First, they are best equated to an arabic leprechaun, which predates islam. Unlike angels and demons, they are neutral players that exist mainly to provide suitable scape goats when the facts lead in an unacceptable direction.
For example, when the male member of an important and powerful family was the only person in the wedding party who could have possibly abused the village goat, everyone quickly agrees that the real culprit is a mischievous jinn.
In the West, we have the saying that once you eliminate the impossible, the improbable, no matter how unlikely, must be accepted. In muslim lands, especially arabia, that isn't true. When faced with an unsettling probability as the only possible explanation, they reach into their hat and pull out a jinn, as the only acceptable culprit. They have built up more and more powers, as the need for explanation become wilder and wilder.
My guess is she wanted out of that marriage with her life, and any reason that worked was acceptable...to hell with the money/alimony.
The Djinn [and their capriciously evil minions, the salamanders] are feared by mooses.
*chuckle*