Jinns are far from the Genie of the West

The stories about Jinns are part of the Arabian and Muslim traditions.  They are the manifestation of evil known to possess many supernatural abilities.  Based on the legend, Jinns are created on smoke and fire and the leader they named Iblis is known as the counterpart of the demon.

The Jinns were mentioned a number of times in the Holy Book of the Muslim, but the existence of the creature were already known to ancient Arabia before the prophet Muhammad even mentioned them.

Compared to the Genie of the west that would grant you three wishes if you rub the lamp, the Jinns are a demon shape shifter.  They can also take the form of any animals.  On some occasion, it can also affect the will of a person to do a good deed to someone and they will also impart some goodness to those people who can summon them.

But the Jinns are known to exist primarily to create a torment to the mortals. There are also beliefs that those people who die without repenting their sins would become Jinn for a period of time.  Later the Jinn evolved into the creature that is able to grant one wishes due to the popularity of Disney’s Aladdin.