had made them feel unwell, causing episodes of fainting and spasms.

Nearly 200 of their classmates refused to attend the school for two days while medical authorities searched for an explanation (Radford 2017). Jinn are believed, like ghosts, to sometimes haunt buildings, homes, desolate, dingy, and dark places.

The jinn even regularly make the news for brushes with the law. In one 2009 court case, a Medina family tried to take a jinni to court for harassment, claiming the jinni had evicted them from their home. “The Arabian Peninsula is the heartland of jinn and, as the birthplace of Islam, the focal point of many jinn legends and beliefs.” (Lebling 2010).

The Wife and the Genie “A court in Dubai has granted a divorce to a man who says his wife is possessed by spirits and refuses to have sex with him, reports suggest.

After persistently denying him sex, the woman finally told her husband to discuss the issue with her parents, the Gulf News daily reports, without naming the couple.

They told the man that his wife was, in fact, possessed by a jinni, and that several religious scholars had unsuccessfully tried to exorcise the spirit, the paper says.

Upon hearing this, the husband lodged a divorce case with the Dubai Sharia Court. His lawyer told a hearing: "The woman and her family cheated my client. They should have been honest and clear about the fact that the wife was possessed by a jinni. He was only told about the jinn after the problem escalated. The woman does not deserve any allowance."

In Arabic mythology, jinns - or genies - are spirits able to take human and animal forms and to exercise supernatural influence over humans.”

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(BBC, News from Elsewhere, UAE: Man divorces wife 'possessed by genie', 17 October 2014)

Belief in the fire spirits is also common among elected officials in the Middle East. In 2011, nearly two enemies. dozen associates of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad were accused of summoning jinn to attack political One man, Abbas Ghaffari, was reportedly accused of summoning a genie who caused a heart attack in one of Ghaffari's rivals (Radford 2017).

“While considering the deep cultural connection to the Jinn in Muslim countries, it might be tempting to take this as all mere superstition, but Westerners have also had rather spooky alleged encounters with what appear to be Jinn as well, and a good source of such tales is the military presence in the Middle East. It seems that there are numerous military personnel who claim to have had rather bizarre encounters with what seem to have been perhaps actual Jinn, which have appeared to the witnesses to be far more than mere folklore and legend (Swancer , 2017).

The Judge and the Genie A corrupt judge in Saudi Arabia and his two consultants have been sentenced to 20 years in jail because they were corrupt and practiced bribery. This corruption case has recently been one of the most high-profile cases in Saudi Arabia. The judge and his two consultants have exploited their positions in the Saudi judiciary system to form a network of corrupt civil servants, officials in the Ministry of Transport and businessmen to practice the forgery of official receipts and legal papers. This forgery includes bank checks, bonds, signatures, and official papers related to the selling of lands and property. The total amount involved, as stated in the case, was 600 million Saudi Rials which is equal to US 160 million dollars This case has caused an exceptional uproar and public interests in Saudi Arabia because the judge in the case claimed he was controlled by a “genie” who was giving him orders to carry out the acts of corruption. He was completely under the full control of the ‘genie” and was unable to disobey his orders! So, the judge claims, he is not guilty.

The case started in 2010 when the judge was arrested for forgery and bribery. He claimed, during the investigation, that a “genie” had fully controlled his actions and he was simply carrying out the orders and wishes of the “genie”. The judge and the other defendants were found not guilty by a primary court in Al-Medina Al-Munawara. But this verdict caused a great shock and public uproar in all of Saudi Arabia. So the Commission for the Judiciary reopened the case and there was a retrial. The judge together with his two consultants was sentenced for 20 years; he was fined 700,000 Saudi Rials. The others were given different jail terms and five were acquitted for insufficient evidence. There were 38 people involved in the case. (MBC, 9 O’clock news in Arabic, Sunday, 27 October, 2019).

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Genies in Omani Culture It is very difficult to scientifically verify the inclusion of Oman into the pages of National Geographic’s list of “World’s Most Haunted Places” in 2014. But there are certainly genies in Oman as there are in all the countries of the Middle East.

