SUFI STORIES #24. ENCOUNTERS WITH JINNS (Part 1).

JINNS, DEMONS & GHOSTS IN MALAY CULTURE

I grew up in Kota Bharu, Kelantan and like in many other parts of Malaysia, the phenomena of demonic possessions; exorcisms and resorting to mediums (for enquiries about many things, including the future) were common. As a young boy I witnessed many of these. We had relatives who were mediums and whenever they went into a trance we would ask them questions. This continued into my teens. After my MCE (Malaysian Certificate of Examination, the national Form Five examination then), I was told by a medium (who was a distant relative) what my exam results were, and she was quite accurate.

We also had relatives who could tell the future through their piety, just like the Saints I have described in many of the previous stories.

There was also a Chinese (non-Muslim) friend of my late father who was a clairvoyant and he told us many things about our future. My late sister was told that her future did not include anything past the age of 60. She died at age 58 from breast cancer (May all their souls rest in peace).

In the ‘60s when I was a primary school student, the practice of Islam here was sometimes corrupted by animistic elements and the Malay culture included many Hindu elements, some of which are not permissible in Islam. Until now, some of these remain within certain Malay societies. From history we know that parts of the Malay Peninsula (later Malaya) were ruled by Hindu kingdoms, so it is not surprising to find much Hindu influence in the Malay culture.

In Malay folklore there are intriguing stories about many ghosts. Some of these ghosts are the pelesit, langsuir, pontianak, jembalang, hantu raya, hantu laut, hantu susu, toyol and many more. Many have been the subject of story books and movies. As children, many of us grew up terribly scared of these ghosts because of these stories.

SAKA & THE HEALERS

It is common knowledge among the Malays that many people keep hantu raya or jinns to serve them. It is believed that the hantu raya or jinns would serve successive generations of a family. This is called Saka. However, if the current master does not hand over the mastership of the hantu raya or jinn to another family member before his or her death, then the process of dying is difficult for that master. The relatives will also have a difficult time as there will be disturbances until the hantu raya or jinn finds a new master. Throughout my life I have been made aware of several such cases. In the old days, the purpose of keeping these spirits was so that they would guard the wealth and property of their masters. But invariably, these masters would be tempted to use these spirits for selfish purposes or for evil deeds, and the spirits in turn were only too pleased to oblige. Many bomohs (shaman) and pawangs (traditional medicine men/healers) kept these spirits to do the healing work for them, and the unscrupulous ones engaged these spirits to do black magic. Toyols were usually entrusted to steal things from other people. These practices still exist, but are not as rampant as before.

However, there are also good jinns who assist the good healers (see the story of Dr Midnight below).

PESTA PUJA PANTAI

Among the most obvious unIslamic practices in the past was the Pesta Puja Pantai (Sea Ghost Festival/Feast) - a beach festival to appease the Hantu Laut or Sea Ghost. It was widely practiced in the east coast states of Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang; and on a smaller scale in Melaka and other west coast states where it was called Temasya Mandi Safar (Bathing Festival in Safar). Safar is one of the months in the Muslim calendar. Although it was banned in Kelantan in 1959, the practice continued in other states until 1976. It is still practiced by the coastal aborigines (Orang Asal/Asli), but their offerings are different.

Among the Malays, the festival was held once every few years. In some places, it was only held when the local bomoh or pawang received a request from the sea spirit (semangat laut) or sea goblin (jembalang laut) in his dream. The festival may last up to 4 days.

The main purpose was to appease the sea spirits and jinns so that there would not be storms and rough seas, and the fishermen would be safe when they were out at sea, and that their catch would be bountiful. Besides this, it was also to ward off accidents, diseases, plagues and other calamities which were also believed to be influenced by these spirits.

The climax of the ritual was the sacrifice of an albino buffalo. The meat would be cooked and served during the feast. The head would be offered to the sea spirit, and the bomoh or pawang would recite mantras which would include some Islamic incantations.

The beach festivals were usually very well attended, and many forms of traditional entertainment were performed. In Kelantan, these included performances of menora, mak yong and wayang kulit (traditional arts) to the accompaniment of live music. It was indeed a time of merriment. However, some of these performances had elements of Hinduism (and possibly Buddhism) which are not permissible in Islam.

