once, this young boy, Mohammad Amin, heard a discussion between his mother and another woman, who sat telling her a strange story about something that she claimed happened every night. She said that all the women in the neighbourhood knew and chatted about it among themselves.
‘Oh, Um Saleem, haven’t you heard about the genie?’[20]‘What? A genie?’
‘Yes… the one that appears every day at the stable’
‘No… no… by God, I haven’t heard anything about a genie… but who told you? Where did you hear about it?’
‘All the women in the neighbourhood have heard of it. They say that the genie appears if someone goes to the stable after midnight and summons it, and then it will see them and talk to them.
‘They said that if anyone caught this genie, it would beg to be freed, and if they refused they would be offered three wishes; then if the genie granted them, it would be released.’
These stories continued to reverberate around the neighbourhood, being told and retold, so the news spread widely and people became obsessed with it until they could think of nothing else.
Everybody talked about it, and some set out to fabricate untrue stories in an effort to convince people that they had actually spoken to the genie!
Because of the constant repetition of the events of this story in the hearing of little Mohammad Amin, who was only about three-and-a-half years old at that time, he partly believed it, but still had his doubts. He would not be fully convinced before he himself was sure of what he had heard and of what he knew.
When night fell, the child went to bed and pretended to be asleep so that his family would not worry about him. However, at midnight, he got up from his bed and quietly went downstairs, left the house and headed for the stable where supposedly the genie dwelt.
His curiosity and inquisitive mind led him to undertake this adventure in order to see the genie up close.
He intended to catch it, if he could, and ask it – so it could secure its release – to bring him all the kings of the world so that he could suggest to them that they embrace the religion of Islam.
If they refused, he would cut off their heads!
He arrived at the stable and sat there waiting for the genie to appear. When there was no sign of it, he started calling it to come to him, beating the ground with his little hand… but no one answered his call!
His father woke in the middle of the night to check on the safety of his sleeping child, but he did not find him in his bed, and so everybody in the house was woken and began to search for him throughout the house. They went into every room hoping to find him, but he was nowhere to be found.
As their fruitless search continued they started to become extremely worried. It was now past midnight and this was becoming a terrible ordeal for them!
They had almost given up hope of finding him inside the house, when one of them suggested:
‘Let’s search in the garden, or we may find him at the stable.’
‘A good idea! Let’s go!’
They headed out to the stable holding torches aloft to light the way.
As they approached, they heard little Amin’s sharp brave voice saying, ‘You, genie! Why don’t you answer me? Come on! I’m calling you and asking you to come here! Why don’t you do what I ask?’
They hurried towards the sound of the voice, and there he was, sitting on the floor repeating these words and continuing to beat the floor, calling for the genie insistently and bravely, as a result of which their hearts, relieved of fear, now beat faster with ever-increasing admiration. They rushed to him saying, ‘What are you doing, my child? Why are you here so late at night?’
He replied, ‘I want to meet the genie that you all talk about.’
‘Come on… come on my son… let’s go home and forget about that. You are still a child, and too young to bother yourself with such things.’ They privately chided themselves, as they truly believed such stories and felt conscience-stricken.
However, these tales are mere superstitions…!
His family were afraid for him, and devised a story to frighten him. They said to each other in his hearing: ‘Did you know, there’s a huge snake that sleeps in the horse’s manger, and it bites and kills whoever sits there?’
Then he went home with them unwillingly, but the matter still occupied his thoughts and worried him. He was interested in finding out whether it was true or not!
Being the brave and inquisitive child that he was, the following night he tried once again. His heart was determined not to let this matter pass without getting to the bottom of it… so he thought that by taking positive action he would know one way or the other.
In fact, he went to the same place and did just as he had done the previous night, but nothing happened to confirm the truth of the snake stories he had heard. There was nothing but silence, interrupted only by the usual sounds of the night: a cricket over here, and a dog over there. As for the genie, there was no sign of its presence or indeed, its existence.
At this he realised that the women’s chatter about this tale was nothing but fantasy and there was no truth to it. His certainty about the falsity of the tale was corroborated when he went there for the third consecutive night, at the same time, hoping yet again to find the genie.
After this story, he decided to believe nothing that he was told and nothing that he heard, whatever the subject, unless he looked into the matter himself to be sure of the truth of all that was said.