Omanis are very friendly people but they are also very reserved and secretive. They would not tell you anything unless they have earned your trust for a long time. This is especially true about the jinn in their country. I, therefore, spent some time in Oman before anybody could tell me something about their experience with the jinn. Many Omanis would deny there are jinn in the country and they mistakenly think that talking about the jinn in Oman may be understood as an attempt to spoil the image and reputation of the country. This is absolute nonsense bearing in mind that there are many writers, explorers, and academics who attest to the fact that there are a lot of jinn in Oman and there are many haunted places as well.

I would like first to relate some of the personal information and experience about the jinn in Oman and then I would cite some information from writers, travelers, and explorers.

There are many wonderful castles and forts in Oman. Some of them were built in such a way that you cannot believe they were made by humans. Any visit to the well-known forts and castles like Al-Hazem in the wilayate of Rustaq or Nakhal in the walayt of Nakhal or the fort of Bahla in the wilayat of Bahla would make you doubt that these castles and forts were built by humans who did not have any modern engineering skills and machines that are available nowadays. You find in these castles and forts huge wooden doors beautifully carved and designed with meticulous details. It is hard to believe that ancient people (Omanis or nonOmanis) could just make these doors or built the huge walls and towers by themselves without the help of some powerful, supernatural beings. Many Omanis would tell you that the jinn brought these doors from India but they are not sure who made these doors: the jinn of India or the jinn of Oman.

Just go around the country and see what is happening. The road from Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque in Rustaq to the marketplace was a little narrow and they wanted to widen it a bit.

There was a small area between two small mountains. It took them many, many years just to widen a small road and they are using very modern machines and engineering skills. So how could it be possible for old Omanis to build huge complicated castles and forts without any help from the jinn?!

I have also been told that there is a huge underground passage way from Al-Hazem Fort to Al-Rustaq Castle. This huge passage extends for many miles and is still inhabited by the jinn.

This is why the guards of Al-Hazem Fort and Al-Rustaq Castle would not allow you to go down the fort or the castle to inspect the passageway.

A Bizarre Incident I would like now to relate to you a very bizarre incident which happened to me personally on the road from Muscat to A’Sharqiyah University.

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One day, I was driving from Muscat to A’Sharqiyah University in the evening. The road was a little dark and there were few cars on the road. All of a sudden, some mysterious flame of fire was thrown on me from the sky by a huge hand. I closed my eyes for a moment and then opened them to find myself on another road many miles away from the first one. Then I realized that I was driving now on the road to Bahla, the so-called the capital of the jinn in Oman. I was really scared and had to switch on the radio to listen to the Holy Quran. After a while, I saw a garrison for the Royal Guards of Oman and went to see them. There were three guards at the gate. I told them about what happened. One of them smiled while the other two looked at me in disbelief. The officer asked for my ID and I handed it to him. After checking and realizing that I was a human, the officer told me how to get to A’Sharqiyah University though the road he selected was rather dark. Luckily, I was able to arrive safely after many hours and was greatly relieved. The following morning, I attended a meeting for the University Council and saw both Abood Al-Sawafi and Hamed Al-Hajri looking at me, smiling and playing with their finger rings which were made of special stone! Were Abood A-Sawafi and Hamed Al-Hajri genies or possessed by genies? Were they behind the incident? I really do not know, but I still believe that Abood Al-Sawafi and Hamed Al-Hajri have something to do with the jinn and I will explain below how and why.

Pacific Standard On the edge of the Arabian Desert, one remote outpost encounters evil spirits with disturbing frequency. This is the town of Bahla.

Gaar Adams Updated June 14, 2017; original Oct 29, 2015 1.“Muhammed al-Hinai points to the spot behind his modest cement house where the inferno appeared eight months ago.

Even today, as though the blaze might re-kindle any moment, al-Hinai stops short of his yard, halting at the edge to trace the shape of the green flames that hovered ominously for several minutes above the sand, neither growing nor relenting. His fingers shake as he remembers, and outlines for me, their odd diagonal angles.

Spontaneous fire under the scorching sun in this patch of desert might almost be expected— except that the blaze in al-Hinai’s yard broke out amid sand and rock on a cloudless night during the bitter chill of an Oman winter. And then there’s the matter of the awful cackling he heard echoing within the flames—and the pale woman in rags who stood atop his wispy sidr tree just before the blaze, who vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

Al-Hinai dashes back up his staircase and insists on closing the door tightly before continuing our discussion of the fire. Because outside—hidden among the endless sand and shrub—the evil demons that plague the desert town of Bahla, Oman, are almost certainly listening.”

