Black and white magic of Bahla -Part II

In second part I will tell you about the magic’s story white and black, jinn and witchcraft.

Before to tell about stories about black and white magic and Jinn, I will tell you from perspective reality of Jinn according to the Quran and Hadith and Muslims Belief in the existence of Jinn and black magic. The literal meaning of jinn is to hide and conceal. The word jinn came from the word janna which means to hide in Arabic.

Jinn and angels are the supernatural creatures of Almighty Allah. Unlike human, jinn are the invisible beings, and human have such power to see them, they are invisible to naked human eye. In the Quran, Allah says about the existence of jinn in various instances.

Jinn are also asked to worship Allah as Humans do. Their purpose of life is not very different from the humans as they are ordered by Allah to do the same good deeds as humans do and they  are supposed to obey and worship and only  God “ Allah”. Like in humans there are two broader categories, Muslims and Non-Muslims, similarly in jinn there are same two main divisions( the Muslims and Non-Muslims).

The lives of jinn are very to the similar to the humans, they eat, they drink, they marry, they have their children, and even they are instructed and guided the same way as humans.

The jinn live in the parallel world to the humans and since they live in the different dimension the flow of the time there is different too. Hence, the life span of jinn is far longer than the humans, they are said to live  in around 1000 to 1500 years.

A Jinn has the power to travel large distance at extreme speeds and the thought to live in remote areas, mountains, seas,  trees and the air,  and in abandoned houses, in their own communities.

After When I was talking about jinn and their history. I would like to talk about if Muslim believe in Jinn and witchcraft? Yes, they believe in existence of Jinn, because is mentioned in Quran.  They are usually invisible  to humans and the latter don't appear clearly to them. This belief in the existence of jinn is because Allah has talked about this unseen creature in the divine book Quran. Many Muslims believe that jinn exist whereas the Non-Muslims have lees belief in their existence, because most of the Muslims read the sacred scripture sent by Allah and the scripture ( Quran) consists of all the true realities of this world.

I read somewhere, I don't remember where but I read they can take different forms: from animals to human beings.

The survey also found that now more Muslims have started believing in the witchcraft or black magic because there are references in the Quran and Hadith which tell us that this act( black magic) was present at the time of Prophet Muhammad(P.B.U.H) too.

But Islam strongly condemns black magic. However, if jinn decide to play tricks with humans, it is not really black magic  it is jus jinn misbehavior.

While their nature is controversial, no one can deny the numerous accounts of experiences with jinn concentrated in and around Nizwa. Locals will tell stories of furniture and household items inexplicably shifted or meticulously placed in eerie designs. The stories get even more fantastical, including flying mosques and witches who make village girls disappear.

Hence, if being a Muslim we believe in magic and the existence of supernatural beings then we must be very careful and take the precautions. For not being the victim of such evils we need to worship the Almighty Allah,  We should supplicate  to Allah, pray fives times, fasting, reading Quran and make Dua, and most importantly we need to follow the teachings of Quran and Sunnah.

Many people said in Bahla is not a center of jinn.  But, one Omani woman relayed a story to me about a male witch in her family famous for using jinn to bring cherries from Iran, and she casually added, for conducting human sacrifice.

In fact, a recent story of a small Omani girl with recurring fits and mysterious fire episode in her home cast a spell on us and we decided to meet her and her family. We realized why Bahla is still thought to be a center of jinn and with black magic and alchemy. Fortunately, we did not come across any who practiced this. Instead, we met up with a traditional healer who also helped heal a small girl from  the so called clutches of a jinn.

Actually this story is about Omani's girl. I don't know her name exactly and where she is from?! But, I know she was living into the modest home, and a septuagenarian, whose granddaughter was reportedly under a jinn's influence and had frequent episodes of fits and blacking out.

Her name's Huda, has 12 year old, who was at the center of this current jinn story, didn't even show any traces of her recent trauma, and was giggling along with her young cousin brothers, as her grandfather and her uncle detailed their recent their home and also partially burnt the house.

