Does jinn possession really exist?

Over the last many decades several forums have discussed jinn possessions and jinn evictions. Eviction is the ritual for expelling the jinn from persons who are judged as being possessed by them. Does jinn possession really exist and is spirit possession an outdated idea? In our culture, people who dabble in occult practices, séances, fortune telling, tarot cards and the like have been known to fall victim to jinn possession perhaps because they abandon the basic core of religion and excessively indulge in supernatural beliefs and superstitions to rationalise their hidden guilt.
Allah has enlightened us on the subject of the jinn through the Surah Al-Jinn, and various other ayats (verses) in the holy Quran. The holy Quran reveals that jinn are created from fire whereas human beings are created from clay. Although they are invisible to human eyes, the jinn can see us. Like human beings they are also entrusted with responsibilities (careers, family life, etc.). They too will be rewarded for their righteousness and will receive punishment for their wickedness. “I created jinn and mankind only that they may worship me” (Al Zariyat: 56). “And among us (the jinns) there are the righteous folk and among us there are far from that; we are sects having different rules” (Jinn: 11).
Sadly, upsurge in the quake practice of pirs and fakirs in the eastern world has increased the incidence of alleged jinn possession. It is clear from the Quran that Satan exists and his chief objective is to contaminate the purist beliefs of Islam. Human beings are superior to jinns. The jinns can never harm human beings if tackled in the right manner. It is known that when a jinn starts to like someone, he follows him or her around. If he does something extraordinary and that person gets frightened, the jinn will tease him more but if he reacts in a brave manner, the jinn will disappear.
Ibn Taimiya said that if the jinn are wronging the human, then inform the jinn of the rule of Allah and His Messenger and provide evidences for him to establish proof against him. And order him to do good and forbid him from doing evil, in the same manner that one treats another human. As Allah says, “We never punish until We have sent a messenger” (al-Israa 15). And He says, “O you assembly of the jinn and humankind. Came there not unto you messengers of your own who recounted unto you of My tokens and warned you of the meeting of this your Day?” (Al-Anaam 130).
It is also clear that Allah and His true believers will triumph over Satan and his evil designs. However, this ill-conceived belief of spirit possession and practice of black magic is prevalent in both rural and urban settings, and education about the true concepts of religion is desperately short in the masses. Signs of likely jinn possession include arguing theologically, verbal abuse, trying to attack and smashing furniture. It can also be shown through the previously absent ability to speak in foreign languages, to know distant or hidden things and abnormal physical strength. These are usually combined with an aversion to the names of Allah, as well as of holy objects such as the Quran. Families fail to make it certain that the allegedly possessed person is not suffering from a physical or psychological disorder and they are shy to consult spiritual, medical and psychological experts before they make any decision.
Pirs and fakirs, and their malpractice continue today across the countryside with many holy shrines still dotting the landscape with their white exterior walls, dome shapes and interiors imbued with saintly chants, dances and perfumes. Centuries’ old rituals from jinn evictions to trance dances appear to fulfil individual needs, especially psychological and emotional ones producing comfort, desire and relief from unpredictability, anomie and sadness. They also respond to the immediate needs of society by trying to answer problems of sickness and economic and social malaise, and maintain social cohesion.
Theatrically, pirs and fakirs stage an ambience where folk culture thrives with a plethora of wandering spirits and loud holy verses are evoked in ecstatic trance shouts for jinn evictions. The epistemic foundations of these cultural practices are bizarre serving only social and personal obfuscation. This surviving and still-working culture of possession and jinn evictions may indeed shed light on what most people feel towards the current political and economic order, and how they may resist political domination and economic injuries. Deep down in their cultural logic, possession rituals and trance shouting can be understood as a form of cultural resistance against domination.
There are many strands to this argument. Theoretically speaking, jinn possession presupposes the permeability of the body; powerful external forces that could not be assimilated in their abstract forms enter as divinities, ancestors, ghosts and jinn, and have a hold on the body. And the spectral mythic feelings assembled during jinn eviction are at least a relief most believers get in their religious life from the many social and economic injuries to which they are subjected.
Generally, the practice of jinn eviction clearly signifies that any substantial move towards its malpractice has not occurred yet and cultural resistance can be seen as a displaced and phantasmal activity in which the suffering believers persist in the imaginary without either daring to face or be mindful of the danger of the real threat. Any fear-inspiring situation or menace coming from social realities is conveniently personified and represented to the imagination under the invisible form of the jinn or evil. They are symbolised by a name, shape and social conduct, and people find it easier to accept the myth rather than confronting the real problem. The best thing that can be used against tjinn in the case of possession is the mentioning of Allah and reciting the Quran, especially the verse of the throne (al-Baqra 255), “For whoever reads it, Allah will not stop to have a protector for him and Satan will not come close to him until morning.”

The writer is a professor of Psychiatry and consultant Forensic Psychiatrist in the UK. He can be contacted at fawad_shifa@yahoo.com