A Story of the Supernatural Kind; Of Djinn and Orang Bunian

A Story of the Supernatural Kind; Of Djinn and Orang Bunian.

Before we start, let me define what I mean by:

Jinn, Djinn, Genie or Jin are the same thing; see the definition in Wiki. In Islamic belief, djinn are creatures of unseen, but they can see us human beings, have long lives, up to 600 years. Allah created djinn out of fire, unlike human from clump of clay-earth.

Orang Bunian see definition in Wiki Indonesian. Another unseen human like creatures, they are like human, they can see us, but unseen except to some people.

A couple of weeks ago, a friend who run a massage and facial centre told me that her business premises have been ‘blocked’. It all started after a known ‘bomoh’ visited her business. The woman ‘bomoh’ came in and asked for treatment, so she was treated like any other customer, soon after she left, this friend notice that it felt different in the premises, feeling sleepy and lack of mood as well as strange noises being heard in the house. Noises like as if there is someone in the next room, when there is none.
Mind you, before this friend opens the business, she has ‘cleansed’ the place by reciting Yasin and Ayat Kursi. So there is nothing much anyone could do except ‘cleanse’ the place again, reciting Yasin again many times.
She told me that the place has become spooky, when she was reciting Yasin, there was some strange noises as well as stomach ache etc. But soon as she finished reciting Yasin, the feeling was gone.

So I asked these things to an older, wiser friend. He explained to me that ‘blocking’ phenomenon is quite common in Malaysia. He gave an example of a row of restaurants somewhere in Johor, all selling a variety of foods, but one, operated by an Indonesian is always full, people queue to get a seat. While the other food outlets are almost empty all the time. “There is no difference in the quality of food, just normal food. Not that the waitresses are pretty. But why people have preference for that outlet?”
“I myself kept going to that shop, because I felt ‘senang hati’ eating there. Only sometimes I went to one of the other outlets, even then, I felt uneasy, ‘tak senang hati’ at the other outlet.” He continued.
He said that the restaurant owner enlist the help of djinn to ‘block’ customers from going to the other food outlets.
“Your friend is lucky that the djinn is kafir. If that djinn is Muslim, he would just laugh and follow to read Yasin as well. The Djinn would even laugh if the tajwid and idheram is incorrect.”
He explained further that we are all Allah’s creatures, doesn’t matter whether Muslim or not. Whatever we asked, Allah will grant it. Some people asked or pray to Allah through Iblis, syaitan or djinn, and Allah still grant his/her wishes. While some people pray directly to Allah. Still there are some people asked the help of pious and religious person to pray for him/her.

I have read somewhere that Allah will grant the prayer of people who are oppressed, pious and pure, in that order. So be careful sons and daughters of Adam, if you wronged someone, because Allah will grant the prayers of people who are oppressed or suffer injustice, I mean everyone, doesn’t matter he/she is Muslim or not.

Then my friend told me of his former boss, who was Ministry of Health director for Perlis, whom as soon as he was transferred to Perlis suffered a debilitating illness and paralyzed from chest down to his toe. He spoke only Siamese language, even though all his life he had never spoken Siamese. Strange but true.

He has also experienced the wrath of ‘bomoh Siam’ when he was working in Alor Star. He employed ‘orang gaji’ a Siam girl, who was good looking. After some time, his wife noticed that the girl starting to fuss over him, and when he was late home, she set aside food for him. At some stage, when cleaning the house, my friend noticed that there were sand in the house. His wife was not happy, and terminated the girl’s employment. He kept having fights and arguments with his wife whenever they were in the house. Later the girl came to meet him with her mother and grandmother. The grandmother told my friend that she wanted him to marry the girl. He was not interested in the girl. In the end he had to sell the house.

Another story he told me was when he was stationed in Johor Bharu. He was staying at staff quarters with his wife. He noticed some strange going on in the house. His son complained that someone hurt him, and when asked who did it, his son pointed to the corner of the room. Yet he saw no one there. Whenever he wore black t-shirt to sleep, the next morning the black t-shirt was chucked outside. On some other occasions, there was large size woman’s underwear hanging on the clothesline in the morning. One time his sister came over for a visit and stayed overnight. The next morning she asked him why he slept next to her on the single bed. The bed was narrow, not enough space for two.
“I didn’t sleep there” he said.
One afternoon he was sitting by the front window, and he saw a big human like creature as high as the power line. Realising that the house was spooky, he sought help from an alim, who came and visit his place. The alim confirmed his suspicion, saying that the place is ‘keras’, spooky. There were unseen beings coming over and visit from time to time. This alim in turn asked help from another alim, a religious man who lived in Mecca, but came back to Johor Bharu every month to spread Wirid Haddad.
This alim, asked him to buy a ‘kati’ of coarse salt and give it him. The next day, the alim gave back the salt and told him before he go to sleep that night to recite Ayat Kursi and spread the salt around his house especially the problem areas at the back of his house.
The next morning when he woke up, he checked around, and saw blood splattered on the walls and on the courtyard.
The alim assured him that the djinn wouldn’t come back again; the salt was like broken glass and sharp object to the djinn.

I asked him about orang bunian.
“They are human being just like us, some of them Muslim, some of them not, and some of them are good Muslim, while some are not. He related a story of an Ustadz he know who went for hajj. In Mecca he befriended another man who was also a Johorean. The man introduced his wife who was also doing the hajj. They talked and the man invited the Ustadz to visit him, giving him his address at Batu 37, Jalan Jemaluang Mersing. The man also given the Ustadz an ayat to recite before going on the journey. Those days, most people don’t have car, and the Ustadz was going to visit his friend by bus. So the Ustadz asked the bus driver to stop and drop him off at Batu 37 Jalam Jemaluang Mersing.
“Batu 37? Tempat hutan Ustadz. (That place is forest)” said the bus driver.
When the bus driver dropped him off, there was a car by the roadside, his friend whom he met in Mecca was there waiting for him. The Ustadz was driven into the village, just like normal village, with tarred road, houses and masjid. The small difference is the all the womenfolk wear tudung, covered up. He was introduced to his friend’s wife and children. Ustadz even stayed overnight at his friend’s place. The next day when it was time to leave, Ustadz was driven to the main road to catch the bus. His friend told him not to look back, but just go straight ahead. Ustadz was also told to recite the ayat whenever he wants to come back and visit this friend.
His bus driver friend asked, “ Did you visit your friends place Ustadz?’
He said, “Yes”
“Whats there at Batu 37 Ustadz?”
“Forest”




Living in the West for a long time, I never heard of such unnatural, spooky phenomenon for a long time. Yes I have heard of such stories in my childhood in the village.