The Sword and Laser discussion

Unfortunately I haven't gotten that far, but I'm enjoying everything so far and it's bringing up a question I had back when we read The Witcher:

Can anyone familiar with either Jewish mythology or Middle-Eastern folklore speak to the accuracy of the creatures/monsters/people here? Especially can anyone with knowledge of Marionite Christian folklore chime in? I imagine it's incredibly interesting, given that it seems to stir Islamic tropes into a predominantly Christian pot.

Some specific questions so far:

Is the whole low-level-telepathy thing exhibited by the Golem an actual traditional aspect of the creature, or is it just a really nifty invention of the author?

Is the whole djinn-can-be-killed-by-water-and-have-mortal-lives-of-about-800-years thing common in Middle Eastern folklore? My understanding of djinn was that they were pseudo-angelic immortal creatures introduced into the whole system because in Islam Satan existed but Angels were incapable of falling. They were what Medieval Christians would call, I thought, aeviturnal, if not actually eternal.