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COMMENT ON“MORE ANECDOTES OF HASSAN KHAN JINNI”
[Several accounts are given of the phenomenal feats of the remarkable Mohammedan sorcerer, Hassan Khan, nicknamed “Jinni” from his alleged power over some of the Elemental Spirits, which go under that name among the Mohammedans. These testimonies were collected by Colonel Olcott while on a visit to Lucknow. The stories recount various phenomena produced by Hassan Khan, such as the falling of bricks and sand-showers. To this H. P. B. remarks:]
This highly interesting particular should recall to the reader the article on “Stone-Showers” which appeared in The Theosophist for August, 1881. In that connection we protested against the theory of the Spiritualists that this class of phenomena is due to the agency of disembodied human spirits, and suggested that they went to prove the existence of prankish nature-elementals. The Jinnat or Jinn of the Oriental demonology are of this class, as the reader of the Arabian Nights will remember. They can be made subservient to one who has learned the secret of their subjugation by occult means. Only those who would believe that we consider them as beings of any sort—least of all intelligent beings—will be very much mistaken.