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2. “Today, now—Friday around maghrib prayer—this is when the evil jinn are most active in Bahla,” al-Hinai declares while the sunlight fades and he draws tight the blinds in his sitting room. “Everyone here has had an experience with them,” he continues in a lower voice, so the jinn might not hear.

But with so many regular jinn encounters, the community is divided over what to do about these spirits—whether, indeed, anything at all can be done, or even whether they should be acknowledged in the first place. Like the desert darkness that settles each night over this sandy outpost, here in Bahla, the burden of jinn is real.

3. “Bahla was the center of military, religion, and politics in that age,” says Abdul Fattah alHumairi, a historian who worked on the Bahla Fort during its meticulous 25-year restoration process from 1987 to 2012, while sitting under its mighty mudbrick tower rising 155 feet in the air. “And powerful people attracted powerful jinn,” he admits, recalling stories of ancient Bahlawi generals who were potent enough to stand atop the fort and command the jinn.

4. Today, stories of jinn sightings in Bahla still range from disquieting to downright bonechilling. I sit with one family that woke each week to a low moaning outside the house—and each week they would find strange mounds of rocks and sand meticulously piled directly underneath the window of their infant son’s room. A group of farmers tell me of the jinn they have heard haunting the palm oases dotting town, preying on them after dusk by calling their names across the valley until they are dangerously lost and bitterly cold.

The Pulse of Oman

EXCLUSIVE: The Truth About Jinns and Black Magic in Oman

03 Nov 2018 posted by Alvin Thomas

1. Jinns, black magic, and cursed trees – several historical spots in the country have long been believed to be among the most haunted places in the world.

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2. We head to our starting point for this quest: The Bahla Fort – a UNESCO site since 1988, one of the largest fortresses in Oman and also the most haunted.

3. “It is the home of the jinns (pointing at the palm trees around). They live in these trees, rocks, mountains, and even in the shadows, and they keep an eye on everything that happens here,” he adds with a smirk. It’s almost as if he has learned the lines to a script by heart to relate to us.

4. Legend has it, the city of Bahla – which is 180km away from Muscat –is the birthplace of the legendary jinn, and subsequently is also a hub for black magic in the GCC. 5. But, as it stands today, Bahla is famed for its jinns – and those in the region are believed to be so ‘mighty’ that they built the city wall around the 12km-long fort in one night.

6. “To find the best clay pots in Oman, you’ll need to go into the alleyways of Bahla.

But, because tourists and expats were warned that jinns would attack them if they found themselves lost, there has been a definite drop in interest.”

7. “My full family is in this field (pottery making), and our best month is usually January, when we head to the Muscat Festival to sell our pots. And even then, when we tell them that we’re from Bahla, some people ask us if the pot is cursed.

8. The scholar claims to have experienced ‘several’ jinns in Oman, though he says that none has harmed or given him sleepless nights as much the one he saw in the flesh (literally!) in June 2012.

“I had a habit of lying down on my bed next to the window and observing the entrance to the mosque overlooking my home until I slept. This was something I did frequently, until one night, I saw a woman running towards the mosque.

“I didn’t even have enough time to flinch, but by the time I had realised that it was a woman and sat up on my bed, she turned towards me and smiled. Then, out of the blue, she disappeared into the wind.”

9. Prof. Mohammed is with us on this: “It doesn’t matter whether you believe in jinns or not – this is a jinn country – and the stories that float around are convincing enough to even smelt the toughest of skeptics.

“I won’t lie: I could never stay for a night in Bahla. The one time that I did try staying there, I was certain that I’d provoked the spirits by asking questions of the residents.

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10. “I may not advocate the existence of jinns – but I don’t want to face one… ever.”

Fodor’s Travel Genies, Murder Holes, and the Dark Magic of Nizwa, Oman Christen Kadkhodai / Nov. 29, 2017 1. In the hinterlands of Oman's mountains, legends tell of jinn, or genies, who possess the landscape, haunting craggy mountains, majestic forts, and colorful mosques.

