DJINN AND TONIC
Demons come in many forms with many similar and many different tales linked to them.. It is these tales that allow them to take on a life of their own.
One of them tales is that of the Djinn better known as a genie and many even in 2017 believe that these sand demons are very much real. The story starts centuries ago with a old poor fisherman who casts his nets four times, with the first cast he pulls up the corpse of a donkey and with the second he pulls up a pitcher of earth. Not to give up the fisherman casts his net a third time pulling up shards of broken glass and on the fourth cast pulls up a ornate bottle with the seal of Solomon on it,
The old fisherman removes the lid and smoke billows out and in-front of him a Djinn that had been sealed away for 100 years captured by Solomon himself, but instead of granting the poor man three wishes the Djinn only gives the man a choice of how he will be killed.
The Djinn is a dessert demon and the holy Koran has many passages on the Djinn and it is said these demons can only be controlled by Solomon himself.
The Koran also hints at there being three levels of power with humans somewhat firmly fixed in place. The creatures of earth are divided into three, Djinn, humans and angels with humans always in the middle. The Djinn who are always considered evil and self important are complete opposites of angels who are thought of as always righteous and kind and humans have the choice of free will or to be part Djinn or part angel.
The old fisherman manages to trick the Djinn back into its prison but the creature pleads for mercy and a bargain is struck upon, the Djinn will win its freedom and the old fisherman will be bestowed wealth and power.
In the more modern belief system it is believed a Djinn can take control of a humans body and possess them, for some reason this brings to mind from my old childhood a donald duck cartoon where he has a demon telling him bad things and whispering temptations and a angel on the other, well that is not to far from the truth of the beliefs in many cultures and superstitions, i myself in fact when using salt if i spill some or have excess throw it over my shoulder. Its with the Djinn that some believe this superstition began casting salt over your shoulder to ward off the demon that whispers temptation and evil deed into you ear and soul.
The most famous genie tale of course is that of Aladdin, a wish granting genie the modernized evolution of the dark evil killer Djinn to the sweet helpful genie. The question is, is the genie not just a modern adaptation of trying to control our inner demon called fear wherein the wish granting is taking control of all our fears taking the negative and turning it around?
The Djinn or sand demon seems pure fiction but is there a basis of the reality of the creature other than in books, movies and tv. Even today in 2017 Djinn still in some countries and cultures have a huge influence on people in fact in 1980 a Pakistani scientist even proposed using a fire Djinn to solve his countries energy crisis.
Whether you are a believer or not, i feel the Djinn or genie will be around for a long time to come