Why do wishes come true? A theory on MIB, Jacob and the Magic Box by Xamzax

I dream of Jacob

Please forgive my rough writing style; it’s late and as soon as I thought of this I had to write it down! It just seemed too important and too fun. Also I’m taking huge broad strokes with my theory because to fill in the gaps would be to try to recreate what the writers have been masterfully accomplishing themselves for six seasons – I don’t have that kind of time!

I propose that we have two types of entities at play here – an angel and a genie. Yes, I know this sounds silly but I have a few arguments (albeit with a couple of holes that I’m sure one of you nice folks will point out for me).

Last year I posted that the island had a “wish granting mechanism” but hadn’t the slightest clue what that mechanism actually was. Quick reminder: Hurley won the lottery; Jack got to play hero; Eko saw his brother again; John was able to walk; Jin and Sun got pregnant; Rose had her cancer cured; Kate gets to escape prosecution for a murder she definitely committed; and again with Hurley who is reunited with his father. If I thought hard enough, I’m sure I could argue a few other examples of amazing circumstances revolving around our beloved Lostaways.

And there was Ben talking about the magic box. Anything you want will be in there when you open it up. I believe the magic box he was speaking about was the cabin we’ve assumed belonged to Jacob all this time. Which we did because Ben said that was his cabin - Ben the liar who admitted to the adversary/Locke that his actions were a ruse to fool Locke.

The Circle of Ash around the cabin is a circle of protection. You use these to trap or block creatures from the spirit world or demons. An angel OR a djinn would qualify as a type of creature affected by such a circle.

Overall, it sounds silly. Having done some research on Wikipedia, however, I suggest that Jacob may be the Djinn known as Iblis and MIB is one of the angels as described in the Muslim faith.

Outline of some basic information from the Iblis entry in Wikipedia and comments on how it ties in to our show.

1. According to the Qur'an, God created Iblis out of "smokeless fire" (along with all of the other djinn) and created man out of clay. The primary characteristic of the Devil, besides hubris, is that he has no power other than the power to cast evil suggestions into the heart of men, women, and jinn.
a. Isn’t all Jacob was doing was suggesting things to people - Handing the tribe of others lists and how he influenced Jack, Sawyer, Kate, the Kwons, Locke and so on at certain key points in their lives? If MIB is the only one controlling the smoke monster that makes sense since a Genie is made out of “smokeless fire”. It’s a stretch…

2. According to basic Islamic teachings, God created at least three intelligent races: Angels, jinns, and humans, of which the latter two have been granted free will to choose between good and evil.
a. Free will is a HUGE subject in Lost and really was a big part of the argument between Jacob and MIB.

3. The angels do not have free will and simply do not sin because they were not granted the freedom by God to disobey.
a. Sounds like something one would need a loophole to get around if one wanted to kill a Djinn against God’s wishes – hmm, this argues that MIB is an angel. Fallen angels are seen as demons in the Christian faith – that also qualifies as a type of evil spirit. Maybe they are both evil?

4. Iblis was proud and arrogant and considered himself superior to Adam, since Adam was made from clay and Iblis was created from smokeless fire. For this act of disobedience, God cursed him to Hell for eternity, but gave him respite until the Day of Judgment, after Iblis requested it. Iblis obtained permission from God and vowed that he would use this time to lead all human men and women astray to Hell as a way of revenge against them. By refusing to obey God’s order he was thrown out of Paradise and thereafter he was called “Shaitan”.
a. Then the “others” would be a tribe dedicated to the fallen Iblis and do his bidding and think they are doing good works.

5. Although God grants the request, He also warns the Shayṭān that he would have no authority over His sincere “ubud” "devoted servants".
a. There is always a leader of the others who follows Jacob’s suggestions – there HAS to be a leader in fact in order to have some authority

6. In Islamic theology, the Shaytan and his minions are "whisperers", who whisper into the hearts of men and women, urging them to commit sin. This is where the desire to sin comes from, according to Islam.
a. Ben is a master manipulator and betrayer. Aldo is willing to murder Kwon. Other others have been known to torture, lie, murder, steal, kidnap, and lord knows I can’t count all of their acts of evil but I wouldn’t be surprised to see a correlation of deadly sins amongst them. Incidentally, when do you remember hearing whispers? How many of those times did somebody do something terrible like Ana Lucia shooting Shannon or the others abducting several of our lostaways not once but TWICE with accompanying whispers…

Closing this by simply saying I welcome your comments and am aware there are flaws. It's not my style to make this tightly knit but rather open ended. It’s a fun way to look at the mythos of the “higher beings” on the island and possibly guilty of shark jumping – but the data is intriguing! Have a great day, gang!