Short Story: The Unseen
****
We see you.
You intrigue us, to no end, the lot of you. From the moment you open your eyes to the world onto the moment Azaril comes to escort your soul out of it. You are a lot like us, but at the same time, we are far removed. Daily, do we give thanks for our separation. You are the ones most favored by the Almighty; without a doubt, you are special. Even though you were the last to be created, you were made to be second to none in peerage. All were made to bow before you, including our ancestors. We had no choice but to obey the Creator, although one of us dared to refuse Him. Iblis, he was called then…
Through the centuries, we have watched you. From the downfall at the garden, past the great flood, the Tower of Babel, down to the time of the crossing of the Red Sea. We were there when the ground swallowed Korab and all his treasures. Frankly, we are staggered by your limitless arrogance. The Almighty has raised you above us all, and loves you unconditionally. We do not understand it, and therefore try to understand you. We must admit, you are an enigma.
You are physically weak, but make up for it in intelligence. You are also blessed with the ability to adapt. You are fertile, and spread bountifully across the earth. With the backing of the Omnipotent, no living thing is spiritually superior to you. You happen to be the only animals who walk upright. You have also been given knowledge, and what have you done with it?
You are capable of great evil. We tire of how you lie to, steal from, hurt, oppress and murder each other in your greed and selfishness. In your self-aggrandisement, you forget that your mortal lives are but a collective grain of sand in the beach that is the hereafter. In your folly, you have begun to delude yourselves that you are gods. You forget your place! You have even corrupted some among our kind into imbibing your behaviour. You worship false gods and go as far as worshipping some among us. You bribe them with red mercury, all to persuade them into overhearing the daily announcements of destiny in heaven. More perplexing is the fact that they actually do it, even though it is suicidal. None but the malaika are allowed in heaven before their time, and any who dares to cross the boundary faces instant death. To our eternal shame, we have enabled some of you to be misled by false prophets, proclaiming stolen words, belonging to the Almighty. It is no wonder why He, in His boundless wisdom, keeps us unseen to you. It is for our safety.
We will be fair- you are also capable of great acts of kindness. From the charity that is a simple smile, to the selfless philanthropy of giving all of one’s wealth to the needy. The unconditional love a parent has for a child. When we see the pious among you, we are reminded as to why The Lord loves you. The ones who submit to his mercy, and remember the hereafter: they may be your salvation. In retrospect, you are probably our salvation as well. We would be as arrogant as you are if we were to believe ourselves better than you. We still do not understand you, but we have learned by watching you. Despite the urge to put you down, we recognize your potential. We will continue to watch you, unseen.
We are Jinn.
****
Thanks to Dayo Omidiran (@mromidiran) for sending this in. You can read more from him here http://papyrusczar.wordpress.com. It’s unedited and we’d like your honest feedback. You can also send in your short stories or poems to hello [at] thenakedconvos [dot] com. Submission from new writers and upcoming bloggers are welcome. Please keep submissions less than 1500 words. Cheers.
****
Authors Notes:
Iblis is also known as Lucifer.
Malaika literally means “angels”.
Korab was Moses’ major antagonist during the 40 year-long wandering of the Israelites. He was fabulously wealthy, and tried to rebel against Moses, so God swallowed him, his followers and all their possessions in the earth.
Wow. Always thought Dayo was a spoilt kid with knacks for video games. *Apologies Sama* . Funny I have something similar scribble down somewhere; those days I ponder on the great divide. Wonderfully written! Btw *Cydm*
LMAO @ "Spoilt kid with knacks for video games". You really don't know me at all. Thanks a lot boss
I'll gently take 2nd position…*scrolls up to read post* :p
thanks for the explanations that came after. But i thought malaika was a 'yoruba cele word'. And Jinn?
Um is this omidiran related to baba suwe? #justasking
LMAO! Malaika is the plural of Malak. It's Arabic. And Baba Suwe is Omidina; I'm Omidiran :)
LMAO. Baba Suwe suits you.
LMAO….Dayo you can see I am not alone, I was kinda wondering too -___-
LMAO!! I am not related to Baba Suwe oh..
This was quite nice.
Happy with d level of homework u put into it.
(Y)
Interesting story. I was also wondering about the 'malaika' word
Cheers
And that is how you didnor even acknowledge the inspiration Abi? Issorai.
Always been fascinated with Djinns.
Good use of brain food.
LOL Cheers
Tanx for this wonderful write up!
Beautiful write up.
I have always wondered about them as well seeing as they feature prominently in the qur’an.
Malaika has its roots in Swahili which has its roots in Arabic.
Really nice write-up but please what does Jinn mean? Thank you.
Jinn is a spirit man(or woman) that posseses humans from time to time.. I remember in boarding school it used to possess Muslim girls a lot.. They become more beautiful, their hair becomes wild-like you can't even stare into their eyes.. Some of them act wild, crazy, try to walk to deep into the forest and past the stream in school.. Some students swore they could hear another voice other than the girl's voice (most times a man's voice) saying he is their husband she should come back to him and their kids..
Weird story but its true!!
I was just reading a verse in the Quran about how korah was swallowed( surah ‘al qasas) ..As a muslim I’ve always wondered about jinns and how you have to protect yourself from the evil ones by reciting some invocations when dressing up and entering the toilet..etc