Part two of a few jinn stories from the life of a Pakistani exorcist that’ll keep you up at night. This part deals with a jinn couple Adnan Sahab encountered. These stories have been taken, with permission, from Abus’ Jinns official book.
The Farooqui Couple
When I turned 20, I opened myself up to a world of mysterious tales that I had previously not understood. Wrapping nano’s peach shawl – the one with the tea stain – above my head, I opened the main door to see a rather troubled looking couple. Some could say they looked too alike to be husband and wife, but the way that man’s fingers were interlocked with the woman’s, I figured that they were in nikkah.
Ami had told me not to let anyone in today. It was one of those Sundays when Abu was ill and Shah jee – our driver had left for his village. But, I had already opened the door and therefore, after a brief moment I opened my mouth too. ‘Salam, Adnan sahab aj theek nahin hain. Wou-’
‘Oh,’ the man cut in, ‘Allah unhe sehat day likun hum unki biwi say milna chahte hain. Meri biwi ki halat wou hi Adnan sahab ko bta payein gi.’ I nodded, smiled a little, almost closed the door and went inside to call ami. When I returned with ami, the door was in its position but on pulling it aside, ami just saw the empty road.
‘Yeh kya muzaak hai, Ayesha?’
Ami usually would have said that beta koyi bhi tou nahin hai, but she was upset because of Abu’s tabiyat and hence a little frustrated. I, however, had just met a couple, and was sure that they must have not gotten far. I intended to go out and check when my mother scolded me for being out during Maghrib time. So, forcefully, I had to turn the wooden handle and scamper behind my ami. When I went inside, Abu called for me. He was in the lounge, watching a program on what I assumed was PTV.
‘Who was there?’ he asked. Before I could reply, ami came in and said,‘Your beti has started daydreaming in broad daylight. Yeh jo MacBook say 24/7 chipki rehti hai na uska nateeja hai.’
Abu let ami leave the room before signaling me to sit down on the blue blanket, next to him. ‘Tumhari ami dar jayein gi iss liye kay wou tumhare anay per dekhtein maine ghar aye mehmaan ko bhej dia.’
For a moment, I confused what Abu was saying with the news reporter on the television, and it took me a good one minute and an eyebrow raise from Abu to decipher that I had witnessed the first jinn encounter of my life.
I gulped. I felt like my result had just come out – you know the kind of feeling you get when you fail or when you have your first heartbreak – cold feet and heart sinking, wesa hi kuch I felt.
‘Abu jaan ab aisay tou na daraein mujhe.’
Whilst running his fingers through his trimmed, black, crinkly haired darhi, he replied, ‘Leh, ab peechay say ooh aah ki awaz tou nahin ani thi and neither would you have felt a gush of wind or heard nonexistent dogs barking. Ache jinn they, Ayesha. Musalman jinn.’
At any point, I wanted Abu to start laughing – the type of hansi Abu has during jokes with hiccups involved but, unfortunately, Abu was serious and I remained sitting there, hugging the half-wrapped blanket, nervously.
‘I call them the Farooqui Couple. Mano yah na mano beti, I was your age when I was in Gujranwala attending a wedding with my parents. Everyone was rejoicing the human couple, but no one noticed the couple getting married in the corner. I saw them of course. Unlike others, the supernatural wasn’t hidden from my eyes. Masjid main intehai saadgi se I saw it happen. People were passing by the corner, stepping on jinn children but the naek jinns just placed their children aside. I witnessed that with my very own eyes. When I went towards that corner, I felt an intense heat, wesi which you feel when you’re just about to get burnt, but my parents didn’t feel anything. Jinns, if they’re in their natural form, they can set you on fire. Khair, the couple knew that I could see them, so they came forth with sweets; big yellow pouches which were delicious. This part brings us to unwinding another secret.’
My feet felt normal again, and I wrapped the tassels of the rug between my toes. Ache jinn, I thought to myself. Ache jinn bhi hote hain.
‘Go on abu jaan. Promise kisi ko nahin btaoun gi.’
‘You know how I have the habit of sucking my thumb every now and then? Out of the blue, I’ll keep it in my mouth till your ami will yell at me and my mehroom ami as to why I still have this two-year-old bache ki aadat?’
I looked at Abu with the utmost curiosity in my eyes and snuggled myself next to him.
‘Jee?’
‘I don’t know their real names, but they are quite fine with me calling them the Farooqui Couple. Over the years, after their wedding, we’ve crossed paths many times.’
‘But that’s a story for later. Khair, when she handed me the box of sweets, I saw little grains in the pouches. She insisted that I have some. And I did. The flavor wasn’t something that I can explain. I felt that I had all the best things in life at once – gulabjamun and aloo ghosht – everything. And the reason I sometimes suck my thumb is that I can still taste the sweetness on it.’
‘Beta, being able to see beneath this world has its perks too. Today, they are here because his wife is expecting. And when jinns expect, my dear, the pregnancy happens in days, not months. I – I think you’re old enough to hear about pregnancy. I know that all of this is a little hard for you to digest but with some time, you’ll understand. They mean no harm. They were here because I promised them the farm milk your mother gets from chacha Akbar’s house. They’ll come again and you might just see them or you might never, but beti, where there is burayi, there is achayi and just like naek loug, there are naek jinns. Not all my life have I dealt with just the bad.’
The writer, Ayesha Muzaffar, runs the famous Instagram account, Abu’s Jinns, which narrates gripping tales around supernatural events. You can follow her here.
These Jinn Stories From The Life Of A Pakistani Exorcist Will Keep You Up At Night: Part 1
Rabia Apa’s Exorcism – Chapter 1: Our Ghostly Childhood
Rabia Apa’s Exorcism – Chapter 2: The Convent
Cover image via Fairmont Banff Springs