WEBVTT - With Friends Like These 0:00:02.080 --> 0:00:05.040 Welcome to the Hidden Gin, a production of I Heart 0:00:05.160 --> 0:00:30.440 Radio and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Minkey. Some of 0:00:30.520 --> 0:00:32.840 you may know that I am an attorney by profession 0:00:33.400 --> 0:00:36.000 and spent most of my legal career doing immigration and 0:00:36.040 --> 0:00:38.800 civil rights work. Well you may not know is that 0:00:38.840 --> 0:00:41.840 my legal work eventually led to working briefly for about 0:00:41.840 --> 0:00:45.560 six years in national security policy. Now that's another story 0:00:45.600 --> 0:00:48.320 to tell, but suffice it to say that work connected 0:00:48.360 --> 0:00:52.080 me to experts across the field, military and defense folks, 0:00:52.240 --> 0:00:56.520 policy walks, and government and think tanks, homeland security officials, diplomats, 0:00:56.760 --> 0:01:01.960 social media executives, researchers, academics, commune and social workers. Let's 0:01:02.040 --> 0:01:06.320 just say it was a broad reaching and deeply interesting work. Now, 0:01:06.360 --> 0:01:08.920 many of these connections were virtual, which is pretty common 0:01:08.959 --> 0:01:10.880 these days. So I was excited at one point to 0:01:10.920 --> 0:01:13.400 be invited to present at a conference where I would 0:01:13.400 --> 0:01:16.920 meet some of these folks in person finally, and one 0:01:16.959 --> 0:01:18.680 of those people I was looking forward to meeting was 0:01:18.720 --> 0:01:23.080 a national security expert and former intelligence operative from another country, 0:01:23.440 --> 0:01:26.920 someone who was pretty well respected in industry circles by 0:01:27.000 --> 0:01:29.920 all indications online. He was a fairly serious guy with 0:01:30.080 --> 0:01:33.200 some intense experience in the field, and he was often 0:01:33.240 --> 0:01:35.960 called upon to testify in high level hearings on national 0:01:35.959 --> 0:01:39.319 security matters. I have been following him online for a 0:01:39.319 --> 0:01:42.399 few years and vice versa, and I was pleased when 0:01:42.400 --> 0:01:44.480 we met to find him to be pretty laid back 0:01:44.520 --> 0:01:47.680 and friendly, and on the first evening of the conference, 0:01:47.720 --> 0:01:51.120 as we mingled after dinner, I began gently asking this 0:01:51.200 --> 0:01:54.360 gentleman about something I had been curious about for a while. 0:01:55.360 --> 0:01:58.200 Years earlier, he had been involved in a controversy that 0:01:58.280 --> 0:02:01.600 involved a criminal proceeding, and it seemed to still haunt 0:02:01.640 --> 0:02:05.920 his social media mentions every so often. I remember I 0:02:05.960 --> 0:02:09.120 was holding a soda taking SIPs as he began telling 0:02:09.160 --> 0:02:11.360 me about what had happened and how he and his 0:02:11.440 --> 0:02:14.560 family had gotten through it. But nothing could have prepared 0:02:14.600 --> 0:02:17.880 me for what he was going to say. He told 0:02:17.919 --> 0:02:21.320 me that for a very long time, for years, he 0:02:21.400 --> 0:02:26.640 had a group of gin, his own gin that protected him. 0:02:26.720 --> 0:02:28.799 The details on how he got ahold of these gin 0:02:28.919 --> 0:02:31.280 and got them to do his bidding is fuzzy now, 0:02:31.800 --> 0:02:34.440 probably because I was trying to process a whole lot 0:02:34.520 --> 0:02:37.639 going on in my head. As I listened, he explained 0:02:37.680 --> 0:02:39.600 that on the day he was to testify in his 0:02:39.760 --> 0:02:43.720 highly publicized and controversial case. He was sequestered in a 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:46.919 witness waiting room, but his GIN were able to show 0:02:47.000 --> 0:02:49.960 him what was happening in the court room, almost as 0:02:50.040 --> 0:02:53.360 if the walls between him and the room where the judge, jury, 0:02:53.440 --> 0:02:57.880 and lawyers were doing their duties had disappeared. The gin 0:02:57.960 --> 0:03:01.320 had lifted the veils of the material world in order 0:03:01.360 --> 0:03:04.280 to calm him down, to reassure him that they were 0:03:04.320 --> 0:03:08.040 with him. And so he sat in the witness room 0:03:08.160 --> 0:03:12.200 down multiple halls, able to see the proceedings before he 0:03:12.240 --> 0:03:15.639 was even called, and when the bailiff came to get him, 0:03:15.760 --> 0:03:18.320 he didn't need to be guided into the courtroom. He 0:03:18.440 --> 0:03:21.760 knew every turn down the hallway, and he knew who 0:03:21.840 --> 0:03:24.040 was who before he stepped in front of the judge. 