When this kind of thing comes West, it will certainly liven up many courtroom proceedings. The existence of jinn is taken for granted in the Qur’an, so they are an integral part of the worldview that is advancing steadily Westward. In The Caliph’s House, Tahir Shah’s marvelous account of his adventures moving his family to Morocco and buying and refurbishing a home in Casablanca, Shah is repeatedly amazed by the belief of the locals (including Westernized Moroccans whom he believes to be sophisticated) in the existence of jinn, the mischievous spirit beings who interfere in human affairs. And their invariable reply to his astonished inquiries is “It’s in the Qur’an.”
“Genie interrogated before ‘Magic Committee,'” from the Saudi Gazette, October 20 (thanks to Weasel Zippers):
MADINA: A licensed “ruqya” reciter of the Qur’an has entered the drama surrounding the Madina judge charged with accepting money to pass verdicts through his court and who claims he was “under a spell” at the time of the alleged acts of corruption.
Ruqya practitioner Fayez Al-Qathami told Okaz/Saudi Gazette that he questioned what he said was a “jinni”- or “genie”, as traditionally rendered in English – that spoke in the voice of the judge in a ruqya session conducted in the presence of the “Magic Committee” from the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.
Al-Qathami said that Sheikh Fahd Al-Muhaimeed, the president of Madina Court, asked him to prepare a document detailing “the information provided by the genie during interrogation”, including the offences the judge committed and information concerning a real estate broker who the judge claimed put a spell on him.
The judge told investigators that the broker had “taken control of his thoughts” and made him rule on cases “without being conscious of committing any illegal act.” The broker is also a suspect in the case but has fled justice, while the judge said he was later cured by ruqya Qur’anic recitation….