Islam, Migration and Jinn: Spiritual Medicine in Muslim Health Management (The Modern Muslim World)

The modern Muslim world is an integral part of global society. In transcending the confines of area studies, this series encompasses scholarly work on political, economic, and cultural issues in modern Muslim history, taking a global perspective. Focusing on the period from the early nineteenth century to the present, it combines studies of Muslim majority regions, such as the Middle East and in Africa and Asia, with the analysis of Muslim minority communities in Europe and the Americas. Emphasizing the global connectedness of Muslims, the series seeks to promote and encourage the understanding of contemporary Muslim life in a comparative perspective and as an inseparable part of modern globality. Contents 6 Contributors 8 List of Tables 10 1 Introduction 11 Bibliography 23 2 Demonic Beings: The Friends and Foes of Humans 27 Introduction 27 Debating the Existence of Demonic Beings 28 The Jinn and Other Classes of Spiritual Beings 32 The Physical Appearance of Jinn 36 The Foes of Humans 40 The Friends of Humans 42 Conclusion 44 Bibliography 49 3 Tipping the Scales Toward an Islamic Spiritual Medicine: Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya on Jinn and Epilepsy 54 Introduction 54 The Developmental Stages of the Prophet’s Medicine 57 Features of the Prophet’s Medicine 58 Jinn and Epilepsy According to Ibn al-Qayyim 61 The Fight Against Jinn-Induced Epilepsy 63 Healing, Physicians, and Religious Scholars 67 Conclusion 68 Bibliography 70 4 The Physical Reality of Jinn Possession According to Commentaries on the Quran (2:275) 73 Preliminary Remark on the Editing and Translation of This Text 73 Introduction to Arabic Terminology and Islamic Concepts 74 Consensus Among the People of the Sunna and the Community 75 Quranic Exegesis of the People of the Sunna and the Community 76 Rationalist Dissenters from Among the Mu‘tazila 80 Final Comment of the Author 81 Bibliography 83 5 Battered Love in Contemporary Syria: Shi‘i Spiritual Healing with Abu Ahmad 85 Introduction: Religion and/as Magic 85 Magic and Religion 87 Religion and the Shrine Town 88 Shaykh Abu Ahmad 89 The Place: The Clinic 91 The Process: The Diagnosis 92 Metaphoric Restoration 95 Transgressing Love 98 Encountering Jinn 99 Bibliography 103 6 Ruqya and the Olive Branch: A Bricoleur Healer Between Catalonia and Morocco 106 Introduction 106 Ruqya as a Revival in Morocco and the Diaspora 107 A Ruqya Bricoleur 110 The Case and Its Context 110 Initiation in the Ruqya and Trips to the Paternal Village 111 Ruqya in the Catalan Village 115 Treatment of Non-Muslims 116 Healing Innovations and the Appropriation of Tradition 117 Transnationality and Ruqya 119 Conclusion 121 Bibliography 124 7 Healing, Agency, and Life Crisis Among British Pakistani Ruqya Patients 128 Jin and Illness—Superstition or a Serious Matter? 128 The Ruqya Revival Among South Asian Migrants in the UK 129 Ali’s Treatment: Purifying the Heart 133 Usman’s Story 136 Breaking Arranged Marriages—Dispelling Kālā Jādū 140 Cutting the Network 141 “I just Praise Allah I Still Have My Family”: Preserving Love Marriages 143 Healing, Hope, and Agency in Anthropology and Islam 144 “God Only Gives You One Heart”: Urgency in Moral Transformations 147 Ambivalence of Agency in Self-cultivation 148 “Ruqya Is for Those Who Cannot Pray”—Perceptions of Mental Health and Prayer 151 Coexisting Healing Traditions 153 Concluding Remarks 154 Bibliography 156 8 Contextualising Female Jinn Possession in Sexual Trauma 158 Introduction 158 Public Perception of Female Jinn Possession in Egypt 159 Insights on jinn Through a Feminist Lens 160 Marriage, Female Madness and Psychiatry 161 Personal Accounts of Possession—A Matter of Interpretation 162 Female Possession in Context 164 Naming the Subconscious 165 Conclusion 166 Bibliography 167 9 Jinn and Mental Suffering by Migrants in Europe: A Review of Literature 170 Introduction 170 Jinn in Islamic Tradition 171 Methods 172 Understandings of and Beliefs in Jinn 177 Migration, Mental Health, and Jinn 177 Beliefs in Jinn, Gender and Age 178 Manifestation of Jinn 179 Experience with Biomedical Treatment 180 Pathways to Treatment 180 Knowledges, Integrative Practices and the Needs of Patients 182 Discussion 183 Bibliography 187 10 Jinn Beliefs in Western Psychiatry: A Study of Three Cases from a Psychiatric and Cultural Perspective 191 Introduction and Theory 191 The Notion of Jinn in the Quran 191 Jinn Influence, Possession, and Spiritual Healing 192 Possession in DSM-5 and ICD-11 as Dissociation 