0:03:25.760 --> 0:03:27.760 These jen he said, had been with him for a 0:03:27.800 --> 0:03:30.520 few years before all of this had gone down, and 0:03:30.560 --> 0:03:34.600 they protected his life after the trial too, But eventually 0:03:34.800 --> 0:03:39.800 he had dismissed them, no longer needing their services. Now, 0:03:39.840 --> 0:03:41.920 as I was standing there taking this in, you have 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:46.680 to understand I had no reason not to believe this man. First, 0:03:46.880 --> 0:03:50.760 Why would he a professional with a solid reputation share 0:03:50.800 --> 0:03:54.960 a story that could so undermine him. Second, I had 0:03:54.960 --> 0:03:57.760 seen or heard nothing about him or from him, Otherwise 0:03:57.760 --> 0:03:59.360 that would make me wonder about the state of his 0:03:59.400 --> 0:04:04.880 mind or his credibility, and believe me I had asked around. Finally, 0:04:05.240 --> 0:04:08.560 I know I have my own inexplicable experiences and which 0:04:08.560 --> 0:04:10.480 I've been convinced a jin was at the root of 0:04:10.520 --> 0:04:13.880 my troubles. So if I believe that, why wouldn't I 0:04:13.880 --> 0:04:17.120 believe this guy? Where exactly do you draw the line 0:04:17.120 --> 0:04:20.000 on what Gin stories are too fantastical to be true? 0:04:20.480 --> 0:04:22.560 I mean, really, it's like being a little bit pregnant. 0:04:22.960 --> 0:04:26.640 You're either all in or not. Anyhow, it did get 0:04:26.640 --> 0:04:29.560 me thinking though about the very nature of gin. Up 0:04:29.600 --> 0:04:32.280 until that point, most of the firsthand stories I had 0:04:32.320 --> 0:04:35.600 heard from people who had Gin experiences were either outright 0:04:35.680 --> 0:04:39.760 frightening or at least kind of spooky. Even the stories 0:04:39.800 --> 0:04:42.000 of the far far past, like the gin that built 0:04:42.040 --> 0:04:45.480 Solomon's first temple, were only helpful to humans when they 0:04:45.480 --> 0:04:49.119 were being controlled against their will. But this man's story 0:04:49.200 --> 0:04:52.479 shifted my perception a little bit about the Gin, Putting 0:04:52.520 --> 0:04:54.760 aside the fact that it was a little problematic as 0:04:54.800 --> 0:04:57.600 a lawyer that they rendered the sequestration of a witness 0:04:57.600 --> 0:05:02.120 completely meaningless. These gin were protective of their human They 0:05:02.160 --> 0:05:04.600 were not just there to guard him physically, but to 0:05:04.680 --> 0:05:07.240 calm him down, to take care of his emotional and 0:05:07.320 --> 0:05:11.440 mental state. The question then becomes what to make up 0:05:11.440 --> 0:05:14.400 a gin. What we know is that while they may 0:05:14.400 --> 0:05:17.640 be everywhere surrounding us at this very moment, and that 0:05:17.680 --> 0:05:20.400 they're powerful and able to wreak all kinds of havoc 0:05:20.480 --> 0:05:24.520 on us if they want to, they mostly don't. They 0:05:24.560 --> 0:05:26.760 just go about their business while doing their best to 0:05:26.800 --> 0:05:29.560 steer clear of humans, and they don't even like human 0:05:29.600 --> 0:05:34.719 beings entering their space. So are they good? Are they evil? 0:05:35.440 --> 0:05:39.400 Are they our friends or our foes? If you recall 0:05:39.480 --> 0:05:42.680 the legend of King Solomon's Jinn's when they were eventually 0:05:42.720 --> 0:05:45.599 released from their bondage, they vow to be an enemy 0:05:45.680 --> 0:05:49.920 to mankind forever. But most scholars and experts say that 0:05:49.960 --> 0:05:52.760 you can't broadly label the gin as good or bad 0:05:53.320 --> 0:05:56.960 anymore than you can with people. According to a scholar 