Daily Times

Jinn is an Arabic word (used as singular and plural) which means “to hide” or “hidden”. It is supposed to be a supernatural creature formed from smokeless fire and roamed the earth before human life.They have similarities with human beings in terms of biological functioning but are faster and stronger. They are usually invisible and found (rarely) in deserted places. Jinn are believed to be different from demons because they have a choice to be evil and/or good. Since jinn were worshipped in the Pre-Islamic period, it is opined that the demons are related to monotheistic traditions while the jinn belonged to polytheistic conventions.

Pagan Arabs believed that jinn had certain powers e.g., to turn land fertile. They had dual dimension, with the ability to live and operate in visible and invisible realms. Belief in jinn is not an article of faith in Islam. Jinn are mentioned in the Quran 28 times – their foremost mention in a book. While their existence is part of Muslim folklore, research suggests that frequency of this belief varies with the level of education and socioeconomic progress. The importance of belief in jinn is so acute that an Islamic scholar, Nasr Abu Zayd, was declared an unbeliever by an Egyptian Sharia court for suggesting that the reference to jinn in the Quran was due to prevailing culture and not because they were God’s creation. He had to flee Egypt due to death threats.

Any mention of jinn causes excitement among our folks. This is not a new as Muslim scholars had their own share because jinn are mentioned in the Quran. For example, Ibne Taymiah believed in the reality of jinn and their magical ability because other religions did the same. Salafi authorities take jinn literally, make no distinction between jinn and demons, and believe in their ability to possess humans. They prescribe Quranic verses for protection against them, and support the death penalty (in Saudi Arabia) for anyone who is engaged in sorcery. On the other hand, in al-Ash’ari theology, reality of jinn cannot be ascertained because arguments regarding their existence are beyond human intellectual capacity.

While the rest of the world unravels the miracles of Artificial Intelligence (AI), faith healers have started appearing on our TV to “treat” simple cases of ‘hysteria’ as jinn- possession

Sufi traditions place jinn on a continuum being supernatural invisible creatures that include angles. In Christianity, demons and evil spirits appear as entities carrying out Satan’s malevolent wishes, but neutral spirits like the jinn have no status. Jinn have escaped scholarly dedication partly because they confuse the narrative of monotheism. However, they have been immortalised through the tales from “One Thousand and One Nights”, also known as “Arabian Nights”. One of the tales, “The Fisherman and the Jinni”, is the inspiration for Disney’s Aladdin where a fisherman pulls a bottle out of the sea. When he opens it, a hostile jinni appears but after the two exchange stories, the jinni changes his mind, and the fisherman enjoys good fortune.

Modern Islamic scholars reject the concept of jinn given in the classic Islamic texts. They translate the word jinn as “primitive/rural/uncivilised men”. Some philosophers have, however, taken the literal meaning too far by reinterpreting jinn as bacteria or virus. Others have proposed ‘energy’ as the matter which is being referred to as “smokeless fire” in the Quran. Al-Jahiz (776-868 CE) and al- Masudi (896-956 CE) were the first to refute traditional scholars and attributed jinn sightings to psychological causes. In line with the modern understanding, they described how loneliness, wishful thinking, and stress may induce human minds to experience things that are not real. These experiences are then shared as bed-time stories with the next generations, which encourages similar experiences and imagination to continue. No wonder, sleep paralysis continues to be attributed to ‘jinn attack’ in Egypt and Somatoform Disorders (hysteria) to jinn-possession in the subcontinent.

In Muslim societies, jinn are believed to cause harm to human beings through psychological and neurological disorders. In scientific literature, researchers found over hundred articles about the jinn. Majority of the cases mentioned had the diagnosis of schizophrenia, and the rest had mood disorders, epilepsy or obsessive-compulsive disorder. This highlights how cultures influence peoples’ perception of psychotic symptoms. If psychiatrists are unfamiliar with such attribution, diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders may prove challenging. Belief in such supernatural beings may also prevent people from seeking medical help because patients end up going to religious leaders or faith healers with disastrous consequences later on.

Jinn belong to an era when human beings feared everything which they did not understand. Nonetheless, fault lines in our belief system continue to make us believe and accomplish incredibly stupid things. For example, a family of Pakistan origin has faced trial in the UK for killing their daughter while trying to drive out a jinn. A leading engineer seriously proposed to General Zia ul Haq in the 1980s that we should use jinn to produce electricity. I have recently written about a Psy Ops Unit based in Islamabad who is engaged in jinn-battles with Hindustan at a great expense. While the rest of the world unravels the miracles of Artificial Intelligence (AI), faith healers have started appearing on our TV to “treat” simple cases of ‘hysteria’ as jinn- possession.

The writer is a Consultant Psychiatrist & Director of Medical Education