Mother strangles 6 year-old son to ward off Jinn on faith healer's advice -

An unusual murder took place when a mother killed her 6 year-old son after a faith healer she often visited, advised her to commit the act.

According to details, a woman who belonged to the Wandala Dayal Shah area of Ferozewala Tehsil, killed her six-year old son by strangling him with a piece of cloth. The mother had committed the heinous act on advice of a faith healer who had told her the act was necessary in order to ward off a Jinn that had taken over her. Sources revealed that the faith healer had told the mother that if she did not kill her son to ward off the Jinn, she would end up being dead.

Mother strangles 6 year-old son to ward off Jinn on faith healer's advice -

Whitechapel murder: Faith 'healer' stabbed to death at black magic treatment centre | Crime | News | London Evening Standard

Whether this man's "profession" had any impetus on the crime remains to be determined.  But what is at issue, an unlicensed practitioner who was treating people who believe themselves possessed by ‘jinns’.  Just as with "christianized"  so-called demonologists or scam artists like Bob Larson and their deliverance ministries, one of the primary problems is that there is a serious chance that those "possessed" they are suffering from some mental instability.

A faith “healer” was stabbed to death at a spiritual centre for treating black magic and demonic possession in East London.

Father-of-three Zakariyya Islam was killed at the Ruqya Therapy Centre’s base in Whitechapel.
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Mr Islam was a co-founder of the Ruqya centre, based in a complex of small business offices in Greatorex Street, and had been treating people who believe themselves possessed by ‘jinns’, or spirit, and black magic for more than a decade.

The centre, which was sealed off by police who were carrying out forensic searches, also offers advice on sorcery, witchcraft and “evil eye”.
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Last year he hosted a conference on “The World of Jinns” at the East London Mosque which he visited regularly.

Whitechapel murder: Faith 'healer' stabbed to death at black magic treatment centre | Crime | News | London Evening Standard

Moroccan Woman Killed During Session of ExorcismMorocco World News

This is what happens when antiquated, supernatural religious customs, control a country:

The mentally ill woman in her forties, who is a mother of eight, decided to seek the aid of a fqih in her town.

Sadly, the poor woman could not withstand the continuous sessions of torture by the exorcist – believed to expel jinns (demons) from the allegedly possessed woman.

To cast out the evil spirit from her body, the Fqih loudly recited incantations and passages from the Koran, the holy book of Islam. With the help of four of his assistants, the Fqih hit her with a stick all over her body in order to “force the evil spirit” to leave her.

Regretfully this is not the first time this year.  From February we have this:

The tragedy started when the newly married girl went into a fit of hysteria, and her family decided to seek the help of a Fqih.

Instead of taking her to the hospital, the family, who believed that their daughter was possessed by the devil, called on the Fqih, someone believed to have magical and spiritual power to cast out devils, to see their daughter and treat her.

To cast out the evil spirit from her body, the Fqih loudly recited passages from the Koran, the holy book of Muslims.

According to Al Ahdat Al Maghribya, “the Fqih sat on the chest of the ‘possessed’ bride and made his assistant sit on her lap,” in order to calm her movement and “force the evil spirit” to leave her body.

The same source added that the Fqih hit her all over her body, shouting at the “evil spirit”, “Get out Satan’s son; will not you get out?”

Moroccan Woman Killed During Session of ExorcismMorocco World News

Put the genie back in the bottle, doctors say ahead of forum on supernatural healing | Malaysia | Malay Mail Online

“They can just wash their hands and call the witch doctors in to take over. It is the ‘god of the gaps’ equivalent of medical diagnoses. It can explain everything and thus, explain nothing,” Dr Kok Sen Wai
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A supernatural approach involving djinns and black magic has no place in the modern healthcare system, local doctors have said ahead of a regional forum that aims to reconcile paranormal beliefs with medicine this month.

The doctors explained that modern healthcare bases itself on evidence-based medicine, and there must be a way to measure whether the supernatural approach actually works before it can even be considered.

“I understand and appreciate the efforts to introduce the concept of djinn, which is part of religious belief. However, I do not think that it is possible to have an evidence-based approach to djinn and black magic,” Dr Helmy Haja Mydin, an associate professor with University of Malaya Medical Centre, told Malay Mail Online.

“By definition, these are things that cannot be seen and cannot be measured. Without measurements, you cannot have data. How to measure belief?” he asked.

As with Dr Helmy’s views, Dr Krishna Kumar, the president of the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA), said evidence-based medicine required demonstrable causality in order to be effective.

“There must be something to show what causes the diseases or something that can cure it. Based on that, we treat them,” Dr Krishna said.

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Dr Kok Sen Wai, a psychiatric medical officer based in Sarawak, said he has witnessed various illnesses — from seizures to schizophrenia — being treated as “djinn possession” or black magic by faith healers of different denominations, from Muslim imams, Taoist priests to Christian pastors.

“There are no codified and consistent signs and symptoms for possession or curses. The diagnosis seems to be made if the cleric ‘feels’ it is supernatural. Can you imagine if medicine is practised in the same way?” asked Dr Kok.