2. As my husband and I drive up to Jebel Shams, the highest point on the Arabian Peninsula, I am reminded of a spooky story as we stop to refill our gas tank. It starts with a jinni who enters your car while you innocently pump gas and takes over the body of the passenger. It is only once you get on the road that the creature shows its horrible face, invariably causing the driver to veer and crash. Or, if we manage to avoid possession at this gas station, there is always the ominous encounter with a gorgeous local girl stranded on the side of the road who, when she enters your car, reveals hidden beneath her traditional skirt … the gnarly legs of a goat.

3. The jinn, or genies, are everywhere here, rumored to lurk in trees, mountains, and sand.

4. According to the Qur’an, jinn are supernatural beings created from the “smokeless flame of fire.” And there is no better backdrop for such lore than the mountainous, desolate Dakhliyah region of Oman. The jinn are everywhere here, rumored to lurk in trees, mountains, and sand.

5. Belief in jinn is widespread in Oman and the Middle East. Dr. Fazlur Rahman, professor of Islam and Economics, describes these creatures as living parallel to man, possessing “much greater physical powers (including invisibility); they are not fundamentally different from men, except for their greater proneness to evil and stupidity.”

6. In fact, the second largest identified cave chamber on earth is known as Majlis Al Jinn, translated as “meeting place of the jinn.”

7. The stories live on in Nizwa. The scholarly accounts of jinn in Oman are even more

terrifying than local lore. One journal relates the common experience of seeing yourself outside a window only to discover you are locked inside your own house.

Others describe jinn taking the form of someone with whom you would have felt safe, such as a deceased parent, “convincing many that the souls of dead people are still present among the people of the earth,” says scholar Vivian A. Laughlin.

8. The maladies vary depending on the source: “apathy” and “fatigue” are two psychological states that men reportedly exhibit after being raped by a female jinni, writes Dr. Samir al-Adawi, psychiatrist and researcher of local beliefs, in Mental Health, Religion & Culture.

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Majlis al Jinn Cave Chamber (Quriyat, Oman) “This giant underground cave chamber can only be accessed through a small opening at the top. Majlis al Jinn is the second largest cave chamber in the world by surface area. This cave chamber, located 60 miles from Muscat, was discovered by Americans Don Davidson Jr. and his wife Cheryl Jones in 1983. In an attempt to find an appropriate name for the chamber, they asked the Omanis in the surrounding area if they had a local name for it, to which the response was no. They did, however, mention that they believed that the cave was filled with genies, which are prevalent in Omani mythology and the Quran. In Arabic, the word for “genie” is “al-Jinn”, so hence, the American explorers named the cave is “Majlis al Jinn.

“Majlis” means “meeting place,” making the cave name, “the meeting place of the genies.”

(Atlas Obscura, accessed on 27 December, 2019) n.p.r In This Omani Village, Locals Say Supernatural Creatures Are Behind Strange Events (Listen to the Story) August 13, 2019 4:17 PM ET RUTH SHERLOCK An oasis town in the country of Oman is famous for its tales of spirits and jinns — possibly a result of its history as a fortress town surrounded by dangerous desert.

AILSA CHANG, HOST: Strange things happen in the Omani village of Bahla. Fires are said to erupt spontaneously in the winter desert. Walls crumble and refuse to be rebuilt. This, locals say, is the work of the jinn, supernatural creatures known in Middle Eastern legend. The town is famous for them.

NPR's Ruth Sherlock recently visited.

Are Abood Al-Sawafi and Hamed Al-Hajri Possessed by Genies?

It is not easy to answer such a question in a scientific way as the whole subject of possessions by genies has not been studied, examined, and researched using modern science methodology and technique. But working with them for some years I have always wondered whether Abood Al-Sawafi and Hamed Al-Hajri are possessed by genies as there are many indicators which would point out to the likelihood that both Abood Al-Sawafi and Hamed Al-Hajri are actually controlled by evil genies. Let us go through some of these indicators.

Indicator 1: Original Locations Page 13 of 20

Abood Al-Sawafi was originally a slave from Zanzibar in Africa. He used to work as a woodcutter with his father in the jungles of Africa and Zanzibar which is regarded as one of the capitals of the jinn in the world. Abood Al-Sawafi was thus born, brought up, lived, and worked in an area infested with the jinn. So it is nothing surprising to see him possessed by a jinni in a very early stage of his life.

