Interview #6 with Muslim Exorcist

Interview No. 6

Location: Naseem, Riyaadh
Date: 12/6/1988
Name: Muhammad al-Funaytil al-‘Unayzee
Age: 28
Place of Birth: Riyaadh
Nationality: Saudi
Education: Primary school and religious studies in the masjid.

Q. What was your first exposure to exorcism?
A. Prior to five months ago, I knew nothing about the jinn and was among those who did not believe that the jinn could enter a human being. About five months ago a relative of mine became sick, and I took him to al-‘Amree (the exorcist’s name) in Ulayaa.[1] During the exorcism, al-‘Amree grabbed him by the throat and recited some Qur’ânic verses over him, and a female jinnee spoke, saying that her name was Rif‘ah. He asked her if she was a Muslim or non-Muslim and she replied that she was not a Muslim. When he asked her when she entered the man, she answered that it was more than twenty years ago.

Q. What were the signs exhibited by your relative which made you take him to al-‘Amree?
A. Farhaan used to be in the military with the border defense and had his own car. Then he changed and began to live out in the desert alone. He built a shanty house out of old car tires and empty oil drums and became very careless about his personal hygiene. He constantly remained in a odorous and filthy state, and he avoided company. If someone stared at him, he would get angry and challenge the person. He developed a strong love for refuse and collected around himself enough garbage to make a whole country dirty. He also began to dislike his parents intensely, and he refused to see them.

Q. When the female jinnee possessing your cousin spoke, was it in the man’s voice?
A. Yes, it was in Farhaan’s voice. Al-‘Amree then asked her where she came from and she said from ‘Iraaq. He asked her how she entered the man, and she replied that it was during one of his bouts of anger. On one occasion, Farhaan was extremely angry with someone and entered the toilet without mentioning Allaah’s name. The jinnee then appeared before him in the form of a woman and told him that she loved him. I took him to Al-‘Amree six times for treatment. The jinnee would leave from his right foot, and after we left al-‘Amree’s, it would return to him. Each time we went, I would watch how al-‘Amree treated the different patients – how he recited and blew upon them, how he grabbed their necks and they fainted, and how he hit them. Sometimes the jinn did not speak. These were the most difficult cases.
After I took my cousin back the sixth time, I decided to try to treat him myself I sat in front of him and recited Aayah al-Kursee, the last verses of Soorah al-Hashr and other verses which I had gathered from books about the jinn and exorcism and had written down in a notebook. Al-hamdulillaah, I succeeded, and the jinnee left just as it did for al-‘Amree. I kept making it difficult for the jinnee to stay in him for any length of time by expelling her regularly. Then I when to my cousin’s shanty home, took out his few useful belongings and burned the shack down. I bathed Farhaan and cleaned him up, and his condition began to steadily improve. Then his uncle from Kuwait came and took him away, and he returned to a state worse that he was before.

Q. What are the main reason that jinn possess humans?
A. The sick people who have come to me do not pray, and their thoughts are very corrupt. When I asked a female jinnee why she possessed a man I was treating, she replied, “Because he does not pray.” This is one of the main reasons for possession – the abandonment of religion. The second reason could be because they do not honor their parents, instead they abuse them. So Allaah sends a jinnee to punish them.

Q. How do you know that the jinnee was sent by Allaah?
A. Nothing happens in this world except by the permission of Allaah. When a person goes away from the Qur’aan, his thoughts become perverse. All of those who have come to me were sinful people, except one young girl who was from a religious family, and she became possessed by a Muslim jinnee called Khalaf. It was apologetic when I scolded it for possessing her, and it left through her leg with an oath not to return. Possession may also be due to the jinn taking revenge for some harm done to them by humans inadvertently.

Q. Are the possessing jinn usually disbelievers?
A. Yes, they are often Hindus or Christians. One jinnee possessed a patient of mine. When I was exorcising it, she revealed how she had influenced him to delay his prayers until he abandoned his night prayer all together.

Q. When someone comes to you, how do you know that he is possessed?
A. If he acts unnaturally, always looking at the ground, or he gets up suddenly and walks around. The possessed are generally unable to sit still in one place for any length of time. He frequently goes to the toilet and seems to be generally uneasy. Sometimes he displays a strange, eerie smile. He may laugh in an abnormal way without any reason, as if he is seeing things we cannot. I have noticed this among the twenty or so cases which I have treated.

Q. In your cases, did the jinn speak or did the possessed people communicate their situations?
A. The cases were different. Concerning the young girl whom I mentioned earlier, the jinnee spoke in a deep, male voice. Usually in the beginning of a session the people themselves speak, and later the jinn take over. On one occasion while we were praying in our masjid, we heard the sound of loud breathing. After the prayer was over, we looked around the masjid but saw no one. We went into the gravel courtyard of the masjid where we found my cousin, Farhaan, lying on his stomach and moving as if he were swimming in the gravel. When I grabbed him by his throat and asked the jinnee why she had returned, she responded that she would leave, which she did. My cousin had been passing by the masjid and the recitation of the Qur’aan during prayer had affected the jinnee within him. Another time during a visit of some imaams from the neighboring masjids, a woman was brought to my house. She came in, sat down for a moment and then she suddenly got up and began to run. When I called out to her she stood still, but her body was quivering. I told her to come back and sit down in front of me, and I asked her what was wrong, but she said nothing, When she came close, I took a hold of her throat, recited and blew over her. Then I asked the jinnee what its name was, and it replied, “Mirgid.”