0:05:57.000 --> 0:06:02.240 of Arabic literature, so Nila Mubai, orthodox traditionalists say that 0:06:02.279 --> 0:06:06.280 people cannot understand the gin. We're either not capable of 0:06:06.320 --> 0:06:10.200 it or we're not meant to, but why not? It 0:06:10.240 --> 0:06:12.960 would seem they're not too much different than us. They 0:06:12.960 --> 0:06:17.040 feel anger, rage, happiness, lust, love, They have free will, 0:06:17.520 --> 0:06:20.279 they marry and have children, and they are countless stories 0:06:20.279 --> 0:06:24.680 of Gin studying alongside humans and earthly educational institutes, so 0:06:24.720 --> 0:06:26.760 it seems like they like to learn and grow just 0:06:26.880 --> 0:06:30.600 like us too. They live in families and tribes and societies, 0:06:30.839 --> 0:06:34.360 and their leaders governed peacefully, but will also wage war 0:06:34.440 --> 0:06:39.200 when necessary. The Gin characters found in Old Arab folklore 0:06:39.279 --> 0:06:43.320 are almost unnervingly human, facing the same kinds of troubles 0:06:43.360 --> 0:06:46.480 and issues we all do. I imagine Jin spouse is 0:06:46.600 --> 0:06:49.480 arguing over the bills, and Jin kids pouting over bedtime, 0:06:49.920 --> 0:06:54.960 and Jin grandparents spoiling their Jin grand babies. I think that, 0:06:55.120 --> 0:06:57.279 just like people, we tend not to hear about the 0:06:57.279 --> 0:07:00.800 silent majority of the Gin just living their lives. The 0:07:00.839 --> 0:07:03.200 stories we know about the Jin come from the opposite 0:07:03.279 --> 0:07:07.640 ends of the spectrum, the good ones, the helpers, or 0:07:08.200 --> 0:07:12.040 the very very bad ones. My name is Robbia Chadar, 0:07:12.280 --> 0:07:14.160 and I'll be your guide into the world of the 0:07:14.200 --> 0:07:30.600 hidden Gin. Welcome. While the universe may be full of Gin, 0:07:30.960 --> 0:07:36.280 most of them will live their lives completely unknown to us. Some, however, 0:07:36.480 --> 0:07:38.600 we know by name because of their power, or their 0:07:38.640 --> 0:07:42.160 stature in the Gin realm, or their impact on human lives. 0:07:42.920 --> 0:07:44.720 And one of the most famous of the ones that 0:07:44.760 --> 0:07:47.960 are named is a Jin whose life story reflects the 0:07:48.080 --> 0:07:53.600 complicated nature of these creatures. That Jin is King Schamharush, 0:07:53.840 --> 0:07:59.120 both demon and saint, feared and loved. The story of 0:07:59.160 --> 0:08:02.160 Chamharush is thousands of years old. He's one of the 0:08:02.240 --> 0:08:06.320 seven Jin kings who originally ruled the Jin kingdoms called 0:08:06.360 --> 0:08:10.600 alta Jar. The Flyer. King Chamharoush was known to be 0:08:10.680 --> 0:08:14.880 the fastest Jin, able to fly between physical places and dimensions, 0:08:15.040 --> 0:08:18.960 faster than any unit of measurement our feeble mortal minds 0:08:19.000 --> 0:08:21.720 could ever come up with. But there may be another 0:08:21.760 --> 0:08:24.800 reason he's called the flyer. It could be because of 0:08:24.840 --> 0:08:29.120 the speed of his vast communications network. King Chamharoush was 0:08:29.200 --> 0:08:31.960 way ahead of the social media and e messaging game, 0:08:32.360 --> 0:08:35.160 with a network that's been compared to a river with 0:08:35.200 --> 0:08:39.240 thousands of tributaries and each tributary branching into tens of 0:08:39.280 --> 0:08:43.599 thousands of smaller ones. The river itself a legion of 0:08:43.679 --> 0:08:46.280 Jin that report back to him, and each of these 0:08:46.320 --> 0:08:48.720 gin with the legion of their own, and those jin 0:08:48.920 --> 0:08:51.680 with allegiance of their own, all set up so that 0:08:51.720 --> 0:08:54.560 Schamharush not only knows what is happening in every part 0:08:54.600 --> 0:08:58.280 of the world, his world and ours, but he knows 0:08:58.320 --> 0:09:03.120 it virtually instantly. How's that for a grape vine. The 0:09:03.200 --> 0:09:07.240 name Shamharush itself means the usher a moniker he may 0:09:07.280 --> 0:09:10.080 have gotten because it's believed that while he might have 0:09:10.160 --> 0:09:14.000 been a king, he still did serve more