#genies

Satan doesn't lie, he just twists the truth really well.

The set-up for granting their wishes.

Let’s assume that this is a genie who wants nothing more than to make you happy, no monkey’s paw, be grateful for what you have bullshit.

Imagine you ask for several million dollars. Okay, awesome, you are now rich. But how does that money get to you? Often in genie-centric media, there’s no hand-off of money, no suitcase of bills. You’re just all of a sudden able to buy things.

So…did the genie put it in a bank account? What if you don’t have a bank? Do they give you a special genie-card that has all your granted money on it? Do they do some magic to make all machines accept payment or bills magically appear in your wallet up to that amount? Can the money grow over time, or is it stagnant?

Okay, another example. You wish to be president/prime minister/royalty, and BOOM! Done. How the fuck did the genie manage that? Mind control? Changing votes? Won’t you eventually be chucked out because something is assumed to have gone awry? And if not, will you still have to deal with unhappy masses, or will they be docile due to the genie’s influence? Remember, this genie wants you to be happy.

(Image source: ‘Nasnas’ by Niko Boiko)

Ghouls play a large role in Arab and Bedouin folklore, usually as a devil, genie or undead monster that eats people. Before the creature was incorporated into Islamic belief and legends, the Ghoul was usually a shapeshifting female demon that inhabited the desert and preyed on travelers. The later Islamic ghoul was a demon or a type of genie that either attacked travelers in deserted areas, or destroyed stored food by eating or corrupting it (which made it spoil). One can banish them by citing a verse from the Holy Quran. Some medieval texts also mention that ghouls set fires at night, so that travelers would get lost.

Different versions exist, however, and there are stories in which ghouls are always female and seduce men before hurting them. Interestingly, some Islamic scholars believed that ghouls did indeed exist in the distant past, but were destroyed by God to protect humanity.

One very peculiar version was mentioned by 12th century author Muhammad al-A’drīsī, who claimed that Ghouls originate from an island. Both the males and females have a very feminine appearances, their eyes are bright like lightning, and they have long fangs. Some other popularly recurring traits of ghouls are a taste for human flesh, a weakness to rabbit foot charms (you are supposed to hang one around your neck to ward off the ghouls) and the ability to possess human bodies and render them insane. In fact, it is believed that the Bedouin people considered rabies to be caused by a Ghúl inhabiting the body.

The ghoul as it currently exists in the popular perception, is largely influenced by the Arabian Nights (and further by Galland’s translation). This version is usually male and tend to inhabit graveyards. They feed primarily on corpses, and dig up bodies from graves to feast, which was apparently all added by Galland.

(Image source: ‘Shiqq’ by ALiteralCar)

There is also a peculiar pre-Islamic creature called a Shiqq, which is considered a type of ghoul. These strange beings resemble half a human, as in a human who was bisected longitudinally, though the extent to which this resemblance is portrayed varies. They famously have one leg, one arm, and one eye, and often appear before travelers to frighten them to death. Alternatively, they sometimes bludgeon victims to death as well.  One story tells of a hero who travelled to Mecca on a donkey and met a Shiqq. The monster fought him with a sword, and in the end, both combatants succumbed to their wounds.

It is related to, and often conflated with, the Nasnas, a similar creature that resembles half a human, but lives in the woods. In fact, Nasnas are sometimes said to be the offspring of a human and a Shiqq.

In 1888, Charles Doughty mentioned in his ‘Travels in Arabia Deserta’ that the desert wasteland was inhabited by a creature the locals called a Ghrôl: it had a long neck with a humanoid head equipped with a singular eye in the middle and a beak with one or two tusks. It had two arms, unlike the traditional Shiqq, but both arms resembled the fledgling wings of a chicken, except they ended in hands with undivided fingers. It had two legs, one of which ended in an ostrich foot and the other had the hoof of an ass. These creatures are exclusively female and would call people by their names, to make them believe a family member was calling them, and so lure them into the desert.