That afternoon as I walked home with Abdul, he asked me if I had ever heard of djinni. The word was totally unfamiliar to me, so I said no. Then he said, "Genies?" I laughed at him and replied that I did not believe in fairytales anymore. I gulped as I realized that I might have offended him with my careless words, but he smiled at me very kindly and said that genies or djinni were quite real and they definitely did exist. I asked him how he knew, and he said that he would show me how.
We walked to his house and he made me a cup of tea. Then he went into another room and brought out some candles and a black book with some strange symbols on the front of it. Then he closed the curtains so the room was dark. I asked him what he was doing. He told me to sit down at the table. I did as I was told and he placed the candles and the book on the kitchen table gently. He lit the candles and started chanting some words from the book. I think the words were Arabic.
Then he started chanting a certain name, over and over again. "Malikha… Malikha... Malikha…" As he continued to chant this name, I started to feel dizzy. The air around me seemed to buzz with vibration. Then I heard a deep, Arabic voice come from the air in front of me. I’m certain it did not come from Abdul, who was still chanting deeply. I don't know what it said, but it made my skin crawl. Then the voice started to hiss at me and shout. I looked at Abdul, but sweat was dripping from his brow and he was lost in his chanting. Then I felt a heat on my face, as if I were sitting in front of a fire, and I saw a spark of light materialize in front of my face. The light grew stronger and the air around it began to swirl. Something was starting to take form in front of me.
I felt an invisible pair of hands grab my arms violently. I was so shaken by this that I ran from the room screaming and fled from the evanescent light that was developing in front of me. As I reached the door, a foreign voice screamed maniacally at me in Arabic. The voice was completely inhuman and was definitely not Abdul's. It echoed around the room. As my fingers clutched the door handle, the air around me started to vibrate and get denser, and the echoing, hissing voice seemed to fade into nothing and disappear.
Abdul appeared at the living room door and asked me if I believed him now. I yanked the door open and ran out into the streets, crying and screaming with terror. My mind was a complete blur. I ran home and jumped straight into bed and did not get out of it until the following day.
Beings made of fire
After that incident, I saw Abdul walking around the college campus site and sometimes when he saw me, he would give me an evil stare and his lips would curl into a sinister smile. This man had obviously summoned a djinn. As I read a few books and learned things, I discovered that in Islam, djinni are immortal spirit beings that are made of fire. This would explain the fiery heat on my face and the glowing light that started to appear in front of me at his house. I also discovered from my readings that Malikha, or Malik in Muslim mythology, is the spirit that watches over the gates of Hell.
Abdul had invoked a djinn of hellfire. I now understood why Hamzah had warned me about this man and his activities. What I want people to realize is that djinns and evil spirits are real, and that they have great power over things. People often dabble with rituals and hope that something will happen, but if something ever did happen they would not think it was "cool," they would be terrified out of their wits and would never mess around with it again.
This is my advice to anyone who has an interest in rituals or magic. Keep well away from anything to do with spirits. After this incident happened, I bought a rosary from a church and I have prayed regularly and asked God, Jesus, Mary, to forgive me for getting involved with this. Deep down, I am still afraid that this djinn might come back again and try to harm me. I hope that my prayers will protect me, because when I felt the heat of the unholy fire on my face, I knew that what was about to come through was more powerful and deadly than anything on earth. I am still afraid even today.