powerful masters, 0:09:14.760 --> 0:09:18.319 and so the usher at King Shamharush stood guard at 0:09:18.360 --> 0:09:22.199 one of the entrances to Satan's palace and was directly 0:09:22.320 --> 0:09:26.880 in the service of the son of Satan, Prince Mora. Clearly, 0:09:26.960 --> 0:09:30.360 this king had allegiances to dark forces, I mean like 0:09:30.440 --> 0:09:32.720 he was tight with the worst of them, but it 0:09:32.760 --> 0:09:36.840 seems like he eventually saw the light. His legend predates 0:09:36.920 --> 0:09:41.120 Islam and Christianity, but it said that once Jesus came along, 0:09:41.480 --> 0:09:46.000 Shamharush apparently became a Christian, and six centuries later he 0:09:46.120 --> 0:09:50.320 met the prophet Mohammed, prompting him to then become a Muslim. 0:09:50.400 --> 0:09:52.520 Not only did he become a Muslim, though he became 0:09:52.559 --> 0:09:57.280 a GODDI a judge of Islamic law, presumably presiding over 0:09:57.320 --> 0:10:01.000 matters of religion in the Jinn world. That's what ultimately 0:10:01.120 --> 0:10:05.559 landed him the reputation of being a saint, long before 0:10:05.559 --> 0:10:08.040 he became a Christian or a Muslim, even before these 0:10:08.080 --> 0:10:12.600 religions existed. Actually, sham Haush was revered. We know this 0:10:12.679 --> 0:10:16.199 because almost two thousand four high up in the Atlas 0:10:16.240 --> 0:10:20.720 Mountains in Morocco, there stands a massive rock painted white 0:10:21.160 --> 0:10:23.640 with a green and white flag flying from its summit. 0:10:24.360 --> 0:10:26.839 It's not just any old rock. It's a shrine to 0:10:26.960 --> 0:10:31.840 King sham Haroush dating back thousands of years, and throughout 0:10:31.880 --> 0:10:34.400 the history of that shrine, seekers in need of help 0:10:34.480 --> 0:10:38.000 have flocked to it, making pilgrimages to ask the Jin's 0:10:38.040 --> 0:10:41.040 favor in granting their wishes, and they still do by 0:10:41.120 --> 0:10:45.080 the way. Eventually, though, when Islam did spread to the 0:10:45.080 --> 0:10:48.960 region about years ago, a mosque was installed next to 0:10:49.000 --> 0:10:52.040 the shrine. But the rock that forms a shrine is 0:10:52.120 --> 0:10:56.120 so big that it dwarfs the humble little mosque. The 0:10:56.160 --> 0:10:59.319 earth itself is hollowed out beneath the rock, and some 0:10:59.400 --> 0:11:02.199 say it's a zo liam that once held the remains 0:11:02.320 --> 0:11:06.440 of the Great Jin king himself. Now, it's not clear 0:11:06.559 --> 0:11:09.720 when or how cham Harous went from guarding Satan's palace 0:11:09.800 --> 0:11:12.800 to being venerated at a shrine, and it's also not 0:11:12.920 --> 0:11:16.120 clear if he's dead or alive. As I mentioned, some 0:11:16.320 --> 0:11:18.679 think the shrine is where the king is laid to rest, 0:11:19.120 --> 0:11:22.280 but others believe he's still very much alive and takes 0:11:22.360 --> 0:11:25.040 care of those who seek him out. One of the 0:11:25.120 --> 0:11:27.560 signs that he's still around is that food and water 0:11:27.760 --> 0:11:30.959 magically appear to pilgrims as they journey to his shrine, 0:11:31.360 --> 0:11:37.000 as befits his reputation for hospitality and benevolence. Cha Haroush's 0:11:37.040 --> 0:11:40.400 story is remarkable in that it means Gin, very much 0:11:40.480 --> 0:11:44.480 like humans, have a capacity for new beginnings. Even the 0:11:44.559 --> 0:11:47.319 most evil of them can turn their lives around. It's 0:11:47.400 --> 0:11:49.839 quite a redemption story, if you ask me, and it 0:11:49.920 --> 0:11:54.040 confirms the theory that Jin aren't fundamentally good or bad. Most, 0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:56.640 as I said earlier, just quietly stay in their lanes, 0:11:57.160 --> 0:12:00.560 living their lives and leaving us alone. But there are 0:12:00.640 --> 0:12:02.920 many stories of Gin entering our world when they want 0:12:03.000 --> 0:12:05.760 something from it. And no, I don't mean to haunt 0:12:05.800 --> 0:12:08.840 and possess and torture us. In fact, you'd be surprised 0:12:08.840 --> 0:12:18.920 at how ordinary their interests are. In the