New York Folklore Society's Voices

"So the djinn could be any height, any size, because they are the formal particles, molecules—just like a cloud. And in the form of a cloud you wouldn’t know that djinn exist here in this corner of the room and back there. It is possible."

Djinn are supernatural beings created from fire. They are invisible but can also take the form of people, animals, or monsters; some are good, and some are evil. Creatures of great strength and skill, they were subject to Solomon for the duration of his life. Mentioned in the Koran and recognized by official Islam, djinn are also characters in Arab and Muslim folklore. Some Muslims today interpret the djinn mentioned in the Koran as representative of evil human beings or of people’s animal nature, but many Muslims believe that djinn exist in the world today as imperceptible spirits.—I.H.

Read Ilana Harlow's article, The Queens Folklorist: Reflections on a Folk Arts Program in the Winter/Spring 1998 newsletter.

New York Folklore Society
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Winter/Spring 1998

WINTER/SPRING 1998 VOICES MAIN PAGE

Solomon and the Djinn
Interview with Mohammed Ishmael by Ilana Harlow

Corona, Queens, is home to Italian, Dominican, and Mexican communities as well as to a mosque which serves a diverse Muslim population including Pakistanis, Indians, Saudi Arabians, Egyptians, and African-Americans. Clustered around the Masjid Alfalah House of Worship are several halal stores providing ritually slaughtered meat as well as groceries, clothing, and books. These small shops are conducive to social visiting. One such store is the Islamic Book Supply and Halal Meat managed by Mohammed Ishmael, who emigrated from Pakistan. A sign posted over the door declaring it "the first halal meat shop in America" originally lured me in. Mohammed Ishmael, who was uncertain of its veracity, soon removed that sign, posted by previous management. But I continued to be lured back to the shop by his stories.

The very first time I walked into the shop, I explained to Mohammed Ishmael that I wanted to learn about his culture (as part of my International Express project). He launched into a story about how King Solomon had built a mosque in Jerusalem with the help of djinn (supernatural beings) who were in his service. The story explains why the mosque is missing one large stone. Solomon was so powerful a religious man that he could control the djinn to do his bidding. However he died just before the mosque was finished. Since their Master was dead and could not give them orders, the djinn no longer had to be obedient and slipped away into the sea, leaving their task undone.

On a subsequent visit, he arranged for me to meet a friend of his, Suhail, who he considers a very knowledgeable man. Suhail, originally from Pakistan, earned an M.S. in physics, and now lives in Trinidad where he teaches school.

We sat and talked in the front of the shop as knives were sharpened, goat carcasses were cut up, and meat was ground, behind us. On either side of us were shelves filled with legumes and spices as well as books, bumper stickers, and other items of Islamic interest. On one shelf was an alarm clock shaped like a mosque which could be set to go off five times a day (corresponding with the number of times a day devout Muslims pray) and whose alarm sounded like a muezzin calling the faithful to worship. Passers-by called in greetings through the open door. Customers engaged in conversation. I asked Mohammed to retell the story of Solomon and the djinn.--I.H.

Mohammed Ishmael: Solomon. Suleiman. King Suleiman.

You see when the Creator chose him to be prophet, he asked the Creator, he say, "You choose me to be prophet, give me something that nobody has, nobody will have it."

So he says, "Okay, I choose you to be prophet. You will be prophet for the human being, you will be the king for the creatures."

That's how the Christian Bible or Jewish people call him—"king"—but Muslim people still call him "prophet."

He was the king for the creatures. He speak the language of every animal, every bird—even the ants’ language. They’re living—he can speak to them. And he was the king for them.

And he was also king for the djinns. Djinns are very huge; the biggest may be four, five hundred feet, and they are who built that mosque in Jerusalem. Understand?

So when they built this mosque, they was building the mosque, and at the last moment, King Solomon, or Prophet Solomon, passed away. The djinn realized it.

Mohammed asks Suhail to expound upon the nature of djinn.

Suhail: I will talk about djinn. What is djinn really? Everybody wonders. How they look like? The materialistic form. What kind of form is it?

I am a physics scientist, I research about them myself. People really talk about djinnis and djinn and djinnis and djinn. And they exist really; because we are Muslim we believe in that. Because Allah said that there is a human, and there is a djinn. And djinns exist.

How they look like really? I don’t know what other people see, but my opinion—maybe it is wrong or maybe it is right—as a physics teacher, a physics scientist, I study so many books, and I found that a djinn actually is just like a particle, a cloud particle.

And it could be big. Just like when you have a gas particle in a bottle. You could compress the gas in a small bottle, and you could put the same amount of gas in a big bottle because the molecules expand how much they want; because this is their quality—diffusion, expansion.

So the djinn could be any height, any size, because they are the formal particles, molecules—just like a cloud. And in the form of a cloud you wouldn’t know that djinn exist here in this corner of the room and back there. It is possible.

Now when somebody has djinnis and djinn on them, that means—there is a cloud of particles, molecules covering him. And that person has lost his memories, and sometimes he behave like a crazy.

So people say, "This man was all right, he was an absolutely right person, so really something has happened."

So the people say, "Okay carry him to somebody who could control this djinn. Find out maybe somebody could help him out." Some person who is really religiously strong. I’m not saying only Muslim; there’s also Christian, others—they also have this kind of power to control.

But as a Muslim I will say only one thing. We read Koran, and Allah mention about that—that when you read the words of Koran it’s just like the words are a power of energy in your mouth. It’s a form of energy you are getting in your mouth.

So when you blow [while speaking the words of the Koran]—that is a cold energy.

So djinn are a form of fire particle. We read in the Koran that djinn are made by fire. They're small, small particles, very small. And formed by fire.

So when you blow Koran verses, that fire particle goes away. So it can go away in one day. You have to, certain days, come and read the Koran and blow it. When you blow it, the particle goes away a certain distance. When the next day you come, they go away again. You see what kind of djinn is really controlling this man. So you have to blow those verses of Koran every day at a certain time. So if you don’t come back tomorrow and do the same work, the cloud will come back again the same distance. Right?

This is how I research. I don’t know if it has any logic or not. But this is my research.

Suhail goes on to compare the djinn to air pressure. The force of air pressure can be seen in nature in the form of tornadoes. And many things can be accomplished through it when harnessed and channeled by man. "If you use them you could do anything."

MI: Like I was saying, that mosque was built by djinns. When they realized that Suleiman, Prophet Solomon had died, they all went under the water.

You say you’ve been to Jerusalem, I don’t know maybe you been there [to the mosque].

One big stone is missing because they didn’t finish that mosque.

When they realized that Suleiman was dead, they went under the water.

The attribution of the building of the mosque to Solomon interested me since in Jewish tradition Solomon is credited with building the Temple in Jerusalem. Indeed, in researching the story that Mohammed told me, I came across the tradition that djinn helped Solomon to build, not a mosque, but the Jewish Temple. When Solomon realized his hour of death was near, he asked God to conceal it from the djinn until they had finished building the Temple. God arranged for him to die in an upright position leaning on his staff, which supported his body for a year while the djinn continued their task. When the Temple was completed a worm ate through the staff; it collapsed and Solomon’s death was disclosed. Had the djinn known of his death they would not have completed their task.—I.H.

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