Maymun

What it is

Maymun is the seventh and last of the jinn kings, the spirit rulers of Islamic lore. Each of these kings holds a day of the week: his is Saturday, with the planet Saturn, the colour black, and gold. He commands the wind demons, and a palace of gold hangs hidden in the clouds above Babylon in Iraq. The angel Kasfa'il keeps watch over his doings. People meet him in two opposite moods. Many honour him as Sidi Mimun, a saint among the jinn and a pious Muslim; others dread him, because he serves Dikianos, a minister of Iblis tied to plague, and his approach is said to bring unease, sorrow and gloom.

Where it comes from

His name is the ordinary word for monkey in Arabic and in Persian, and some writers add a possible kinship with the Aramaic name Mammona. Within the row of seven jinn kings he holds the seventh seat, and the writer al-Buni fixed his likeness in the Book of Wonders, giving him three stark titles that dwell on wings, darkness and killing. A separate line of story grew later in Morocco, where a jinn queen modelled on Maymun took the name Lalla Mimuna and gathered powers and tales of her own.

What it is for

As Sidi Mimun, Maymun receives a saint's veneration, one of the few jinn honoured in that way. In Morocco his story produced a helper: Queen Lalla Mimuna is credited with miracles, with guarding people in love and with freeing those troubled by possessing spirits. Tellers also count her among the land's defenders, since she drew French soldiers into the Sahara, where they wandered. Her kingly root carries the opposite charge: linked through Dikianos to plague, Maymun's nearness is said to press fear and sadness on the heart, and his picture shows him snatching sleepers into the air.

Peoples and places

Iraq gives him his seat: the golden palace hides in cloud above Babylon. Morocco gives him his later double. There the tale of Queen Lalla Mimuna took shape, a woman of great charm with wide wings, dressed in white, at times with green, and a crown set with jewels. She works miracles, keeps lovers safe, drives out possessing spirits and is remembered as a resister who drew French troops deep into the Sahara. Between the Iraqi throne of the old occult books and the Moroccan queen of story, one jinn has become two figures of opposite temper.

What people believe

The world he belongs to is ordered rather than random. The seven jinn kings divide the week, and Maymun's share is Saturday, with Saturn for a star and black and gold for his signs. An angel, Kasfa'il, is set over him, so that even a demon acts within a divine order. Beneath, Iblis keeps ministers such as Dikianos, who carry plague, and Maymun serves one of them. He heads the wind demons and holds strength no other jinn can match, yet the tales insist he is a mild, open-handed ruler. This double face, pious saint and plague-touched terror, is treated as part of his nature, not a flaw.

Compare and confuse

Some writers hear the Aramaic name Mammona behind his, though they offer the link as a possibility only. His painted body echoes the jinn Zawba'a, whose chest and ornaments his own are said to resemble. And in Morocco the same root produced a second, gentler being: where the king is feared, Queen Lalla Mimuna is beloved and does good.

Today

Honour for Maymun as Sidi Mimun, a saintly jinn and a Muslim, is described as widespread, and devotion sits beside fear of him. In Morocco his legend has branched into Queen Lalla Mimuna, remembered as a worker of miracles, a friend to lovers, a remover of spirits and an opponent of the French. One root, two flowers: a grim king in the old occult books, a cherished queen in local tale.

Questions people ask about Maymun

Good reading and sources

• Maymun on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• Wikidata recordOpen data