book Legends 0:12:18.960 --> 0:12:22.679 of the Fire Spirits, author Robert Lebling relays a contemporary 0:12:22.760 --> 0:12:25.800 story from a young Bangladeshi woman about her time as 0:12:25.840 --> 0:12:29.320 a college student at the University of Taka. The woman 0:12:29.440 --> 0:12:31.840 isn't named, but for the sake of the story will 0:12:31.960 --> 0:12:36.320 call her Maria. In the fall of Maria had moved 0:12:36.360 --> 0:12:38.559 out of the campus and into a dorm where she 0:12:38.720 --> 0:12:42.600 was assigned a roommate named Lucy. There is something, however, 0:12:42.800 --> 0:12:46.559 about Lucy that wasn't quite right. Lucy was beautiful in 0:12:46.720 --> 0:12:50.760 an extraordinary way. She had exceedingly bright eyes, a big, 0:12:50.880 --> 0:12:54.480 welcoming smile, a dimple and a mole on her left cheek, 0:12:54.880 --> 0:12:58.400 and she was tall with long, dark hair. Her beauty, 0:12:58.440 --> 0:13:02.439 said Maria, was unpaired. Allowed She wasn't just lovely on 0:13:02.520 --> 0:13:06.240 the outside, though she was incredibly kind, loving, amiable, and 0:13:06.400 --> 0:13:10.760 simply good. The two young women quickly became close friends, 0:13:11.000 --> 0:13:14.440 sharing secrets and confiding in each other, and said Maria, 0:13:14.840 --> 0:13:16.760 I could not but love her, and I am sure 0:13:16.920 --> 0:13:19.679 that she loved me the same. Over the course of 0:13:19.760 --> 0:13:22.520 the next few months, Maria noticed that Lucy would do 0:13:22.640 --> 0:13:27.680 inexplicable things like finished tasks and work faster than humanly possible. 0:13:28.800 --> 0:13:31.679 One night, Lucy went to visit another student and Maria 0:13:31.760 --> 0:13:33.480 waited up for her, knowing that she didn't have a 0:13:33.600 --> 0:13:36.839 key to the room. But eventually Maria got sleepy, so 0:13:37.000 --> 0:13:39.559 she decided she would just lock the dorm door and 0:13:39.679 --> 0:13:42.120 get up to open it when Lucy returned and knocked, 0:13:43.000 --> 0:13:45.280 so she fell asleep, but when she woke up a 0:13:45.320 --> 0:13:48.600 few hours later, she found Lucy in the room with her. 0:13:49.720 --> 0:13:51.920 Maria demanded to know how she got into the room, 0:13:51.960 --> 0:13:54.360 because she knew without a doubt that she had locked it, 0:13:55.160 --> 0:13:57.560 but Lucy assured her that no, the door was open 0:13:57.600 --> 0:14:00.920 when she got back. Maybe, she said, Maria was so 0:14:01.040 --> 0:14:04.760 drowsy that she imagined she had locked the door. Maria 0:14:04.960 --> 0:14:07.960 was sure that was not possible, and yet she had 0:14:08.000 --> 0:14:11.719 no other explanation for what had happened. The next day, though, 0:14:12.040 --> 0:14:16.840 everything became clear. It was Lucy's birthday on December thirteenth, 0:14:17.720 --> 0:14:20.360 so on the night of the summer twelve, Maria wanted 0:14:20.400 --> 0:14:23.600 to surprise her exactly at midnight with a necklace she 0:14:23.720 --> 0:14:27.480 had bought for her friend. As the clock approached twelve am, 0:14:27.720 --> 0:14:30.640 Lucy sat down in front of their shared dresser, brushing 0:14:30.680 --> 0:14:34.040 her hair, preparing for bed. Maria pulled out the gift 0:14:34.120 --> 0:14:36.720 and stood behind her roommate, wishing her a happy birthday. 0:14:37.080 --> 0:14:41.640 As she latched the necklace around Lucy's neck, Maria looked 0:14:41.680 --> 0:14:43.320 up into the mirror to see how the neck was 0:14:43.360 --> 0:14:45.920 looked on her friend, and to her shock and horror, 0:14:46.400 --> 0:14:50.480 the mirror held no reflection of Lucy at all. There 0:14:50.600 --> 0:14:54.680 was just a necklace suspended by itself an air Maria 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:57.240 screamed and fainted, and when she came to, she was 0:14:57.320 --> 0:14:59.680 surrounded by other girls living in the dormitory who had 0:14:59.720 --> 0:15:04.160 heard scream. Lucy, however, was nowhere to be seen, and 0:15:04.280 --> 0:15:08.960 in fact, she would never be seen again. Maria was 0:15:09.040 --> 0:15:11.000 so shaken by all of this that she left school 0:15:11.040 --> 