Hamed Al-Hajri was also a slave working the Arabian desert which is regarded as another capital for the jinn in the world: “The Arabian Peninsula is the heartland of jinn and, as the birthplace of Islam, the focal point of many jinn legends and beliefs,” writes scholar Robert Lebling in his book Legends of the Fire Spirits, Jinn and Genies from Arabia to Zanzibar (2010). Hamed Al-Hajri worked as a camels’ breeder and goats’ herder in the desert of Arabia where the jinn are always roaming the land and they can enter freely into the heads and bodies of humans, especially when these humans have a natural tendency towards evil and wickedness like Abood Al-Sawafi and Hamed Al-Hajri.

Indicator 2: Physical Resemblance Both Abood Al-Sawafi and Hamed Al-Hajri are abnormal in their body built-up, their unusual height, their strange looks, their standing-out eyes and their awkward and bizarre walking and moving. In fact, they both look like genies in their “bodily-design” and their treatment of human beings. They always look down on people and they think they are superior to them, exactly like the genies who think they are superior because they are made of smokeless fire whereas human beings are made of clay.

Indicator 3: Bovine Qualities Cattle have unique personalities. They can be shy or outgoing, aggressive or passive, or anywhere else on the personality spectrum. Some are risk-averse while others are highly curious and love to investigate new things. Just like humans, cattle are strongly affected by external factors, and they can get angry or anxious in unfamiliar situations.

Similar to humans, cattle experience negative judgment bias. When a cow or steer is depressed or anxious, they are more likely to interpret ambiguous signs and situations as negative or threatening. This condition is frequently brought on by prolonged exposure to stressful, unpredictable environments. (Cattle and Humans 2017). This is exactly what applies to Abood Al-Sawafi and Hamed Al-Hajri and give them their bovine qualities.

Corrupt people, in general, are “intelligent” in the evil, wicked way. This is why they are able to steal, rob, deceive, commit crimes, and accumulate wealth. But, surprisingly, Abood AlSawafi and Hamed Al-Hajri are really stupid in an unbelievable way. They have zerointelligence like cows, bulls, and mules. They are dull and pig-headed. They are too dull to understand the simplest things in life, in business, and in higher education. When you talk to them or explain anything to them, they look at you in a sheepish way as if you were talking about nuclear physics. They are the most stupid people in the world. This may be due to the Page 14 of 20

fact that they are possessed and controlled by evil spirit who have nothing to do with the human world.

Hamed Al-Hajri mistakenly believes that running a university is like putting a camel over another camel to get a third camel— exactly like the camels’ breeding which he has spent his life doing on his father’s farm! Abood Al-Sawafi mistakenly believes that running a university is like cutting wood from the jungles of Africa, which he spent most of his life doing as a slave! When you talk to them, you feel they are very superficial and dumb; they do not have the slightest knowledge of academic programs or academic issues. They are ignorant, rotten in mentality, vulgar, uncivilized, bovine in behavior and temperament.

Indicator 4: Canine Qualities Abood Al-Sawafi and Hamed Al-Hajri do not have any moral values nor do they have any human values. Anybody knowing specific details about them or working with them would realize that these two creatures have nothing to do with the human race. They live like wild dogs, they behave like wild dogs, and they should be treated like wild dogs. The possess all the bad canine qualities. They engage in barking at teachers, students, employees, and other people without any reason, exactly like dogs. They create numerous problems and enjoy biting other creatures and they think this is normal. They are the worst breed of dogs. They jump on people to get attention and to assert dominance. While this may be bad behavior in our eyes, it is exactly what you should expect from dogs designed to herd.

Abood Al-Sawafi and Hamed Al-Hajri are real dogs possessed by genies. They live like wild dogs, they behave like wild dogs, and they will die like wild dogs.

Indicator 5: Abnormal Cheating and Deception “While there are both good and bad Jinn, for the most part the Jinn are said to be generally mischievous, engaging in all sorts of troublesome or even downright evil behavior. One favorite trick is said to be to take the form of whatever is most likely to distract someone in order to lead them astray. They are also known to lie, deceive, or manipulate humans, and to even possess them on occasion.

