The Vengeful Djinn: Unveiling the Hidden Agenda of Genies (6 page)

Stories about the djinn reveal a long history of perceived injustices and indignities from their perspective, creating valid reasons
(in their minds) for many of them to plot against humanity. Believing themselves to be wronged by God in favor of human beings, some djinn have carried a deep grudge for millennia. Add
to that the abuses they believe they've suffered at the hands of one
of the few men to ever have dictatorial control over them-King
Solomon. In order for us to understand the djinn and their feelings about humans, we must study both their past and present interactions with our race.

Solomon and the Djinn

The legendary Solomon, renowned as one of the wisest and most powerful rulers of antiquity, had absolute power to command and exorcize the djinn. Solomon ruthlessly forced them into slave labor to build the first Temple of Jerusalem and the entire city of Jerusalem as well. He sent them off into war to fight against men and djinn controlled by other men, and used them to impress the Queen of Sheba-who was rumored to be half-djinn herself. The djinn were resentful to be reduced to the status of slaves, but were powerless to do anything other than Solomon's bidding as long as he wished to control them. Even Iblis was powerless before the king, and could do nothing but provide a small measure of comfort to his kind.

Solomon's ability to control the djinn was a divine gift. He was the son of David, the second ruler of the united kingdom of Israel. According to the Old Testament book of Samuel, David's reign probably corresponded to the years 1000-970 BCE. After David's death, Solomon took the throne and ruled until his own death, circa 922 BCE. Historical details about Solomon are hard to find, but he figures as one of the most important persons in Biblical accounts of Jewish history. In Islamic lore, Solomon (Sulayman) is regarded as one of the greatest of world rulers, a true apostle, and messenger of Allah, the prototype of the prophet Muhammad.

Solomon's great powers were bestowed by God, who came to him in a dream and said, "Ask what I shall give you."3
Many men might have asked for great wealth and power, but Solomon answered that he wanted an understanding mind for governing his people, and for the ability to discern between good and evil. Pleased with the man's response, God replied, "Behold, I give you a wise and discerning
mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you."4

Solomon's construction of the first Temple of Jerusalem brought him into direct contact with djinn, the site itself has a long, sacred history. It was the place where Cain and Abel argued over division of the earth and on whose portion a temple was to be built. It was the same spot where Abraham had prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac. During David's reign, it was the place where the Angel of Death, sent by God to punish the Israelites for David's sins, stayed his executing hand.

In his gratitude, David ordered that a great temple be built on that holy ground. Although he received divine revelation about its construction, he was forbidden from undertaking the project himself because he had shed blood. David passed the building instructions to Solomon. During the fourth year of his reign, Solomon launched construction and sent out calls for labor. According to different sources, both humans and djinn were recruited, most of them as slaves. Various rulers sent human slaves, and Solomon enslaved the djinn himself by the power and authority God had granted him.

Some accounts hold that the stones for the temple were fetched from quarries by female djinn. Some rabbinical interpretations of the Bible hold that the stones cried out in loud voices and moved themselves to the temple site.'
The djinn dug for diamonds, dove for pearls, and brought the finest marble from all over the world.

The djinn participation is not included in all accounts of the temple: Biblical versions of the construction are given in 1 Kings 6-8 and 2 Chronicles 2-4; these omit mention of both djinn and demons. The Roman Jewish historian Flavius Josephus (37-c. 100 CE) also gave no mention of the djinn in his Antiquities of the Jews,
though he did cite Solomon's ability to exorcize demons (djinn)
with the help of a magical ring.