0:15:13.160 and returned home for a few months, not wanting to 0:15:13.240 --> 0:15:17.080 return to the university. Over time, though she felt guilt 0:15:17.200 --> 0:15:20.560 and regret, she remembered how wonderful Lucy was and what 0:15:20.640 --> 0:15:23.400 a great friend she had been, and realized that her 0:15:23.560 --> 0:15:28.040 terrified reaction had driven Lucy away because others told her 0:15:28.360 --> 0:15:31.720 that Lucy was probably a ginn who had taken human form. 0:15:31.800 --> 0:15:35.160 To study at the university, and it could have been that. 0:15:35.240 --> 0:15:38.480 After a few months with Maria, Lucy thought they were 0:15:38.520 --> 0:15:41.840 close enough to reveal her secret to her roommate, but 0:15:42.000 --> 0:15:45.560 instead it had backfired and Lucy had to quickly disappear. 0:15:46.800 --> 0:15:49.760 Maria eventually returned to the campus and was assigned a 0:15:49.840 --> 0:15:55.000 new roommate, a girl named Mini. Mini was like Lucy beautiful, 0:15:55.520 --> 0:15:59.760 although she didn't exactly look like her until she smiled. 0:15:59.800 --> 0:16:03.400 As smile that seemed oddly familiar, and that's when Maria 0:16:03.520 --> 0:16:07.960 noticed on Many's left cheek a dimple and a mole. 0:16:13.720 --> 0:16:16.200 Lucy story doesn't come as much of a surprise to me. 0:16:16.400 --> 0:16:19.840 I've actually heard firsthand accounts by people people I trust 0:16:20.360 --> 0:16:23.240 who are certain that some student or another they studied 0:16:23.280 --> 0:16:26.720 with years earlier was a gin. It seems to be 0:16:26.800 --> 0:16:29.880 a rather common theme the gin entering the human realm 0:16:29.960 --> 0:16:32.800 to study, though to be honest, I do have questions 0:16:32.840 --> 0:16:37.560 about their registration process, transcripts and finances, parent teacher conferences 0:16:37.600 --> 0:16:40.080 at all, but maybe I'm thinking too much into it. 0:16:41.200 --> 0:16:42.960 It may seem odd that the gin would want to 0:16:43.000 --> 0:16:45.800 go to human schools, but it's said that one of 0:16:45.880 --> 0:16:48.560 the ways a gin can increase their rank or power 0:16:49.040 --> 0:16:52.160 is through more knowledge. I mean, even we know that 0:16:52.280 --> 0:16:56.160 knowledge is power, and gaining knowledge is so important to 0:16:56.280 --> 0:16:59.200 some Gin. They not only enter our worlds to study 0:16:59.240 --> 0:17:02.800 alongside us, they also study the ancient texts of the 0:17:02.880 --> 0:17:07.240 past to grow ever more powerful. A legend relayed by 0:17:07.280 --> 0:17:11.520 the nineteenth century mystic Madame Helena Bolovatsky and her occult 0:17:11.600 --> 0:17:16.240 classic Isis Unveiled, tells of an ancient, petrified and buried 0:17:16.320 --> 0:17:20.399 city where the Jin pursue their studies. The city referred 0:17:20.440 --> 0:17:23.680 to is the three thousand, five hundred year old Ishmania, 0:17:24.280 --> 0:17:29.240 today known as Al Ashmunain, located in Middle Egypt and 0:17:29.440 --> 0:17:33.040 rumored to once be filled with the petrified bodies of men, women, 0:17:33.119 --> 0:17:36.320 and children. Ishmonia is found near the ruins of a 0:17:36.480 --> 0:17:40.160 vast and well known necropolis. This city of the dead 0:17:40.440 --> 0:17:43.960 is Hermopolis, which was once the opulent center of the 0:17:44.080 --> 0:17:47.440 cult of the pagan deity of Learning and Scribes, both 0:17:48.119 --> 0:17:52.760 known to the Greeks as Ermez. Archaeologists have uncovered a 0:17:52.960 --> 0:17:56.520 labyrinth of streets and catacombs and ruins related to the 0:17:56.600 --> 0:18:00.480 temple of both. But here the ground underneath your feet 0:18:00.520 --> 0:18:04.480 contains not only thousands of catacombs holding the mummified bodies 0:18:04.760 --> 0:18:09.040 of people and animals. According to Madame Blavatsky, there are 0:18:09.080 --> 0:18:14.720 also vast subterranean galleries filled with millions of manuscripts and scrolls, 0:18:15.320 --> 0:18:19.120 hidden archives holding the ancient writings of thought, the god 0:18:19.200 --> 0:18:22.920 believed to be the inventor of writing itself. And while 0:18:22.960 --> 0:18:26.640 the ruins stand lonely and unoccupied during the day, according 0:18:26.680 --> 0:18:33.320 to Madame Blavatsky, everything changes at night. For no amount 0:18:33.359 --> 0:18:35.680 of money would the Arabs go near it at night? 