A sister tweeted earlier today that a “religious lady” had told a relative of hers that her apparent difficulty in finding a spouse might be due to “nazar” or the “evil eye”. I tweeted back that the sister should either tell the lady to mind her own business, and failing that, ignore her, and not everything was the work of jinns, the evil eye, witchcraft or whatever. Another sister responded that she often avoided mosques because of negative comments from other women about her not being married. (More: Sumera @ Rumoured.)
For anyone who thinks the fear of witchcraft is just some old superstition and that nobody believes in it anymore, I recommend watching the Channel 4 Dispatches documentary, Return to Africa’s Witch Children, which was on last night; it is a follow-up to one that was broadcast last November (admittedly, this might not be an option if you’re outside the UK, but this person is in London). People in many parts of Africa, including southern Nigeria which was the focus of this programme, believe very strongly in witchcraft, to the extent that if anything untoward happens, they will not blame it on bad luck or their own incompetence, but on a witch, and often that so-called witch will be a child. The upshot is that children get driven out of their homes and villages, neglected and even murdered. Religious leaders promote this nonsense, particularly local Pentecostal Christians but probably also some Muslims. (While reading a Nigerian news magazine a few years ago, I came across adverts for the most ridiculous of supernatural services, including a woman with a Muslim name who called herself “the woman who sees tomorrow”.)
Muslims in some places have the same obsession. Abdullah Hakim Quick, in a speech on Uthman Dan Fodio, the scholar and warrior of west Africa, said that some Muslims have a very strong belief in the jinn, to the extent that they will blame any downturn or personal problem on them. One man came to him suspecting that he was possessed, when Quick could see that he was just stressed from working two jobs; another believed that someone had gone to some guy in Pakistan and put a jinn in his shop, when in reality, it was simply just after Christmas when trade is normally down as people have spent all their money.
The results of false accusations of witchcraft can be as devastating as when they are about adultery: people’s reputations are ruined, livelihoods collapse, and lives are lost. There might be a perfectly good reason why a woman, or a man for that matter, might be unmarried in their mid-20s, among them that they’re busy studying and are in no hurry. Why don’t people focus on these things rather than assume that anything more untoward is involved?
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It’s quite a problem really. There is of course an unseen world that can affect our lives, but that unseen world continues to shrink as we learn to see more. Where I live, mental illnesses in particular don’t receive the proper treatment they need because people attribute them to jinn. My spouse works in mental health and very often has to meet patients halfway - that, yes, your problems may be connected to jinn/black magic, but therapy can defeat them. Flatly rejecting their explanations or labeling them ignorant won’t endear them to what may be more effective solutions to their problems. bingregory´s last blog ..Fashion Week Malaysia
Attributing mental illness to jinn is a very serious problem in the horn of africa too. Sometimes the illness has roots in infections that could have been cured easily with antibiotics in the early stages, but what usually happens is that relatives of the sick would consult so-called “religious” men and women who make the situation worse until the patient loses their mind.
I personally know a little girl who had ear infection and after years of torture at the hands of “healers” ended up being physically deformed and for people to claim she was possessed by the jinn and avoid contact with her -to cut a long story short, she was eventually taken to a hospital in Abu Dhabi and doctors there said if it was within their power they would lock up everyone connected to the girl and throw away the keys. She is almost back to her normal self now. She was the lucky one. Hundreds of kids never get the chance to see a medical doctor.
And in West Africa, all death is attributed to witch craft. They call it death by ‘remote control’. Even the very educated in society still believe in this nonsense.
To anyone that’s ever read “Waiting for the Wild Beasts to Vote” by Ivorian writer Ahmadou Kourouma and thought it was fiction/satire -it really is a true account of life in West Africa, everything is still just as he describes in that book.
It’s not just limited to Africa, it’s a very serious issue here in the UK amongst Pakistanis, and the sheer number of adverts of ‘Babas’ than can cure your problems is unreal. Unfortunately, there are members of my extended family who won’t see past their own issues, and blame everything that happens to them on witchcraft.
In my humble opinion the problem here can be narrowed down to lack of guidance. Not that guidance isn’t available rather there are some people who hold monopoly over misguidance keeping the masses intellectual contained.
My local mosque is a brelawi one where almost everyone believes they are affected by jinns and magic somehow or the other. Its quite worrying because their whole lives revolve around it, their conversations start with so and so doing jadu (magic) on so and so ending with recommendations of peers. This unfortunately is their link with Islam, try saying anything contrary to what their peer has been feeding their naïve brains you are labelled a Wahabbi. Salman´s last blog ..Mental Health & Jinn Possession Amongst Muslims
Oh boy! This is a good post although much elaboration is needed.
I remember Muslim Matters preparing a “special” on the jinn possession issue and that’s when I stopped following the site! The only proof the author of the series could provide is that she was an eyewitness. In my mind that equates bull!
You will be surprised the number of Middle Easterners who believe in the power of Jinn and Magic. I remember reading on an Arabic Saudi forum about Magic and Jinn. Many of their beliefs were imported from house help brought from Asian countries (Philippines, Indonesia, etc).
There are Jinn masters who specializes in breaking curses and exorcisms.
So very sad :( Organica´s last blog ..Muslim Dating: The Reality of Our Ummah
As-Salaamu ‘alaikum,
Organica: the problem is not that people believe in these things (jinn and magic are mentioned as facts in the Qur’an), it’s the tendency of Muslims to blame everything on them, and assume that any problem they have is down to someone doing magic or a jinn bothering them.
Organica, don’t tell me these Saudis are so easily influenced that their domestic help can drag them into superstition and jinn-ology. Sounds like scapegoating to me.
In my mother’s hometown in Somalia, a land dispute between two clans turned ugly when one of the negotiators became seriously ill. It was assumed he had had a spell cast on him by the other clan, even though he himself protested that he was just ill and needed a doctor. He eventually died, sparking a local war in which around 20 people were killed.