Other sources provide a different picture of how the construction of the temple was accomplished. The great Persian poet and saint Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi (1207-73) wrote in his epic the Masnavi:

The richest details are found in The Testament of Solomon, a pseudepigraphic text written between the first and third centuries CE and the oldest magical text attributed to the king. Its translation from Greek into English describes the djinn as demons. Solomon controlled them, as he "mastered and controlled all spirits of the air, on the Earth, and under the Earth."
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Solomon acquired his power over djinn through a vampiric djinni named Ornias. During the temple's construction, Ornias crept in one day at sunset in the form of burning fire and attacked the son of the master workman, a child Solomon loved as well. Ornias stole half the boy's pay and food, and sucked out his vital life force through his right thumb. The boy grew thinner and thinner. Worried, Solomon summoned him and learned about the djinni's attacks.

The king prayed intensely night and day for Ornias to be delivered into his hands. In answer, God sent the archangel Michael to Solomon with a ring made of copper and iron bearing an engraved seal of a pentagram, a five-pointed star. Michael instructed
Solomon to wear the ring and use it to lock up all djinn, male and
female, and force them to help build the temple.

The next morning, Solomon gave the ring to the boy and told him to throw it at the chest of Ornias and say, "King Solomon summons you here." The boy complied. Ornias tried to avoid the command by offering the boy all the riches in the world. The boy refused, and Ornias reluctantly appeared before Solomon, who demanded that he reveal his identity and purposes. Ornias, bound by the ring's magic, was forced to obey. He confessed he was the offspring of the archangel Uriel, and could shapeshift into the forms of a beautiful woman and a lion. In the form of a woman, he had sexual power over sleeping men.

Solomon ordered Ornias to cut stones for the temple, but the djinni was terrified of the withering power of iron tools.'
The iron at the time was very pure, a form called magnetite. If djinn are composed of plasma, which can be affected by magnetic fields, then the magnetic energy given off by the ore might have been harmful to them.

Ornias cut a deal with Solomon to produce the prince of the djinn in exchange for his freedom. He took Solomon's ring and threw it at Beelzeboul.9
The prince gave out a mighty roar of flame, but was forced to appear before Solomon. Beelzeboul said he was the first angel in the first heaven, and he alone was left of the angels who fell from heaven. He ruled all the souls in Tartarus, (the underworld)."
He had a son who haunted the Red Sea, who one
day would return in triumph. He said he incited men to murder, wars, sodomy, lawlessness, heresy, and all manner of wicked deeds. "And I will destroy the world," he vowed.'

Solomon sentenced Beelzeboul to sawing blocks of Theban marble. The other djinn howled in protest at this degrading treatment of their prince, which surely must have strengthened their resolve to have revenge against humanity. Beelzeboul was helpless, and he agreed to summon all djinn for the king.

The Testament of Solomon gives a catalog of some of the djinn summoned to appear. Solomon forced them to tell their names, how they harmed people, and how they could be thwarted, or nullified, by angels. Some of them appeared in monstrous, half-human, half-animal forms, while others attended him as fire or wind.

The first was Onoskelis, who appeared as a half woman, half mule. She said she was born from "a voice of the echo of a black heaven, emitted in matter.""
She lived in caves, ravines, and precipices-some of the favorite abodes of djinn. She strangled and perverted men. Solomon sentenced her to spinning hemp ropes for the temple construction.

Onoskelis' birth is an interesting statement; today, we know that much of the multiverse is composed of what scientists call "dark matter" and dark energy. It is called "dark" because we cannot see it; scientists can only observe its effect on the visible matter in our universe. Any reference to a dark heaven or universe could be interpreted today as originating from another dimension.

The second djinni forced to appear was the powerful Asmodeus (Asmodai), who was enraged at being subjected to such humiliation. He said he was born of an angel and a mortal woman, and his
star burned bright in the heavens.13
Asmodeus angrily informed the king not to ask many questions because his kingdom and glory would soon end. The djinni then gave a chilling prediction of the battle cry still believed today to be held by many djinn resentful of humanity: "And your tyranny will be short over us; and then we will again have free range over mankind, so as that they will regard us as if we were gods, not knowing, men that they are, the names of the angels set over US. 1114

Angry, Solomon had Asmodeus bound more tightly and flogged with ox hide thongs. The djinni was forced to describe how he ruined marriages and love relationships, drove men to insanity, and caused them to commit murderous deeds. Asmodeus confessed how the archangel Raphael had taught men to exorcize him with the smoke of burned fish gall and livers."
He also revealed the secret of his knowledge of the future: he could fly up into heaven and eavesdrop on angels.

