Cohen says "The Monster Dwells at the Gates of Difference", and I find the use of the phrase "dwells at the gates" an ironic coincidence when it comes to the idea of Jinns, the good kind and the evil kind, Shaytans, in Islam. Jinns are creatures, that are different than humans, but live among humans, and are often referred to as "the unseen" in Islam. Humans, for the most part, other than the few who can see or sense them, live oblivious to them around us. They are literally invisible to the human eyes, though they were on earth before humans ever inhabited the Earth, and they used to be visible to humans before there was a seal or veil put on earth between the world of the jinn's and the world of the humans, so that no human would be "scared" or harmed by Jinns, at least not physically.
Oddly, what Cohen says about monsters, "the monster is difference made flesh, come to dwell among us. In its function as dialectical Other or third-term supplement, the monster is an incorporation of the Outside, the Beyond" is a very accurate way of describing Jinns or Shaytan, and their world, as it is outside of the human world, but not quite separate, there is differences between the worlds and yet they are connect. They live in among us, in our homes, in our rooms, and sleep on our beds when we are not using these spaces. They will sleep almost anywhere that is a sleepable space, including the rooftop of buildings. Jinns are similar to humans and yet different, in ways that make them a separate creature altogether, especially physically. But just like humans, they have emotions, such as love, jealousy and anger. And they even get married and have children. But they are also difference, such as the rumor that they live for thousands of years, and that they have an extremely long pregnancy and infancy compared to humans. Shaytans, the evil kind of Jinns, “whisper” in your ear evil thoughts or sins “you should do”. They are said to “hide in toilets” and that they “like bathrooms” and “dirty places”. They like living in ruins and like sleeping in trees.
I totally agree with you that it is an ironic coincidence when applying the phrase "dwells at the gates of difference" to the idea of Jinns. Now, upon reading your post, the first image that pops into my head of what represents a Jinn was the character Genie from the Disney movie Aladdin. But after some research, I realized that is not quite what should come to mind. Jinn's can be both good or evil as you pointed out, their appearences are far from that of human's. Another interesting thing I learned was that Jinn are thought to have a very organized social and hierarchial structure. I find this very ironic that a creature that is so physically different from humans has its society in a way that very closely represents human society.
ReplyDeleteYea, well they are similar to humans in some ways. And though I'm not sure how the good Jinns look like, I'd say they might have some similarities to humans perhaps. It's just that we can't see them to know exactly what they look like. I've heard that Shaytans have parts of animals or other such "abnormalities", like a Shaytan can have a wolf head but could have other parts that are "normal" for Jinns. Also, and most often, they have horns on their heads. Good Jinns are said to be beautiful, while Shaytan are said to be very ugly.
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