“Can an oncologist drop chemotherapy on you just because he has a ‘gut feeling’ it’s leukaemia? Or can a surgeon lop off half of your colon and have you defecate out of a colostomy bag for the rest of your life just because he ‘really, really thinks’ that you have colorectal carcinoma?”

Dr Kok insisted that should the rigorous standards that apply to conventional medicine be applied to the supernatural, the faith healings need to have documented, testable, and reproducible evidence that they do work.

Put the genie back in the bottle, doctors say ahead of forum on supernatural healing | Malaysia | Malay Mail Online

Dubai: Husband divorces wife possessed by djinn - Yahoo Maktoob News

So here is an odd story coming out of Dubai,,,

A court granted a divorce to a man after he discovered that his wife was possessed by a djinn and refused to go to bed with him.

The man lodged a divorce case against the woman after she repeatedly refused to have sex with him and her family informed him that she was possessed by a djinn.

Records said the Arab man tolerated his wife for a period of time as she persistently refused to go to bed with him.

However, the woman finally asked him to try to discuss the issue with her parents, who informed the husband that several religious scholars had failed to exorcise the djinn.

Dubai: Husband divorces wife possessed by djinn - Yahoo Maktoob News

Muslim women's centre reports rise in number of patients claiming to be possessed | Herald Scotland

Staff at Amina Muslim Women's Resource Centre (Amina MWRC) in Glasgow and Dundee say they are experiencing a rise in clients attributing mental health difficulties to supernatural spirits.

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"We would like the NHS to work with mainstream Islamic scholars and Muslim groups in helping such individuals. Faith-based support should be offered as long as it does not contradict or oppose conventional medicine or treatment."

Earlier this month, Amina MWRC, in conjunction with the Rationalist Society of Pakistan, held an event titled Jinn, Black Magic and the Evil Eye: Fact or Fiction?

The organisation is also working with the University of West of Scotland social work department, which is undertaking research regarding health inequalities, with particular focus on the phenomenon of Jinn possession.

Akhtar fears that vulnerable individuals will turn to alternative options if their concerns are ignored by health officials.

She added: "More and more people are turning to 'faith healers' who promise to remove Jinn from themselves or their loved ones. They advertise their services on foreign TV channels that are beaming into many Asian households. They give assurances but their help comes at a price.

"They don't work for free. But who regulates them? My concern is that those who are desperate, especially females, will turn to unscrupulous individuals putting them and their families in danger."

Attempts to cure those who are possessed can lead to fatal consequences. Two years ago a husband and three members of his family were jailed in Birmingham after he killed his pregnant wife in a bid to remove an evil spirit from her body.

Abdul Aziz, a Scottish-based Islamic scholar, also spoke at the event organised by AMINA MWRC. He believes that despite the issue of Jinn being widely accepted among Muslims, possession is "possible but extremely rare".

He added: "Unfortunately, the Muslim community are no longer pioneers in treatment of emotional ill health and have resorted to un-Islamic notions of spirit possession as an explanation for everything from bad luck and marital infidelity to schizophrenia.

"Many use religion to exploit the vulnerable. The stigma associated with mental illness and the reliance on poorly qualified so-called Imams are major barriers to Muslims accessing the right kind of social, emotional and psychological help."

Muslim women's centre reports rise in number of patients claiming to be possessed | Herald Scotland

At Weekly Exorcisms, Egypt’s Muslims and Christians Unite Against the Demons | TIME.com

I'm not quite sure what to make of this article. It is your typical debil being blamed for all the bad stuff. People reacting in the stereotypical way, but the interesting aspect of the story is this example of interfaith cooperation in the exorcism service.

The demon that had possessed the elderly Muslim woman was so strong that even an Imam couldn’t get rid of it. So her family opted for a priest. “My mother is possessed by a jinn,” the woman’s daughter said, by way of explaining why she and her Muslim family had decided to attend a recent Thursday night mass last month at Cairo’s St. Sama’an Cathedral. Her mother, who was slumped over a nearby bench, gave no indication of hearing anything. In a few hours she would be yipping and howling along with dozens of other women similarly possessed, but for the moment she just stared into the middle distance and muttered softly to herself.

Tensions between Muslims and Christians have been high in Egypt, ever since a military coup against the country’s first democratically elected Islamist President on 3 July unleashed a spasm of violence that saw churches burned, priests murdered and Christians threatened in hate speeches broadcast across the country. But there is at least one sphere of Egyptian contemporary life where interfaith cooperation perseveres, and that is at weekly exorcisms performed by one of the country’s most celebrated priests, Father Sama’an Ibrahim. He is one of the few priests in Egypt who can preform exorcisms — not even the Coptic Pope can — and his reputation for expelling demons of all kinds extends well beyond his Christian flock. Muslim Imams can do exorcisms as well, explains the woman, who declined to give her name, but her mother’s case required some extra muscle. “We went to a mosque first for healing, but the demons who harm her are more afraid of the Christian priest.”

At Weekly Exorcisms, Egypt’s Muslims and Christians Unite Against the Demons | TIME.com