Solomon sentenced Asmodeus to be weakened by iron, to carry ten water jugs, and to make clay by treading it with his feet. This was a great humiliation, for as you recall from page 18, Iblis told God that as a being of fire he would not bow before Adam, an inferior creature of mere clay. Asmodeus groaned terribly at his enslavement, but was forced to comply.

Solomon summoned other djinn. Some gave names that described their functions, such as Power, Strife, Deception, Jealousy, Error, and Battle. In addition to creating chaos and mayhem, they confessed to causing specific diseases and illnesses.

Lore tells us that the proud djinn were angry and embittered at the harsh treatment Solomon had given them. The only djinni not subjected to the slave labor was Iblis. A story goes that one day Iblis visited the temple site to comfort his djinn.

"How do ye fare?" he asked them.

"We have no rest in our condition," they answered.

"Do ye draw stones from the quarry, and then return empty thither?"

"Yes!" they replied.

"Then ye have some ease!" Iblis said.

Solomon overheard the djinn talking on the wind, and he punished them by ordering them to carry loads to and from the quarry.

When Iblis came again to comfort the djinn, they complained about the increase in their burdens. He said, "Do ye sleep at night?" When they said yes, he replied, "Then ye have some ease!" Solomon retaliated by ordering the djinn to work day and night.

Again Iblis came to comfort the djinn, and they complained. Iblis responded that when situations seem to be the worst, conditions improve. According to one version of the story, Solomon died before the temple was 16

According to The Testament, however, Solomon completed the temple, installed the Ark of the Covenant within it, and rested in glory. He had another significant djinn encounter when Adares, the king of Arabia, appealed to him to use his power to banish an evil spirit, a powerful wind djinni who was killing people and animals. Solomon gave a servant a wine flask and his magic ring, and told him how to capture and seal the djinni in the flask to imprison it. The servant did so. When presented to Solomon, the djinni stood up inside the flask and made it walk around. Solomon tricked this djinni, Ephippas, and another djinni from the Red Sea, Abezithibod (Abbadon), to raise a very large and heavy pillar into the air. He
froze them in the air, as they held the pillar aloft.

Solomon would have lived out his days in peace and grandeur,
according to The Testament, had he not fallen madly in love with a
Jebusite woman. The priests of Moloch promised him the woman
if he would bow to the gods Moloch and Remphan. He did, and
the blessing of God left him for the rest of his days.

According to Rumi's Masnavi, God tested Solomon after the
temple was finished. Solomon's magical ring was stolen by a djinni
named Sakhar, who assumed the king's shape and impersonated
him for forty days. Solomon was forced to wander about the land
and beg for bread. After forty days, God restored Solomon to his
rightful place, and the king began his worship inside the temple.

The stories about Solomon reinforce central themes in djinn history: outcast, abused and shamed, unable to exert their full powers in the world they coveted, their repressed resentment increased.
Some djinn shrugged off the indignities and went about their lives
and affairs, avoiding human contact. Others vowed revenge, biding
their time over the centuries for the perfect opportunity to strike
back.

It's clear that at one time humans enjoyed a more direct contact
with the djinn, the latter of whom were unhappy with their situation. Knowing this, Solomon imprisoned an unknown number of
djinn in brass bottles laced with iron, and sealed them with lead
and a magical talisman. Some of the djinn were also held captive
in magic rings made of rubies and fire opals. Many powerful but
innocent djinn were also imprisoned at the time because Solomon
feared that in the future, they may cause trouble for mankind.