Djinn Blocks

Here is a brief story that reminds me of my famous Nairobi djinn story from 2008 (really, was that ten years ago already?).  As you walk into Petra, out before you ever enter the Siq itself, you see all sorts of fascinating Nabataean architecture that most people don't ever stop to peruse, because on the way in you're way too excited about getting to the Siq and on the way out it's inevitably getting dark and you're exhausted.  One of the most interesting architectural treasures is referred to as the Djinn Blocks, even though they're actually just funerary structures.  Apparently people routinely hear strange noises there at night and thus it is associated with the djinn.  Ines, Liza, Cyndi and I were walking/stumbling out of Petra in the gloaming when we approached the Djinn Blocks.  I said something about the djinn as we approached the blocks and Ines and Liza walked a little closer.  At that point a cat jumped up out of a trashcan and gave them a good scare (someone may have thrown a rock over by the Djinn Blocks to cause mischief but there is no proof to that scandalous accusation).  Liza snapped a quick picture of Ines walking past the blocks and had a second scare: in the picture Ines doesn't have a head.  Doubtless, it is some sort of remarkably odd technical glitch . . .

The excellent Mahmoud stopping on the way in to explain the Djinn Blocks, but also, as was typical of his normal great job, of explaining that the blocks didn't really have anything to do with the djinn at all. He gave  a fascinating short talk on the significance of the cube shape itself, and how it is reflected in the Kaaba in Mecca.

And the famous/infamous picture of headless Ines.  I would think that the entire thing is photoshopped, except that I was standing there when the picture was taken and heard Liza's initial shock at seeing the picture on her phone.

When I was teaching in Abu Dhabi I would occasionally make some djinn reference when the lights or internet would go screwy; half the students would roll their eyes and the other half would get a very nervous look on their faces.  Islam teaches us to belief in the seen and the unseen, and the djinn fall into the latter category.They're not truly evil, sometimes mischievous but usually just morally neutral.  Steve Wehmeyer and I did some brief research on this and apparently if you dream of a headless djinn it means that you're not very bright, and you can imagine that Ines took for that revelation.  However, Ines wasn't dreaming of headless djinn so we're still investigating this one.

Oh, and here's a happy family picture before the tragic djinn-devised beheading.  Left to right: Ines, Cyndi, and Liza.  While we were walking out together a couple people told Cyndi and I that we had nice daughters.  We told them that they had no idea how the girls had aged us.