Indeed, many cases of what those in the West would call demonic possession are more often than not blamed on the Jinn in the Muslim world. Jinn can also hold the power of suggestion over human beings, causing them to do bad deeds or even driving them mad or to commit suicide” ( Brent Swancer , 2017). This description applies, in a surprising way, to Abood Al-Sawafi and Hamed AlHajri. They are mischievous and evil without limits. They always tell lies, cheat, and deceive everyone who happens to deal with them or be in contact with them for any reason. They have always deceived the teachers, students, the community, the Ministry of Higher Education, the Board of Directors, and the Board of Trustees. Because they are possessed by genies, they mistakenly believe that they have powers far beyond those associated with normal human beings.

They think they can do whatever they like and can “steal money” in different ways from A’Sharqiyah University and the Ministry of Higher Education without being held accountable to anyone.

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Evil genies are well-known for their deception and cheating; so are Abood Al-Sawafi and Hamed Al-Hajri. Their deception is very abnormal; human beings are incapable of carrying out the acts of deception which Abood Al-Sawafi and Hamed Al-Hajri have been doing against the teachers, the staff, the students, and the public in general. This is a sharp indicator.

Indicator 6: Wickedness without Limits Because of their prior creation, the jinn would attribute humans and envy them for their place and rank on Earth. hostile, wicked, he is a demon. This is the type of the evil Al-Sawafi and Hamed Al-Hajri and has turned them wickedness and evil unknown by normal human beings.

themselves to a superiority over If the jinni is faithless, dishonest, spirit which has possessed Abood into animal-like creatures with

Being motivated by greed, avarice, and evil spirit, Abood Al-Sawafi and Hamed Al-Hajri have a lot of misconceptions about running a business or managing a multi-cultural team in a higher education institution. Being cowards and slaves, they are used to humiliation and insults. They mistakenly believe that they can mistreat their employees in the same way they are themselves mistreated by their superiors. They can deprive them of their self-dignity and humanity through insults and threats. If any employee dares challenge them or stand on their way of corruption, forgery, and thievery, they would terminate his work contract or refuse to renew it. They abuse their power, misuse the resources of the university, tell lies, and are prepared to do anything to smash those who disagree with them.

Indictor 7: Superstitions The Middle East is rich in superstitions, as we have seen. Some of these superstitions contribute directly to corruption. Some corrupt businessmen like Abood Al-Sawafi, Hamed Al-Hajri, and Sheikh Abdullah Al-Harthy wash their faces with camel’s urine and drink it for divine blessings. They think that camel’s urine will give them health and increase their wealth! In fact, Abood Al-Sawafi and Hamed Al-Hajri drink urine most of the time; they rarely drink water. This is the habit of somebody possessed by evil genies bearing in mind that Abood Al-Sawafi practice illegal black magic in Zanzibar with his father. Hamed AlHajri practices black magic with his mother in the desert of Bidaya where he drinks a lot of urine for this practice. This is why he always looks confused and puzzled on campus.

Both Abood Al-Sawafi and Hamed Al-Hajri mistakenly believe that stealing from the Government or the company they work for is a sign of “cleverness” and “bravery” and even a divine duty because all the governments, according to them, are non-Islamic and illegitimate.

Regrettably, such people with pervert mentality and heads full of superstitions, nonsense, and garbage have been appointed to run A’Sharqiyah University.

Indicator 8: Exceptional Desire to Hurt Abood Al-Sawafi and Hamed Al-Hajri, being possessed by evil genies, defy every universal human value in their abnormal hidden desire to hurt anyone who stands on their way of corruption, thievery, and bribery.

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When you see evil people do evil things, then it is very likely that a very bad jinni (a demon) has entered them whether they are aware of this or not. This is very serious and can lead the person to do extremely bad things to hurt other people. This often happens when people are hypocrites and are not spiritually right with Allah (God). This is the case with Abood AlSawafi and Hamed Al-Hajri who are drenched in hypocrisy: they pretend to be “pious, religious people” but in fact they cooperate with the Devil to hurt people and destroy anyone who dares speak out against their corruption.

The jinn share many traits with angels, fairies, ghosts and other supernatural creatures. Many Muslims believe in the literal existence of the jinn, just as many Christians believe in the literal existence of angels. Just as Christian theologians have long debated the nature of angels, Muslim theologians have long debated the nature of the jinn: whether they have physical bodies, where they live, how they interact with us and so on.