So the Chinese have their Hungry Ghost Festival, and the Malays had their Sea Ghost Festival (most probably borrowed from the Orang Asal/Asli since the latter still continues the practice of Pesta Puja Pantai to this day).

I have recounted this fascinating history to impress upon the reader how the lives of the Malays were so intertwined with the jinns (and other spirits) in the past and this continues to be so now. The same is true also for the other races, but I do not know to what extent. In fact, in the popular book The Exorcist, Malaya (then) is especially mentioned for the widespread occurence of possesions, black magic and exorcisms. That our forests are the oldest tropical forests in the world is related to all this. Black magic is still rampant now, and that keeps the bomohs, pawangs and shamans of all races and religions very busy. Of course nowadays you can find them online.

The understanding and practice of Islam in those days were not as it is now. Since then, with many scholars guiding us, the Malays in general are now better in conforming to the tenets of the religion, although many of the local “Islamic” practices remain controversial. There are still arguments about what is permissible and what is not when it comes to the cultural and religious practices. And we also see the gradual “Arabization” of the Malay society in its attempt to conform to the Islamic guidelines. Interestingly, the Arabs themselves are becoming more liberal and westernized while the Malays become more conservative and Arabized, especially in the women’s attire (many Malay women now wear the Arab burqa, a garment covering the entire body from head to toe with veiled eyeholes only, while the Arabs are starting to wear bikinis).

JINNS IN ISLAM

It is important that I explain in some detail about the jinns before describing my encounters with them.

Muslims are required to believe in the unseen (Qur’an 2:2). Although one of the 6 Articles of Faith mentions only Belief in Angels, the Qur’an is explicit about the existence of jinns. There is a whole chapter in the Qur’an devoted to them (Chapter/Surah 72 – The Jinns/Al-Jinn). In it we are told about a group of jinns who became believers after hearing the recitation of the Qur’an. They had crowded around Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) to listen to his recitations, and then their leaders met him and embraced Islam.

There is the Mosque of the Jinns (Masjid al-Jinn) in Mecca. It was built where the above incident happened. It is one of the oldest mosques, and a must-visit site for those who go for Hajj or Umrah.

About their creation, God said: “As for the jinn, We created them earlier from smokeless fire.” (Qur’an 15:27. The Clear Qur’an)

Note that the jinns were created before mankind, and that they are made of smokeless fire, although there are other translations to the meaning of the verse:

Sahih International: And the jinn We created before from scorching fire.

Pickthall: And the jinn did We create aforetime of essential fire.

Yusuf Ali: And the Jinn race, We had created before, from the fire of a scorching wind.

Shakir: And the jinn We created before, of intensely hot fire.

Muhammad Sarwar: and the jinn before (the human being) of smokeless fire.

Mohsin Khan: And the jinn, We created aforetime from the smokeless flame of fire.

Arberry: and the jinn created We before of fire flaming.

Muslims believe that jinns are an invisible species with males and females (Qur’an 72:6), who pair up and breed like us. They have free will like us, have communities, and there are good jinns and bad jinns (Qur’an 72:11). They also embrace religions, with some being Muslims (Qur’an 72:14).

Although they are invisible, they can be seen by some humans who are gifted with that ability, or acquire that ability through certain practices. The jinns can also “possess” the human body, suppress the host’s consciousness, and hijack the host’s faculties. Some jinns, like some angels, have the ability to materialize for all to see (with God’s permission).

They have access to the lower heavens, but their access is limited. Thus they do have access to certain knowledge not available to us. Surah Al-Jinn relates how some of them were attacked when they tried to access further up. However, our Prophets and Saints are given even deeper secrets than what are available to the jinns.

The jinns are different from the angels.

Most Muslims believe that the angels are created from light. This is not stated in the Qur’an but is from the Hadiths. Those who reject the Hadiths contend that angels are made of smokeless fire like the jinns too, and that the jinns are a species of angels, and Iblis (see below) is indeed a fallen angel.

I believe in the authentic Hadiths, and therefore that angels are made of light while the jinns are made of (smokeless) fire.

Angels do not have free will (they always obey God, although they may question God in order to understand something) but the jinns have free will – and that’s why there are good and bad jinns, but only good angels (the case of angels Harut and Marut is exceptional, and controversial).

