..." If you travel to Oman for instance, they have a very active belief in
jinns, and will tell you stories of animals playing cards, or people
leaving jail at night to visit family etc."

I heard this story in many times & unintentionally I got a chance to visit this area in Oman (it's called as Ibri/Ibra, I don't remember exactly). Some friends told me (affter the visit) that those area are famous with magic, where (I can't confirm it) the magician/witch can convert the human into animal ??? Even some friends told me that it is too dangerous to visit that area.