Like spirits and demons, the jinn are said to be able to possess humans (with similar symptoms, including seizures, violence and speaking unknown tongues) and can be exorcised from the human body through rituals. Just as in Catholic exorcism rituals where Bible passages are read to the possessed person to drive the spirit from the human body, Islamic rituals often involve having sections of the Quran recited to the afflicted person to rid him or her of the jinn.

Is A’Sharqiyah University Haunted by Genies?

Jinn are believed, like ghosts, to sometimes haunt buildings, homes and other locations, including sewers and drain pipes.

A’Sharqiyah University has been built in the middle of nowhere in the desert. It is located in a very remote area with few villages and a vast swathe of wasteland where you hear strange voices of people and animals crushing your ears when you venture to go out of the campus in the evening or at night. It is a very frightening experience which most people have gone through at the University but no one has ever had the courage to speak out and describe what is actually happening. Most of the population in A’Sharqiyah region are peasants, camels’ breeders, and goats’ herders who have always lived with the fact that the jinn live with them all the time and they cannot do anything about them.

You do not need to do a lot to verify what we say here is true or not. Just go outside of the campus of A’Sharqiyah University in the evening or at night and see what will happen to you.

You will hear strange noises and voices of wild animals like dogs, foxes and wolves though you cannot see any animal, but you will see all sorts of figures and shapes roaming the wilderness and the mountains around the University.

Advice for Protection We may offer now some pieces of advice for the sake of protection against the jinn in the Middle East:

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Do not live or work in remote area of towns and cities. If you do now, do not venture to go out at night.

Do not work in palm gardens or on farms after darkness.

Do not drive to remote destination in the evening or at night when the genies get very active.

Do not touch or sit under big trees in the dark.

Do not play out with wild dogs or cats, especially on Thursdays.

Do not take your children to play out after darkness, especially in isolated gardens and parks.

Do not make jokes with big, wicked people in the workplace, especially people who look like Abood Al-Sawafi and Hamed Al-Hajri in “body-design”—very big, very tall, and very wicked.

Do not utter the words or the names of the jinn at night.

If you have a member of your family suffering from a sort of “mental health” problem, take him/her to a psychiatrist but also try to visit a good, knowledgeable, honest, religious person for a supplementary help.

If you are a Muslim, always recite the Sura (verse) of Al-Falaq and the Sura of Al-Nas when you are driving in the evening or at night. Recite these Suras as many times as you can, especially before you go to bed.

Never work or argue with wicked people like Abood Al-Sawafi and Hamed Al-Hajri.

Try to avoid them. They will do everything to harm you.

Never attend any event in the evening or at night in any haunted place like A’Sharqiyah University. Never take your family or kids to such an event.

Conclusions Corruption in the Middle East is a very complicated problem. It is not easy to catch or deal with cunning and wicked corrupt people like Abood Al-Sawafi and Hamed Al-Hajri.

We may say that from the above indicators, we can conclude that Abood Al-Sawafi and Hamed Al-Hajri are actually possessed by genies or, at least, they are under the illusion that they are under the control of genies and that is why they are unable to control their acts of corruption.

Whether this is a scientifically-based analysis or not is another point. The most important thing is that animal-like creatures like Abood Al-Sawafi and Hamed Al-Hajri who are possessed, or seem to be possessed by genies, need to go through a rigorous, psychological diagnosis and treatment to take out their genies from their rotten heads and save the people around them from their evil and wickedness.

Whether the jinn exist or not is less important than the fact that Muslims and many people from other religions believe that they do. Legends of these fire spirits, like those of angels, fairies and ghosts, will always be with us. Abood Al-Sawafi and Hamed Al-Hajri live like mules and wild dogs, they behave like mules and wild dogs, and they will die like mules and wild dogs.

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Be careful when you live or work in the Middle East, especially countries known for the existence of huge numbers of genies like Oman. Try to quit your job if it is in a haunted place like A’Sharqiyah University. The jinn may enter your head and body and turn your life upside down and send your soul to hell as they had already done with Abood Al-Sawafi and Hamed Al-Hajri.

“And surely, we have created many of the jinn and mankind for Hell. They have hearts wherewith they understand not, and they have eyes wherewith they see not, and they have ears wherewith they hear not (the truth).” (Holy Quran 7:179)

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