MADINA – The Shariah Court in Mahd Al-Dhahab in the south east of Madina is probing a complaint that is causing a mix of bafflement, fear and mirth, after a family claimed that jinn – invisible demons or ghosts that interact with the world of humans - were trying to evict them from their home by threats and harassment.
Al-Watan newspaper said Wednesday that the family reported the pesky presence to the authorities citing irritating behavior such as stealing mobile telephones at night and putting them back in different places, and more threatening postures like throwing stones at them, and even calling them on the telephone to tell them to leave their home.
“We have lived in the house for 15 years and felt no presence until about two years ago,” the father of the family, who wished to remain anonymous, told Al-Watan. “We began to hear strange sounds, which at first we did not take seriously, but then stranger things started to happen and the children got particularly scared when the jinn started throwing stones.”
The father said the jinn entered the house and took his children’s mobile telephones and called him.
“A woman spoke to me first, and then a man,” the father said. “They said we should get out of the house.”
The same mobiles, he claims, were found carelessly replaced in the house the following day.
Officials sent by the court to assess the situation say they failed to detect any jinn-related activity.
“A case such as this is difficult, but we have to check its veracity,” said Amr Al-Sulami, head of the Shariah Court in Mahd Al-Dhahab. “What is interesting is that the complaint has come from every member of the family, and not just one.”
Al-Sulami said that a local charity had provided the family with alternative accommodation near to their village of Al-Farah until the issue was resolved.
The jinn, according to islamonline, are “an independent and separate world with its own distinct nature and features that are hidden from the world of humans. Jinns and humans have things in common, such as the ability to understand and choose between good and evil. The word jinn comes from the Arabic root meaning ‘hidden from sight’.” – SG