Iblis al-La’in, the lord of all djinns, is hidden away in the Bodleian Library’s basement, his lower body draped in a hot pink izar skirt and his head crowned with a thicket of enormous ram horns. The ghul glowers at us with ostrich-like talons or mule-like hooves and a beak in place of a mouth. Al-Malik Ahmar rides his lion into battle while holding a scimitar. Kabus, who haunts our nightmares, and Sil’ah, who seduces helpless men and makes them dance maniacally before devouring them, are both members of the cursed one’s court.
The crucial part djinns and black magic play in molding Imran’s imagination have come to light ever since a phone call made by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf lawmaker Uzma Kardar was published online two years ago. According to the tape, Bushra Riaz, the wife of former prime minister Imran Khan, kept two meat-eating djinns to protect her family and learn the identities of their adversaries.
The djinns Bushra Riaz has housed in her enormous Bani Gala residence include agents of revolt that can overthrow the law and are based on deference to the Generals, who are the recognized stewards of God’s will. And the djinns are winning: The Director-General of the Inter-Services Intelligence was compelled to leave purdah in order to defend the army due to severe divisions within the ranks of the Pakistani Army.
Generation after generation, alliances of Generals and servile politicians have worked together to uphold the Islamic Republic by the use of religion and, when necessary, bayonets. That hierarchy has been overthrown by Imran and his djinns, who are creating a new Pakistan based on a utopian pop-Islam that recognizes no authority but his own.
News Mania Desk