0:18:35.800 --> 0:18:39.000 They say, from the crevices of the desolate ruins, sunk 0:18:39.119 --> 0:18:42.240 deep in the unwatered sands of the desert stream, the 0:18:42.359 --> 0:18:45.800 rays of lights carried to and fro in the galleries 0:18:46.240 --> 0:18:50.240 by no human hands. The afrite Jin study the literature 0:18:50.359 --> 0:18:53.840 of the Andaluvian ages, and the Jin learns from the 0:18:53.960 --> 0:18:59.720 magic rolls the lesson of the following day. So yeah, 0:19:00.000 --> 0:19:03.160 the Gin definitely know the value of education and knowledge. 0:19:04.320 --> 0:19:07.360 These tales also provide us with a different and fascinating 0:19:07.440 --> 0:19:10.600 insight when it comes to how the Gin see themselves 0:19:10.680 --> 0:19:14.480 in relation to humans. And that's this. They may be 0:19:14.680 --> 0:19:17.480 so much more powerful than us in many ways, with 0:19:17.640 --> 0:19:21.680 supernatural abilities. We don't have, but we know things they don't. 0:19:22.760 --> 0:19:24.960 They may lift thousands of years more than us and 0:19:25.119 --> 0:19:29.200 witness events that we never could, and yet they lack 0:19:29.320 --> 0:19:33.200 something we have and they know it, which might be why, 0:19:33.359 --> 0:19:36.200 according to all of the Abrahamic faith traditions, at least 0:19:36.880 --> 0:19:40.720 mankind made of mere flesh and blood, is God's most 0:19:40.760 --> 0:19:43.959 superior creation. And that's not just me saying it, that's 0:19:44.000 --> 0:19:48.280 according to God himself. Human beings are superior to the angels, 0:19:48.359 --> 0:19:52.240 and yes to the Gin for sure. That could rub 0:19:52.400 --> 0:19:55.439 some gin the wrong way. And then, of course, remember, 0:19:55.480 --> 0:19:58.119 the Gin were here before us, thousands of years at 0:19:58.160 --> 0:20:01.400 least before then. We came along and took over the earth, 0:20:01.720 --> 0:20:05.399 God's new favorite children early on, though it might not 0:20:05.480 --> 0:20:08.679 have bothered them too much, because well before the advent 0:20:08.760 --> 0:20:12.360 of the Abrahamic religions, people not only believed in the Gin, 0:20:13.000 --> 0:20:21.960 but they worshiped them in ancient times. Scholars believe that 0:20:22.000 --> 0:20:26.160 the early divinities worshiped by the Sumerians, Babylonians, and Akkadians 0:20:26.280 --> 0:20:30.400 thousands of years ago were Gin deities, but the advent 0:20:30.480 --> 0:20:35.120 of monotheism turned people away from gin idolatry, further enraging 0:20:35.200 --> 0:20:38.840 them tolerating humans wasn't so bad as long as a 0:20:38.920 --> 0:20:42.120 Gin felt in some way superior to them, and then 0:20:42.520 --> 0:20:45.760 even that was taken away from them. According to the 0:20:45.840 --> 0:20:48.840 authors of the book The Vengeful Gin, here's a long 0:20:49.000 --> 0:20:53.239 history of perceived indignities and injustices the Gin have had 0:20:53.320 --> 0:20:56.200 to bear because of humans, and many of them have 0:20:56.320 --> 0:20:58.879 felt deeply wronged ever since we arrived on the scene 0:20:58.960 --> 0:21:02.440 and took it over. The Jin who once occupied this 0:21:02.560 --> 0:21:06.399 world now seek to reclaim it back from us, and 0:21:06.480 --> 0:21:09.399 if they can't have it back, they'll at least make 0:21:09.480 --> 0:21:13.560 our lives miserable for it. Some Jin get their kicks 0:21:13.600 --> 0:21:17.240 by playing harmless pranks on people, disappearing objects, moving things around, 0:21:17.600 --> 0:21:21.160 playing with our heads, nothing malicious, but sometimes a way 0:21:21.200 --> 0:21:24.159 to let a person know that they're around. But one 0:21:24.240 --> 0:21:27.840 of the ways they exert actual power over people, power 0:21:27.960 --> 0:21:30.920 that can be used to harm is through shape shifting, 0:21:31.600 --> 0:21:36.160 continuously deceiving our eyes while at the same time