It was start 10 years ago. Approximately in June 2010. Sunny day and beautiful day. Huda is a physically active an energetic little 12 year old. She has never had any major health problems. But, on this day she just passed out. She go into an episode of fits and she blacked out. This is first time ever that she has fallen sick.

Maybe she was weak or ill, we thought and soon forgot about it as she quickly recovered from that episode.

But, in the next four days, Huda continued to have recurring fits and blackouts. That was the time when we began to panic. We really didn't know what to do as we did not have  any prior experience in fronting such an illness, then, someone advised us to take Huda to a Moalim traditional healer for a reading. 

We are also more comfortable meeting with a traditional healer than approaching a modern clinic.

So, the Moalim read for Huda from a bowl of water and a bowl of salt  water and advised her to drink the water and bathe in the salt water for next two days. She soon became okay . But, I guess that was not the end of her problems. It was just the beginning.

Huda returned from a Holy Quran reading in the evening and was just setting down when stones came hurtling into our yard. Some smashed through the windows and landed in our sitting room. We took this is our stride thinking it was someone's real bad idea of a prank  and let it be. But, then it became a regular phenomenon.

The stones were hurled in only after 6 pm. So, I spoke to all my neighbors and all of them decided to keep a whole night vigil. But, none of them could find out the source of the stone.

they just seemed to be thrown from anywhere and nowhere. Every morning the front  yard of our compound would be filled with big-sized rocks and stones. We religiously picked up all the stones and kept them away. But, no one in the household was hurt in this process.

Are you afraid? No, not at all really. We were a bit confused because we were not sure what was happening. Were they the handwork of jinns? We don't know. At the time, the continuous stoning, totally occupied our minds.

The stoning continued for 10 long days.

But, during this period, Huda was perfectly okay. She did not have any fits or blackouts! And then, on this day, around 10 a.m. a fire broke out one of the two date palm leaves thatched sheds in our yard. It gutted out and we had no clue as to how and why?!

Then after sometimes, the roof of our buildings got fire. Later by 3 p.m., Huda was dozing off when suddenly the room next to where she was sleeping  suddenly got fire.

Within minutes, stones again hurtled in thorough the windows, breaking the glasses. Huda was unaware of all the havoc at home and peacefully sleeping in the adjacent room; while all of us managed to somehow put out the fire. By this time, the bed, carpets and the AC were totally burnt.

The second shed caught fire today. The stones were still being regularly hurled at our home. We, and several other neighbors, kept a proper vigil, but, we could not find anyone.

Now, these constant stone throwing episodes and the fire break outs had taken a real toll on us.

We were quite disturbed. So, we shifted to one take a real toll on us. So, we shifted to one of my son's home, which is slightly away from this place.

But, Huda's fits and black outs continued and we had co choice but to take her to Bahla hospital. The doctors there checked her properly and declared her to be perfectly normal. By this time all our relatives and village elders advised us to take her for a holy reading once again and we we approached wise elders and sheikhs in and around our village. They give us amulets and spiritual reading material.

Another day, so we decided to really to pray to the Almighty to help us in this issue. From June 23 evening, all our family members sat down together and read prayers throughout the night, for a two day period. By 24th evening, both, the stoning and the random fire break outs stopped. By God's grace, we are through with this ordeal. Finally we are at peace. Huda had no more blackouts or fits and she has been having peaceful nights since then.

Moalim has been living in the same house for the last 70 years, but has never ever experienced anything like this. " Of course, I have grown up with this stories of jinn and black magic. But, this is my first experience. We all, to a little extent, believe jinns exist but we don't believe in black magic. We believe in Almighty Allah and we believe in the Holy Quran where there is a mention of jinns. It is believed that they are created for a purpose and so they exist. But I don't know as to what purpose.

Stories about jinns abound in Bahla. Even something happens again, we will seek the help of a Moalim. And God is always there.

And another story about a woman who has possessed by lady jinn. I don't know her name and from where is she?! But this is real story about her.

Healer spiritual man from Bahla: - " What are you doing inside her?"

Jinn: - " I am living in this body!"