About the angels’ absolute obedience, God said: “O you who have believed, protect yourselves and your families from a Fire whose fuel is people and stones, over which are [appointed] angels, harsh and severe; they do not disobey Allah in what He commands them but do what they are commanded.” (Qur’an 66:6. Sahih International)

Then there is the confusion about Iblis (Satan/The Devil), the “fallen angel”, who disobeyed God when He ordered the angels to prostrate to Adam. Here are 4 Qur’anic verses that imply that Iblis is from the angels.

And [mention] when We said to the angels, “Prostrate before Adam”; so they prostrated, except for Iblis. He refused and was arrogant and became of the disbelievers. (Qur’an 2:34)

We created you, then we shaped you, then we said to the angels, “Fall prostrate before Adam.” They fell prostrate, except Iblis (Satan); he was not with the prostrators. (Qur’an 7:11)

And [mention] when We said to the angels, “Prostrate to Adam,” and they prostrated, except Iblis; he refused. (Qur’an 20:116)

But this fourth verse clearly says Iblis is a jinn (who was together with the angels at that time):

And [mention] when We said to the angels, “Prostrate to Adam,” and they prostrated, except for Iblis. He was of the jinn and departed from the command of his Lord. Then will you take him and his descendants as allies other than Me while they are enemies to you? Wretched it is for the wrongdoers as an exchange. (Qur’an 18:50)

This verse also indicates that jinns have descendants, ie. they reproduce like us, though not necessarily becoming pregnant like our women. How they reproduce is beyond my understanding. Angels do not have descendants.

Finally who are the devils (evil ones/satans/shaitans/shayatin)? The Qur’an (6:112) says that devils are either humans or jinns. Here are 7 translations of the verse to help us understand:

Sahih International: And thus We have made for every prophet an enemy - devils from mankind and jinn, inspiring to one another decorative speech in delusion. But if your Lord had willed, they would not have done it, so leave them and that which they invent.

Pickthall: Thus have We appointed unto every prophet an adversary - devils of humankind and jinn who inspire in one another plausible discourse through guile. If thy Lord willed, they would not do so; so leave them alone with their devising;

Yusuf Ali: Likewise did We make for every Messenger an enemy - evil ones among men and jinns, inspiring each other with flowery discourses by way of deception. If thy Lord had so planned, they would not have done it: so leave them and their inventions alone.

Shakir: And thus did We make for every prophet an enemy, the Shaitans from among men and jinn, some of them suggesting to others varnished falsehood to deceive (them), and had your Lord pleased they would not have done it, therefore leave them and that which they forge.

Muhammad Sarwar: We have made devilish enemies for every Prophet from among people and jinn. They whisper attractive but and deceitful words to each other. Had your Lord wanted, the devils would not have seduced people. Keep away from them and the falsehood which they invent.

Mohsin Khan: And so We have appointed for every Prophet enemies - Shayatin (devils) among mankind and jinns, inspiring one another with adorned speech as a delusion (or by way of deception). If your Lord had so willed, they would not have done it, so leave them alone with their fabrications. (Tafseer Qurtubi, Vol.7, Page 67)

Arberry: So We have appointed to every Prophet an enemy -- Satans of men and jinn, revealing tawdry speech to each other, all as a delusion; yet, had thy Lord willed, they would never have done it. So leave them to their forging.

So there are only 2 types of spirit beings described in the Qur’an – angels and jinns. Devils (evil ones/shayatin) are the evil jinns and evil humans. Demons (Malay – hantu) are therefore not a separate type of creation but are evil jinns. Iblis (The Devil/Satan/Shaytan) refers to the specific leader of jinns who was with the angels and disobeyed God when He asked them all to prostrate to Adam, and he became evil after that. Iblis/Satan and his progeny (the shayatin jinns) will mislead mankind away from God and do mischief on earth. They are full of falsehood and fabrications. But they cannot succeed in their attempts to mislead those true servants of God who sincerely submit to Him (Qur’an 17:65).

Of course there may be other spirit beings, but we don’t know unless we are told about them. The jinns may also be of different “races” like us.

I have mentioned many times previously that the spirits of departed Prophets and Saints do communicate with some of us, and I have been privileged to experience this many times, as told in my previous stories.

There are different versions of the understanding of this esoteric subject (angels, jinns, devils, demons and Iblis/Satan) among the Muslims. I have stated my understanding (enhanced by my experience with them) but I do not claim to be an expert on jinns. Allah SWT knows best!