enticing 0:21:36.280 --> 0:21:40.760 us to them. There's a fascinating ancient story relaid by 0:21:40.800 --> 0:21:44.920 the scholar Amira al Zane in her book Islam, Arabs 0:21:45.000 --> 0:21:48.239 and the Intelligent World of the Gin that illustrates how 0:21:48.280 --> 0:21:52.399 the Gin go about their vengeance. In the story, a 0:21:52.520 --> 0:21:55.920 gin named Abu Hadraj recounts his days on earth to 0:21:56.000 --> 0:21:59.760 a man who was interrogating him about his life. Hadraj 0:22:00.040 --> 0:22:02.719 gains by explaining how the gin and mankind have been 0:22:02.800 --> 0:22:07.600 gifted different things. Man, he says, has the gift of stratagem, 0:22:08.200 --> 0:22:13.320 and the gin have the gift of power. I have 0:22:13.480 --> 0:22:17.159 suffered evil from men, and they from me. The children 0:22:17.200 --> 0:22:19.760 of Adam were evil to me, and I likewise treated them. 0:22:20.560 --> 0:22:22.760 Once I entered into their world, wanting to sleep with 0:22:22.840 --> 0:22:25.760 one of their maids, and I changed my shape into 0:22:25.800 --> 0:22:28.639 the form of a field rat, and the cats chased me. 0:22:29.359 --> 0:22:31.240 And when they got me, I shaped shifted into a 0:22:31.280 --> 0:22:34.879 striped serpent and slinked into a tree stump, but they 0:22:34.960 --> 0:22:39.080 uncovered me. I followed along the timbers plank, and while 0:22:39.160 --> 0:22:41.919 they were wondering where I was, I went to the Virgin, 0:22:42.200 --> 0:22:45.159 who was under a mosquito net. And when she saw me, 0:22:45.840 --> 0:22:49.399 the fear hit her that her family gathered around her 0:22:49.480 --> 0:22:52.720 from all sides and brought exorcists that called doctors, and 0:22:52.840 --> 0:22:56.280 they made every effort to revive her, but I did 0:22:56.320 --> 0:22:59.920 not respond. I clutched to her tightly, and when death 0:23:00.080 --> 0:23:04.359 hit her. I sought to replace her by another, then another, 0:23:05.160 --> 0:23:11.439 then another. Abu Hadraj killed the woman that he sought, 0:23:11.960 --> 0:23:15.320 the virgin. Yes, I know, it's always a virgin somehow. 0:23:16.320 --> 0:23:19.639 But he wasn't satisfied. His rage against mankind was so 0:23:19.800 --> 0:23:23.600 deep that he killed another, and another and another. The 0:23:23.680 --> 0:23:26.920 story ends in an interesting way, though the Jin confesses 0:23:27.000 --> 0:23:29.040 that he stopped killing young women when he saw the 0:23:29.119 --> 0:23:33.040 light of God and repented his sins, he says were 0:23:33.119 --> 0:23:37.359 now forgiven. This story was originally penned by the blind 0:23:37.560 --> 0:23:42.000 tenth century Syrian poet and philosopher Abu Almari, who wrote 0:23:42.040 --> 0:23:44.280 it in response to a topic of hot debate in 0:23:44.320 --> 0:23:47.400 that era, whether jin were good or evil, and whether 0:23:47.480 --> 0:23:50.560 they could make it to paradise after dying. The way 0:23:50.600 --> 0:23:53.680 that Almari wrote it, the jinn Abu Hadraj was telling 0:23:53.800 --> 0:23:57.119 his story from where he sat for eternity at the 0:23:57.240 --> 0:24:01.080 mouth of a cave in Paradise. So it seems the 0:24:01.200 --> 0:24:04.560 gin like man can find their way to heaven. A 0:24:04.720 --> 0:24:08.360 rather powerful redemption story. Given them many lives. This gin 0:24:08.480 --> 0:24:11.920 had taken lies of young women that apparently had done 0:24:11.960 --> 0:24:15.440 nothing to deserve the ire of this gin. But that's 0:24:15.440 --> 0:24:18.240 not always the case, though. While there are times a 0:24:18.320 --> 0:24:21.800 gin may choose their victim arbitrarily, more often than not 0:24:22.000 --> 0:24:24.920 there is some specific reason a gin will attack a person. 0:24:25.720 --> 0:24:28.320 Provoking them on purpose or not is one sure way 0:24:28.400 --> 0:24:31.800 to draw their vengeance. In traditional Arab culture, it was 0:24:31.880 --> 0:24:34.680 forbidden to casually cast a stone or a fruit pit 0:24:34.800 --> 0:24:37.359 into the open, or throw water out of a window, 0:24:37.880 --> 0:24:40.080 or drive stakes into the ground for fear of hurting 0:24:40.119 --> 0:24:43.359