Whither Wander Thou

While nearly absent in cosmopolitan Muscat, witchcraft plays a huge role in the southern regions of Oman.

Islam, literally interpreted, does have room for a kind of mysticism.  Jinn (the original inspiration for the orientalist idea of a “genie”) are very specifically defined in the Qur’an as early creations of God who, like humans, can be Muslim or Christian or Pagan or Scientologists, but who have neither “zaman” nor “makan.”  No time, nor place.  Crafted of fire, they are invisible to the eyes of humans, even if what they do in our presence isn’t.

However, it seems that modern Islam in Muscat doesn’t think much, or often, of Jinn and witchcraft.  The only time I’ve heard anyone mention it up here was when a young woman referred to her stepmother as “that Jinn”, much to the amusement of her sister.

This isn’t the case in Dhofar, the southern region.  While I was there I heard stories of witchcraft and curses cast in just the last few months, spoke to well-educated, well-traveled, successful adults who spoke of the presence of Jinn and witches in no uncertain terms, and to young men who flat-out refuse to be in certain areas of evil reputation past sunset.  In Dhofar, witchcraft isn’t just an abstraction.  It’s something that dries up wells after a blood sacrifice, makes or breaks fortunes, something that leaves bruises and tangible evidence and that can kill.  You don’t know of witchcraft in the south, you know the witches.

Many of my peers here have had trouble reconciling this with the air-conditioned, modern settings in which it was expressed.  However, I can’t feel the same way.  In Hawaii, I keep away from what is kapu.  There are sacred spaces.  If I were to find a Hawaiian burial site I’d call a priest before I called an archaeologist, and if I could whistle, I definitely wouldn’t do so at night.  My upbringing was on the haole end of local-haole, but even my mainland parents instilled in me a sense of self-preservation specific to this kind of belief.  There are some things you just don’t mess with.  I can’t say that I know any witches back home, but in both Hawaii and in Oman, if someone tells me that bad, unexplainable things happen to whomever stays here after dark, then I’ll be happy to head back to the hotel room, thank you.