For simplicity, I will refer to devils, demons, the evil jinns and evil spirits interchangeably, but excluding the evil human devils (Qur’an 6:112).

My stories with jinns will include those from the 2 phases of my life – before (when I was naïve about them) and after my entry into the Sufi spiritual path (when I have a better grasp of who they are, especially in relation to us humans).

FIGHTING THE JINNS

We begin with the earlier stories when I was still ignorant about jinns.

After Form Five, at age 16 I went to Australia for studies until I returned at the end of 1978, aged 23, as a medical doctor. So there was a 7-year break from the world of jinns and spirits. Somehow I did not encounter any Mat Salleh (white men) or Australian Aboriginal ghosts or jinns when I was there!

In 1979 I started work as a Houseman at the General Hospital Kuala Lumpur (GHKL), now known simply as Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL). I continued as a medical officer, a trainee specialist and finally as a specialist in Obstetrics and Gynaecology there. I was at the same time a trainee lecturer for the UKM (Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia) medical faculty, and became a lecturer after passing my specialist exams. There were many interesting incidents with the patients and staff that would merit writing another series of stories, but for now I will relate just one that re-introduced me to the world of jinns.

Once while I was a medical officer in the maternity ward, a patient was warded with massive vomiting of blood while she was 3 months pregnant. When gastroscopy was done, the surgeon could not find any source of bleeding. On another occasion, she was admitted with all the signs of having an ectopic pregnancy (pregnancy outside of the womb). Since there were signs of internal bleeding, the specialist ordered that an exploratory surgery be done. I assisted in the surgery and we found nothing abnormal! These two incidents dumbfounded the doctors. She had also been warded previously and was operated for a twisted ovarian cyst, and again for Stevens Johnson syndrome (a potentially fatal condition, usually a reaction to a drug) after having a miscarriage. All these happened in 1982-1983.

Since her first admission we became very close friends and I was a regular visitor at their home. I was still a bachelor then, and there were many late night card games and chit chat sessions at her house, as she and her husband had many friends, were graciously hospitable and we all liked to congregate at their house. Soon I was regarded as family and sometimes I stayed overnight.

One evening while I was at the hospital (since I was a bachelor, the hospital was my second home) I received a message from her through my pager (this was before the era of mobile phones). She had requested that I urgently come to her house, which was about 15 minutes drive from the hospital. So I asked my Chinese brother (Daniel, who happened to be with me then) to drop me off at her house and to fetch me 1 hour later. I didn’t know what to expect.

When I arrived at the house, I found out that she and her elder sister were fighting a jinn which had possessed her husband. I asked her why did she call me? I am a doctor and not a bomoh (shaman) and I did not know how to fight jinns. At that time I was still naïve about all these spiritual and spirit stuff. She told me I was the easiest to contact because I always had the pager with me.

I had no choice but to be brave and help the ladies. The three of us struggled to overpower the jinn, but were not successful, even though the possessed husband was not a big man. After an hour, my friend Daniel came to fetch me. So I asked him to join the team, and finally the four of us managed to tie up the jinn (in the husband).

I then called my brother-in-law for help. He contacted another relative, and finally got an experienced spiritual healer (bomoh/shaman), the late Pak Haji Yahya (a bomoh to one of the Royal houses) to come. When he arrived, it was already about 2 am in the morning. We were relieved when he arrived because none of us knew how to handle the jinn (even though it was tied up).

The moment the bomoh started reciting the Qur’anic verses, the jinn jumped over from the husband to the wife! The husband “woke up” and was surprised to find himself all tied up with many people around him.

For the rest of the session, it was the bomoh having a dialogue with the jinn (now in my patient, the wife). The bomoh skillfully coaxed the jinn to spill the beans.

Everyone was shocked when the jinn said that all it had to do was blow on a nail placed on the palm and the nail would go and cause bleeding in the targeted part of the victim’s body. It laughed and revealed that it caused the patient (in whose body it was using then) to bleed from the mouth and had signs of ectopic pregnancy and the doctors could not find anything in both occassions. I testified to the others that what the jinn said was true because I was involved in managing her. It also revealed who had sent it to cause all this harm to the couple, and that the culprit (a lady) had utilized the services of an Orang Asal/Asli (aboriginal) bomoh/shaman who was the jinn’s master.

