The Visitation
By Bradley Wilkinson

Brad Wilkinson, an American Muslim communication specialist from Indiana who lives and works in
Saudi Arabia, took part several years ago in a camel expedition into the Rub’ al-Khali, or Empty
Quarter, the Kingdom’s immense and extremely remote sand desert. The expedition brought together
Saudis and Americans on a long desert trek to Um al-Hadid (“Mother of Iron”), site of a major
meteorite crash in ancient times. Here is Brad’s true account of a mysterious visitation one night to the
expedition’s desert camp, reprinted with his permission….

During the night a light patter of rain could be heard intermittently on the tent. The air had turned cool
and fresh when I stepped out in the early morning to the tent where we would gather round the fire and
eat our meals. As I stumbled into the tent, still wiping sleep from my eyes and sand from behind my ears,
the head of our team, Geraiyan, greeted me and then said, “Did you see the women who visited last
night?”

Bakheet, our trusty camel handler, didn’t crack a smile – only shook his head in agreement as he took an
Arabic kettle filled with piping hot sweet milk off the fire.

“No,” I said without thinking, but then my brain kicked into gear. What a minute!! Here we are deep in
the world’s largest contiguous sand sea, far from towns and villages. “How did some women come to
visit us?” I asked myself and equally astonishing, “How could I have missed them?”

Without hesitation Geraiyan handed me my first cup of Arabic coffee and said, “Two women came to
visit. They came and asked if we were from Aramco and looking for oil. I told them, ‘Yes, we are from
Aramco, but no we aren’t looking for oil. We’ve come to visit Um al-Hadid.’ ”

Still rocking from having missed this monumental occasion, I listened attentively. “They seemed satisfied
with that and walked to the camels,” he continued. “I stood at the mouth of the tent and watched as they
untied the camels and led them to the food tent and then came back to me. Go,” he exclaimed, “see if the
tracks aren’t there.” Later I did, and it did indeed appear that in the night the camels had unshackled their
legs and walked to the food tent.

“The women came back,” he explained, “I asked them their names. One said to call her Um al-Qasoor.”

With my limited Arabic I thought to myself, “Hmm, the mother of the palaces.”

Geraiyan continued. “She told me they live in palaces that lie deep under the sands nearby. They are
jinnat,” he said. At that point I realized that either I was the brunt of a morning Bedouin ruse or that we
had indeed been visited by jinn.

In my time in the desert, I found the Bedouin enjoy a good joke, but I had never heard them speak and act
with nothing but respect when it came to the jinn. They simply do not take them lightly. As a result, I had
grown to treat them with the utmost sensitivity. The jinn, as it turns out, love the desert, and the Rub’ al-
Khali is quite a desert. The previous evening, two of their desert dwelling women had visited us.

Saudi Aramco: Company General Use

 
   2  

Nonetheless, our guide continued. “After releasing the camels, they came back.” While looking me
straight in the eye, he said the women told him: “You have an American Muslim with you.” He said he
had replied, “Yes we do.” They continued, “He is the one with no hair.” He said he once again replied,
“Yes.” At that point, he said they seemed satisfied and left without another word, walking off into the
desert. He had returned to his morning rituals, thinking little of the encounter. Since a small boy, he had
traveled these deserts from the north to the south and the east to the west; it was not the first time jinn had
crossed his path.

The verdict is still out for me. On the one hand, I believe in jinn and believe their existence could explain
a lot of happenings, sightings, etc., that take place around the world and remain unexplained. Thus, this
could definitely have happened, and, as I said, Bedouin don’t typically joke about our otherworldly
companions. Jinn can be quite vengeful, and in the Rub’ al-Khali no one needs more challenges than
those the desert provides. It is also quite a boost to one’s ego to think that women of any origin are asking
about you. However, the other hand, desert dwellers, like everyone else, do love a good joke. So, my only
response at this point is the Muslim phrase, “Allahu alam, God only knows.”

###

Saudi Aramco: Company General Use