Rida Jalal had became famous among the inhabitants of al-Ma’mun Street for being a strange man with brothers among the jinn who rushed to his aid when he fell on hard times. His house played a role in spreading his fame. The houses on al-Ma’mun Street consisted of entire floors in tall, modern buildings made of stone and cement, while Rida’s was an old house made of mud and straw. Many found it strange that the officials responsible for city planning turned a blind eye to this house and did not order its demolition, removal, and replacement by a modern building. They found no satisfactory explanation, except that the house had an invisible master who protected it and made sure it remained standing in its present state.
Rida Jalal had inherited the house from his parents after they died, and lived in it by himself even though it had many rooms. However, at night the house changed. It was transformed into a blaze of light, with the sounds of laughing men and women and playing children coming from it. Passersby on al-Ma’mun Street invoked the name of the Compassionate and Merciful God and ran into their houses, feeling happy they were still standing and had not disappeared.
None of the inhabitants of al-Ma’mun Street could claim they’d ever caught a glimpse of Rida buying fruit. Some accused him of being exceedingly miserly, while others spread the rumor that his jinn brothers brought him the most delicious fruits every night. Men avoided his company, except for Safwan al-Mughrabi, who denied the existence of the jinn and was not afraid of them. One day he took it upon himself to heckle Rida. He gave him a punch so powerful it threw Rida to the ground, and said, “This blow is not for you but for your jinn brothers.”
Rida rose dizzily from the ground, and some men came between them, making sure the fray did not continue. But no sooner did night come than the police burst into the house of Safwan al-Mughrabi, searched it, and found a large quantity of narcotics. They arrested Safwan and took him to the station, where they set upon him with continuous blows that knew no mercy, with the intention of forcing him to admit where he had gotten hold of the drugs. But he refused to confess and died under torture. Afterwards, it was rumored in al-Ma’mun Street that the last policeman to give Safwan the fatal kick on the head had said, “This kick is not from me, but from my brother Rida.”
Rida was a bachelor, and it was rumored in al-Ma’mun Street that he had not yet married because he had a jinn wife who had given him a son and a daughter, and they too belonged to the race of the jinn like their mother and not the race of men like their father. But Rida surprised everyone by marrying Jamila al-Halim. The men said, “And why should we find this strange? Rida is a Muslim, and he has the right to marry four women, not just two.”
Jamila al-Halim happened to be a woman who had had many husbands. Every time she married a man, she divorced him within a week or two in disgust, ridiculing his lack of manliness. Many felt sorry for Rida and expected he would get the same treatment as those who were his betters. But Jamila changed and became more like an obedient slave. If Rida ordered her to die she would have done so, and if he ordered her to live she would go on living.
Jamila did not hide the secret of her transformation from the women of her neighborhood. She told them her husband lay on top of her as soon as he had finished his evening prayer, and would not leave her until the muezzin had called the dawn prayers. He would then leave her and rush to the mosque, to gain double reward for Friday prayers. The women immediately told their husbands in irate and aggrieved tones what they had heard. The men did not believe that the weak and emaciated Rida could be capable of such feats, and those who had not believed in the reality of the jinn were now compelled to admit they were wrong. They now believed Rida had invisible jinn brothers who rushed to his rescue whenever he needed help. They started walking more and more in dark alleyways and hanging around ruins and cemeteries, in the hope of making friends with someone who would rescue them and help them raise their heads in front of their wives.