In Laughing all the way to the Mosque, Zarqa Nawaz mentions that while growing up she used to hear stories of the jinn and how they have the power to possess you, and in fact many Muslims today go through the same experience. Both novels describe how humans are made “from clay” and how the jinn are made “from fire”. They also share the fact that the jinn have free will just like humans. In Laughing all the way to the Mosque, Nawaz is terrified to go to the outhouse all by herself at night and one can see why though Ingrid Mattson’s descriptions, “jinn have powers of movement and transformation far beyond those of humans, who can easily be deceived by them because of this fact” (165). The Quran also recognizes the possibility that the jinn have the power of possession, enforcing Nawaz beliefs. Both books also mention that the last few surahs of the Quran help protect you from harm. In Laughing all the way to the Mosque, Nawaz asks her husband if he recited the last three chapter of the Quran to his “possessed” patients to help and cure them, and in The story of the Qur’an, Ingrid Mattson describes how it is a Sunnah to read the last two surah’s of the Quran, “collectively known as ‘The Two Protections’, should be regularly recited for protection from all harm” (166). Ingrid Mattson also describes how people just like Nawaz’s husband do not believe in possession, “others adopt metaphorical readings of the Qur’an’s description of jinn and view passion as a form of mental illness”
In Laughing all the way to the Mosque, Zarqa Nawaz mentions that while growing up she used to hear stories of the jinn and how they have the power to possess you, and in fact many Muslims today go through the same experience. Both novels describe how humans are made “from clay” and how the jinn are made “from fire”. They also share the fact that the jinn have free will just like humans. In Laughing all the way to the Mosque, Nawaz is terrified to go to the outhouse all by herself at night and one can see why though Ingrid Mattson’s descriptions, “jinn have powers of movement and transformation far beyond those of humans, who can easily be deceived by them because of this fact” (165). The Quran also recognizes the possibility that the jinn have the power of possession, enforcing Nawaz beliefs. Both books also mention that the last few surahs of the Quran help protect you from harm. In Laughing all the way to the Mosque, Nawaz asks her husband if he recited the last three chapter of the Quran to his “possessed” patients to help and cure them, and in The story of the Qur’an, Ingrid Mattson describes how it is a Sunnah to read the last two surah’s of the Quran, “collectively known as ‘The Two Protections’, should be regularly recited for protection from all harm” (166). Ingrid Mattson also describes how people just like Nawaz’s husband do not believe in possession, “others adopt metaphorical readings of the Qur’an’s description of jinn and view passion as a form of mental illness”