193 Anthropological Perspectives on Possession 195 Jinn and the Conceptualization of Possession: Summary 196 The Night-Mare as Jinn Attacks 196 The Psychiatric Perspective on the Night-Mare 196 The Anthropological Perspective on the Night-Mare 197 Cultural Understandings Co-Create the Experience 198 Night-Mare: Summary 199 Case Presentation 199 Findings 202 Pathogenic Possession, Sleep Paralysis, and PTSD with Psychotic Symptoms 202 Sleep Paralysis with Incubus Phenomenon 204 Childhood Sexual Abuse and Hallucination 205 Executive Possession, Possession States, and Paranoid Schizophrenia 206 Culture-Specific Narratives Getting Lost in the Psychiatric Maze 208 Discussion of the Findings 210 Limitations of the Psychiatric Perspective 210 Limitations of the Cultural Perspective 212 Conclusion 214 Bibliography 215 11 Jinn Among Muslim Captives in Guantanamo and the “Global War on Terrorism” 220 Introduction 220 The “Global War on Terrorism,” US Detention, and Torture 221 Jinn in the “Legal Black Hole” of Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility 223 Examples of Encounters with Jinn 227 Abu Zubayda 227 Jihad Abu Wa’el Dhiab 230 Shakhrukh Hamiduva 233 Allegations of Jinn Manipulation by US Interrogators 234 Jinn and the Role of Mental Healthcare at GTMO 237 Bibliography 240 Index 246 This book explores the agency of Jinn, the so-called "demons of Islam". They are regarded as mostly invisible and highly mobile creatures. In a globalized world with manifold forms of forced and voluntary migrations, Jinn are likewise on the move, interfering in the human world and affecting the mental and physical health of Muslims. This continuous challenge has so far been mainly addressed by traditional Muslim health management and by the so-called spiritual medicine or medicine of the Prophet. This book shifts perspective. Its interdisciplinary chapters deal with the transformation of manifold cultural resources by first analyzing the doctrinal and cultural history of Jinn and the treatment of Jinn affliction in Arabic texts and other sources. It then discusses case studies of Muslims and current health management approaches in the Middle East, namely in Egypt and Syria. Finally, it turns to the role of Jinn in a number of migratory settings such as Spain, Denmark, Great Britain and Guantanamo. Annabelle Böttcher is Vice President, Dean of the Faculty of Social Work and Professor at the Duale Hochschule Baden-Württemberg in Villingen-Schwenningen, Germany, and Adjunct Professor at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense, Denmark. Her current research interests lie at the intersection of Islamic culture, health, (forced) migration and war. Birgit Krawietz is Professor of Islamic Studies at Freie Universität Berlin and the Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies, Germany. Her research focuses on Islamic law and medical ethics, cultural history, body and sports, the Arab Gulf region and Turkey This book explores the agency of Jinn, the so-called "demons of Islam." They are regarded as mostly invisible and highly mobile creatures. In a globalized world with manifold forms of forced and voluntary migrations, Jinn are likewise on the move, interfering in the human world and affecting the mental and physical health of Muslims. This continuous challenge has so far been mainly addressed by traditional Muslim health management and by the so-called spiritual medicine or medicine of the Prophet. This book shifts perspective. Its interdisciplinary chapters deal with the transformation of manifold cultural resources by first analyzing the doctrinal and cultural history of Jinn and the treatment of Jinn affliction in Arabic texts and other sources. It then discusses case studies of Muslims and current health management approaches in the Middle East, namely in Egypt and Syria. Finally, it turns to the role of Jinn in a number of migratory settings such as Spain, Denmark, Great Britain and Guantanamo. Annabelle Bottcher is Vice President, Dean of the Faculty of Social Work and Professor at the Duale Hochschule Baden-Wurttemberg in Villingen-Schwenningen, Germany, and Adjunct Professor at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense, Denmark. Her current research interests lie at the intersection of Islamic culture, health, (forced) migration and war. Birgit Krawietz is Professor of Islamic Studies at Freie Universitat Berlin and the Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies, Germany. Her research focuses on Islamic law and medical ethics, cultural history, body and sports, the Arab Gulf region and Turkey