Djin, Jinn, Genie, Jinni or Djinn?
However you want to spell or pronounce it this Economist article makes very interesting reading. At least it does if you have an interest in that type of thing. I do; my hotmail address is SloeDjin for example. That’s a pun if you’ve never noticed before: Sloe Gin is a gin made from sloes, the berries of the blackthorn.
Masoud resisted the Soviet Union and the Taliban from his base in the Panjshir valley until he was assassinated by al-Qaeda operatives on September 9th 2001. According to local legend, Muslim jinn were on his side. One of his fighters was said to have slain a dragon in a mountain lake during the Soviet occupation and to have brought the dragon’s jewel to Masoud, with the help of Muslim jinn. In murdering Masoud, some Panjshiris say, Osama bin Laden declared war on Muslim jinn also. This is obvious, they say, from Mr bin Laden’s insistence on division and violence.