Healer : -" Why?"

Jinn: - " I want henne... I want gold...and I want precious stones".

Healer: -" But, why trouble this women... Why are you doing this to her."

Jinn: - " I want more and if she ( the body she had got into) does not give me more gold, I will make her sick  - very sick!"

Healer - " You will do nothing of that sort. You will leave. I will make you leave!! By God's will, I will make you leave this body!!"

This is one of the story make me scared and make me understand about how vulnerable we are in this life. And, We need to be strong in our faith to be protect from evil and black magic. The above is Moalim( healer/spiritual man) made conversation with famale jinn/jinni( a spirit) that had apparently got inside a lady. Moalim was giving black and white a hint of what he normally faces while dealing with the people who claim to be possessed by jinns and the like when gave us the above conversation exact. I don't know about this story more. But I heard I want to share with you. And I heard another story, about one men.

I heard another story about a man returning night from the Bahla area, going to Muscat. He was stopped by a man in a white dress. He took him in the car. It didn't seem strange to him that he was a normal man. But halfway he made his legs, it was not human feet but animal hooves, he got scared and kicked him out of the car. I don't know exactly the story that was also told me my friend. And from wat she told me about this story I am telling you also.

Moalim was consulted for Huda's case and he has helped cure her of her fits and also stopped the fire episodes in Masoud Shikely's home. However, he did not reveal what exactly transpired between him and the jinn in this case, but claimed that only was the girl cured of her illness, but the fire episodes have also now stopped. " Black magic can not win over white ( pure) magic", asserted Moalim, adding that he, with his knowledge and power, could break a black magic spell, while a black magician would not be able to break the white magic spell.

Origin of witchcraft in Bahla. Reports note that some 1400 years ago, one of the earliest practitioners of witchcraft was killed by the villagers for practicing wizardry. A fort was built on his grave to prevent his followers from turning it into a shrine. It was after this that his spirit began to appear in the town and it was reported later that he was teaching the craft to youngsters.

Now I would like to talk about wizards, mediums and spiritual healers. Some have the gift of seeing, others do not have this gift, they learn it from witchcraft books. Among them are real charlatans who fool people and do nothing to help.

There is people who don’t believe in black magic but, then they have to believe what they saw. Of course they can’t explain it, or even make any sense out of it, but it happened.

 Magic and mystery still surrounds this ancient walled town, which is about  30 km west of Nizwa, the road to Ibri. Bahla is also home to another type of "magical" creations pottery. The Omani  Bahla potters are known  to have magic in their fingers and their creation adorn many a home both in Oman and abroad. But, a mysterious  aura surrounds the walled city because many still believe that magic is still practiced in Bahla. 

Many people from Muscat displayed an element of superstition and declined to talk much about Bahla. Some of the far- fetched stories include people being bewitched and turned into animals and then enslaved.

There are so many tales about the magic of Bahla. Some say, never stand bellow one particular tree in the village of Bahla. It would steal  your soul and sell it, even before you know it, some people from Bahla would say.

It was not soul talk, jut fear of magic. The older generation would smile, while the younger generation would raise a curious eyebrow...

Bahla was the capital of Oman between  the 12th and the early  17th century. But, Bahla's rise to prominence was not because of this it is magical town full of legends and stories about genies( jinns) and ghost that are said  to live the trees!

There is a mysterious and magical air about Bahla and with so many undisputed tales of magical happenings surrounding it, the legend continues unabated.

There are many who don't like to visit Bahla in the evenings and some display fear in even entering Bahla town.

Other than the mysterious air in which Bahla is shrouded in, it is also home to fine Omani pottery, which is a major attraction. It is also home to the Bahla fort, the oldest one in Oman. Other attractions make it an attractive touristic destination, but it is only when we talk of the magic in Bahla that everyone's ears perk up.

My advise don't go to any medium, witchcraft and don't use black magic. Better to read Holy Quran, pray and fasting, this will help you for protection, from bad eye and black magic, evil. Allah bless you and your family!!

                                            Written by Bogus Elena