Genie wish A genie wish was , in many ways , the same as the powerful " wish " spell . The notable difference between the two wishes was that genie s often interpreted the words of the person making the wish into creative , and often dangerous , results . Rules Governing Genie Wishes . Genie wishes could only affect the present . They could not change the past but could change the direct results of something that already occurred . Resurrecting a comrade who perished during a battle was an example of this . Similarly , genie wishes could not determine a future event , though they could certainly influence it . Someone could not ask a genie to make them the victor in an upcoming battle , but they could ask the genie for things or even information that would make the battle much easier to win . A genie could not grant anything abstract such as titles , claims , rank , or authority . A genie wish could be used to make someone appear to have a certain title , but this ruse could become unraveled if other people in power closely examined the situation . The true feelings of a sentient creature could not be altered with a genie wish . Someone asking for another person to fall in love with them would only result in the target of the wish falling under a charm - like effect . Any effect achieved in this manner was temporary at best . Furthermore , a single genie wish could only target one person ' s mind at a time , making it impossible to influence entire crowds or populations of people . Anyone requesting to own a particular physical item should be warned that a genie wish never created the item that came into their possession . In these instances the wish merely acquired the item from someone else , increasing the chances that the new owner of the item in question might face the original irate owner of the item in the future . A genie wish could never provide additional genie wishes . Asking for such a thing was a guaranteed way to anger a genie . A single genie wish could only accomplish a single task , or several tasks so long as they were directly related to each other or dependent on one another . Someone asking a genie for many things at once by using an impressive run - on sentence would usually find that only the first thing mentioned was granted . Specificity was the key when making a genie wish . Someone simply stating : " Grant me immortality " would find that the genie exercised every creative bone in their body to interpret the request and twist their words . Asking for something far beyond the genie ' s power to grant often resulted in a wasted wish . However , sometimes the genie would fulfill part of the request in a perverse manner to teach the person a lesson . Terms & Conditions . Genies always took the most direct route when fulfilling a wish . For example : someone wishing for a large sum of gold would usually result in the genie transporting a horde of gold from the nearest source , be it a dragon ' s horde or a the treasury of a city . Another possible interpretation of requesting to possess a large sum of gold would be to have the genie instantly transport the person making the wish to the nearest source of gold . In nearly every circumstance having a genie grant a wish was far more unpredictable that having a wizard cast the " wish " spell . Dao Wishes . Any wish requested from a dao would always be twisted into the cruelest way possible . Extreme caution was advised when asking a dao to grant a wish . Efreet Wishes . Each and every wish granted by an efreeti was first reviewed by noble efreeti in the City of Brass and possibly even the Sultan of the Efreet . Efreet were expected to be stingy with their wishes , except under circumstances where the efreeti was forced to comply because of imprisonment or if the efreeti was able to turn the wish back on the person requesting it with unfavorable results . Djinn Wishes . Djinn were one of the easier genie races to deal with regarding wishes . They usually preferred to be paid for their services , but often found themselves bound into physical devices such as the " ring of genie summoning " . Marid Wishes . As arguably the most powerful of the genies , marid s were dangerous to deal with on any terms . They always sought revenge against anyone who wronged them . Flattery , trickery , and pure luck were the best ways to deal with the marid .