Q. What was the purpose of holding her throat?
A. The human mind loses consciousness and the jinnee appears in order to defend itself.

Q. Do you use any other means in your treatment besides Qur’ânic recitation and pressing the veins of the throat?
A. I do not flog. I have never beaten anyone except in one case in which the person was possessed by a disbelieving jinnee which refused to communicate. It remained camouflaged. So I hit the person three times with my hand, and the jinnee began to talk, revealing things about itself. After reciting over a person and determining what his condition is, I recite over a bottle of olive oil or water the mu‘awwidhaat, Aayah al-Kursee, Soorah al-Ikhlaas, the last verses of Soorah al-Hashr (59:21-24) and verse 54 of Soorah al-A‘raaf. Then I blow over the oil or water and say, “Bismillaahi alladhee laa yadurru ma‘asmihee shay’un.” (“In the name of Allaah, with whose name nothing is harmed.”)[2] Sometimes circumstances occur when it is necessary to threaten the jinn. If there is a disbelieving jinnee who refuses to leave, I tell it that I will tie the person’s fingers and toes and then burn it. This has an effect because when the fingers and toes are tied, the jinn cannot exist. And if the Qur’aan is recited continuously over them, the jinn will be burned up inside of the person, which may even kill the person. So, you cannot continue to read over them if you tie their fingers and toes. In any case, I only use this as a threat.

Q. Are there different types of possession?
A. Sometimes the jinnee takes complete control over the human mind, and the human does not remember anything that occurs during that period of his possession. At other times the human retains control and is only overcome by the jinnee for short intervals.

Q. Is possession a swift process or does it take place over long periods of time?
A. There are two circumstances. In some cases the jinnee encounters a human unintentionally. For example, if a person failed to mention Allaah’s name while pouring hot water into a place where there happened to be a jinnee, it may possess the person immediately. In some cases when I ask the jinnee why it possessed a person, it replies that hot water was poured on it or on his/her children. At other times the jinnee may take a form and appear before a person who does not remember Allaah. The person will become very afraid, and it will take control of him.

Q. What form do jinn take?
A. Sometimes they appear as humans, sometimes as a black dog or a camel. In human form it may even greet a person, and when he extends his hand to shake hands, it disappears. This creates great fear in one’s heart, and the jinn usually possess humans who are in a weakened state due to extreme fear.

Q. What percentage of your cases of possession are women?
A. About 80 percent of those whom I have seen are women. Jinn have strong and weak personalities. Female jinn are stronger than male jinn.

Q. Do only male jinn possess women?
A. Male jinn enter women or men, and female jinn do likewise.

Q. Have you encountered cases of more than one jinnee possessing a single human?
A. Most of the cases which I have treated involved only one jinnee, but there were two instances in which I found more than one.

Q. Which part of the human body do jinn enter and leave by, and in what part do they dwell?
A. Usually they enter by the big toe and leave by the big toe or finger. When they are leaving through the foot or hand, it begins to shake and rise, whether the person is sitting down or lying on his back. The jinn seem to concentrate in the chest or the head of the person. Those possessed usually experience a tightness or constriction of their chests along with severe headaches. They may also hear sounds which no one else can.

Q. During exorcisms, do the possessing jinn try to possess you?
A. I have experienced the partial entrance of the jinn into my hands up to my elbows. It felt like electricity or ants crawling up my arms.

Q. Could you describe the steps you take in performing a typical exorcism?
A. As I mentioned previously, I first recite certain verses and chapters over the patient and then blow on him. In difficult cases I sit on the person’s stomach and have two people hold his hands, then I blow on his face. If the jinn respond at this point, I begin to communicate with them. If they do not, I grasp the patient’s neck with my thumbs on the jugular veins and ask the patient to inform me when he feels dizzy or sleepy. If the patient falls asleep, it means that he was only touched by the jinn and is not possessed. Otherwise, the patient begins to lose consciousness, then suddenly lie awakens with an evil look on his face. Also, a foul odor comes front him before the jinn begin to speak. At this point, I let go of the patient’s neck and find out who the jinn are and why they came. Then I scold them and order them to give an oath to leave. If the jinn refuse, I threaten them by saying that I will burn them after tying the fingers and toes of the possessed. Usually they leave by this point. I then recite over olive oil and water. The patient rubs the oil on the aching parts of his body, and he drinks or bathes with water. This treatment is repeated for three to ten days until the patient becomes gentle and roughness goes.

Notes:
[1] A district in northern Riyaadh.
[2] A du‘aa collected by Aboo Daawood (Sunan Abu Dawud, vol. 3, pp.1411‑2. no. 5069) and authenticated by al-Albaanee in Saheeh Sunan Abee Daawood, vol. 3, p. 958, no. 4244.