The story you're about to read is hard to believe, but it's very true. I lived with a jinn for three months. I ate the food he cooked, drank the tea he made, and everything was perfectly normal between us. We lived together, and I never saw anything bad or frightening from him. On the contrary, he was very kind and gentle. I'll tell you all the details.
I'm from Qena Governorate, and this story happened to me in the early nineties. I was a second-year student at a college in Aswan, and I lived with my best friend, my childhood friend since elementary school. We were always together, going everywhere together, and even entering college together. But he was a bit of a jerk, always joking around, making fun of people, and bullying them. Even though we got kicked out of several apartments because of him, he was unconcerned and kept doing what he was doing. Then one day, we were staying in a house belonging to an elderly Nubian woman, and my friend made fun of her, so she kicked us out in the middle of the night.
I swore I wouldn't live with him again and would look for any other place to stay. He went and moved in with a group of students who were distant relatives of his. Anyway, we parted ways. I went to an older man I knew from my own governorate and told him what had happened. I asked him if he knew of any accommodation or a room I could rent, but he said he didn't. After a few moments of thought, he told me about a small house I owned. It had a supermarket on the front and two rooms and an open-air hall at the back. It wasn't fully built, so I said that was perfect and no problem. I went and stayed in that house. The man's daughter worked at the supermarket. At the back, there were three rooms: one small one used as a kitchen and two others. I chose one of them and put my bag in it. I liked a large tree in the hall, so I put my bed under it. I slept under that tree throughout my stay and only went into my room to change my clothes.
The next day I went to college, and when I returned, I found a young man in his thirties had moved into the second room. His name was Mamdouh, and he worked as a tailor. I thought the landlord had decided that since he rented out one room, he'd rent out the other one too.
I got to know Mamdouh, and we became friends. I learned that he owned a tailor shop on one of the streets of Aswan. The strange thing was that whenever I returned from college, I'd find him at home. Whenever I asked him why he didn't go out, he'd say, "I went out in the morning, finished some work, and came back." Whenever I returned home, I'd find him there, whether it was midday, after noon, or in the afternoon. He was always there.
He was kind, cheerful, and had a pleasant demeanor. He was very respectful. Whenever he was sitting with me and one of my friends or relatives, he'd go make us tea, say, "I'll leave you to it," and then get up. One day, while we were talking, I told him about the high cost of living and all that. He suggested we pool our money, cook, and eat together, so we'd both save money. I agreed right away.
I'd come home from college in the afternoon to find the food ready—delicious food, but expensive, more than we could afford. The strange thing was, sometimes it was grilled food, grilled fish, or macaroni béchamel, even though we don't have an oven to cook those things in. When I asked him how we managed to afford all that, he'd say, "God provides." When I asked him how he made the food, he'd say, "I go to the bakery and give the baker a quarter of a pound to put the food in, and then I take it." But Mamdouh never ate with me once. Whenever I'd invite him to eat, he'd say, "No, I've already eaten. You eat." I felt embarrassed around him because he was older than me and did things like that. I'd tell him, "Leave something to me, I'll help you with it." He'd say, "No, just focus on your studies and college, and don't worry about anything else." He loved me and gave me advice, telling me to work hard because my father was a poor man and worked hard for me.
I'd suggest he go out for a change of scenery and see people, but he'd say, "No, people are awful, and I don't like socializing. I just go out to get some clothes and come right back."
Whenever I entered any room or the kitchen, I felt suffocated and upset. So I always sat under the tree in the middle of the house, with my bed underneath it. During the three months I lived with him, he was incredibly calm and kind, and I never saw anything bad from him. One day, some friends visited me and offered me a place to stay. I refused, telling them I was comfortable where I was, but they insisted I move in. They practically forced me, so I moved in with them. We started cooking together, and my role was to buy groceries.
One day, I went to the grocery store to buy some things, and the man spoke to me. He said, "You look new here. Where did you live before?" I told him I lived on such-and-such street. He said, "But there aren't any students on that street!" I said, "Yes, I lived in Uncle So-and-So's house, and Mamdouh the tailor even lived with me." The man was very surprised and said, "That can't be! A young man named Mamdouh lived in that house. He came from one of the Delta governorates, and a fire broke out, and he died. If the man rented the place to you, then you must have been living there alone, and the person with you is Mamdouh's ghost."
I couldn't believe this man, because I'd lived there myself, seen Mamdouh, and even lived with him. I wanted to be sure, so I started asking people in the area, and they all said the same thing. It was a huge shock to me. After that, I became very scared, and I was afraid to walk down the street where I'd initially lived. If I had an errand that would take me five minutes, I'd take another route and arrive in half an hour.
About twenty years after that incident, I met the landlord's son and asked him about the house where I'd lived with Mamdouh. He told me it was now an apartment building, but Mamdouh was still disturbing the residents and doing things that scared them from time to time.
I was surprised because Mamdouh had been very calm with me, and I lived with him for three months and experienced nothing but kindness from him.
The End