The jinn asked the bomoh to help it kill the patient, instead of trying to fight it. It had even asked for and then smoked cigarettes while talking!

After the “interrogation” was complete, which took several hours until it was time for the morning prayers, the bomoh recited the Azan (call to prayer) and the jinn immediately collapsed. The patient then woke up wondering what had happened.

The treatment sessions continued for several nights after that. Each session would start with the bomoh reciting some verses and the jinn would appear in either the patient or the husband and grapple with the bomoh. On one night 2 jinns possessed both the husband and wife, and wanted to attack the wife’s mother who was one of the observers. Many other family members had come to observe these treatment sessions. At every session I was scared as I had not yet entered the spiritual path then.

It was obvious that the jinns were sent by an Orang Asal/Asli bomoh (shaman or witchdoctor) as on one occasion the jinn and Pak Haji Yahya were arguing in their language. Actually Pak Haji Yahya was arguing with the shaman, who was speaking through the jinn.

Pak Haji Yahya’s ability was amazing. During the treatment sessions, he would have the ability to communicate with the jinns or demons in whatever language they used. Once he told me that he almost learned the art of being able to enter any place as long as there is at least a pinhole connection to that place. But just before learning that skill, his late mother came in a dream and told him not too, as being too powerful would tempt him to do wrong things. So he did not proceed.

During one session, the jinn mentioned my name and announced that I had been a victim of black magic too. But that is another story…….

The attacks on the couple didn’t end there. On one occasion a long nail came flying from nowhere and hit the husband on the head while he was praying. Surprisingly, when the nail was plucked out of the scalp, no wound remained. They had to endure these evil attacks for many years in many forms before things returned to normal.

After many years of being their close friend, it was a pleasant surprise for us to find out later that we are actually related.

DR MIDNIGHT – THE MIRACLE HEALER

When my wife was about 14 years old, her parents brought her to a pious spiritual healer in Ampang (near KL) for treatment of her goiter. He said he would send his “assistants” to her house when she slept that night. She was instructed to put kemenyan (incense) on her window sill, and to leave the window ajar before going to sleep.

That night she was lightly awoken (but her eyes remained closed) by the feeling of some people working on her neck, and they were also discussing while doing their work (she heard voices).

The next morning she noticed that her goiter had shrunken. There was no scar, but when she put the daun sirih (betel leaf) solution that was given to be applied as post-op care (to aid healing) she felt excruciating pain as if there was a scar on her neck. Then when they visited the spiritual healer, he gave the excised tissue (put in a small bottle) to her father. Unfortunately, it was not sent for histopathology examination for confirmation. This would be the standard procedure if a doctor was part of the story. They never thought of that because her goiter had shrunken and so there was no reason to suspect any trickery.

Once while she was at the healer’s “clinic”, my wife met a young man whose left ring finger was so obviously of a different colour from the other fingers. Apparently the finger was amputed a few years earlier after an accident. He had gone to the healer to request for restoration of the finger because he was going to get married and his ring finger was missing. So he was given the finger that was taken from a cadaver. The “transplant” was done while he was asleep in the same manner as was done to my wife. Apart from the different colour, the finger was otherwise healthy and fully functional. Seeing is believing!

About 6 years later (1988), I was introduced to the healer by my wife’s family and I started bringing some patients to this healer, if they needed special intervention for their illnesses.

The healer’s “clinic” only opened late at night and operated until early morning. Thus he was known as “Dr Midnight”. I have forgotten his real name. Those who wanted to see him had to go to the clinic early in the morning to take the day’s queue numbers. Everyday only one hundred people were given appointments. The queue numbers would be fully taken up before mid-morning.

He had helped thousands of people to have miraculous healings. Outside his clinic (which was his house) was a Mercedes Benz that was given to him by a rich Chinese towkay (tycoon) who had received a kidney transplant through his method, and whose kidney failure was completely cured without having to undergo any physical surgery or having to take any immuno-suppresant drugs after the transplant. If I had not met these people personally, I would probably not believe these incredible stories.

He died many years ago, and I am not aware of anyone else who has the same gift since then.

Salam/Peace. Stay tuned. There are many more interesting stories of jinns and spirits to be told. See you at my next SUFI STORIES post!