Mufti Abu Layth Archive: Debunking Myths On: Jinns, Magic, the Evil Eye, and Superstitions

Exploitation by 'babas', and the solution: proper help and mental health

Sun, 15 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Exploitation by 'babas', and the solution: proper help and mental health

Magic healers exploit desperate people; seek real help from your network or professionals, and communities should take mental health seriously. Mufti Abu Layth says the solution is to seek proper help from one's social network or the relevant professional.

Answer from 15 April 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Magic: Myth and Reality in Islam by Mufti Abu Layth (at 46:15)

A more recent answer on wellbeing/depression-and-anxiety exists (26 April 2021): Are young people today facing an existential crisis?

Watch on YouTube at 46:15 · Open the segment

The seven ajwa dates hadith as hyperbole

Sun, 15 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

The seven ajwa dates hadith as hyperbole

The hadith that ajwa dates protect from poison and magic is hyperbole praising dates; classical commentators did not take it literally either. Mufti Abu Layth says that in his understanding the hadith of the seven dates was hyperbole emphasising the benefits of dates.

Answer from 15 April 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Magic: Myth and Reality in Islam by Mufti Abu Layth (at 43:38)

A more recent answer on hadith/individual-hadith-explained exists (14 March 2021): Does the Quran say Jesus died, and how did the Prophet understand the verse 'when you took me'?

Watch on YouTube at 43:38 · Open the segment

Harut and Marut, and how magic 'splits' people

Sun, 15 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Harut and Marut, and how magic 'splits' people

Harut and Marut may have been two pious men taken for angels who taught skills that looked like magic; the doll-and-needles idea of magic is not from the Quran or Sunnah. Mufti Abu Layth says nothing like the doll-and-needles understanding of magic has come from the Quran and Sunnah.

Answer from 15 April 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Magic: Myth and Reality in Islam by Mufti Abu Layth (at 40:24)

A more recent answer on quran/tafsir/contested-verses exists (19 August 2022): Is Quran 22:52 about the satanic verses incident?

Watch on YouTube at 40:24 · Open the segment

Why great scholars accepted it: sectarian turf war with the Mu'tazila

Sun, 15 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Why great scholars accepted it: sectarian turf war with the Mu'tazila

Mufti Abu Layth argues that belief in magic, even on the Prophet, hardened as a sectarian reaction against the Mu'tazila, just as other issues hardened against Salafis or Shia. Mufti Abu Layth says the narrative that the Prophet had magic done on him was retrospectively reinforced to support a sectarian turf war with the Mu'tazila.

Answer from 15 April 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Magic: Myth and Reality in Islam by Mufti Abu Layth (at 30:12)

A more recent answer on belief/sectarianism-and-takfir exists (22 February 2023): Should Sunnis preach to Shia Muslims about what they get wrong?

Watch on YouTube at 30:12 · Open the segment

Where the story came from: polemic, the poisoning report and the ajwa dates

Sun, 15 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Where the story came from: polemic, the poisoning report and the ajwa dates

Mufti Abu Layth believes the story is misconstrued, possibly fed by polemical rumours of the time, and notes it contradicts the hadith that ajwa dates protect from magic. Mufti Abu Layth says he believes the story of magic being done on the Prophet is definitely misconstrued.

Answer from 15 April 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Magic: Myth and Reality in Islam by Mufti Abu Layth (at 25:03)

A more recent answer on hadith/authentication/text-criticism-and-reason exists (19 August 2022): What does the Quran say against the satanic verses story?

Watch on YouTube at 25:03 · Open the segment

Was magic done on the Prophet? Why he rejects the report

Sun, 15 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Was magic done on the Prophet? Why he rejects the report

Mufti Abu Layth rejects the report that the Prophet was bewitched, even though it is in al-Bukhari, as an insult to the Prophet that clashes with the Quran. Mufti Abu Layth says he considers the reports of magic being done on the Prophet an affront to the honour of the Prophet.

Answer from 15 April 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Magic: Myth and Reality in Islam by Mufti Abu Layth (at 15:23)

A more recent answer on hadith/bukhari exists (18 October 2025): Why did Mufti Abu Layth challenge hadith in BukhariGate, and can the Prophet be called the most beloved of creation?

Watch on YouTube at 15:23 · Open the segment

Magic in the Quran: Musa and Pharaoh's magicians, an illusion

Sun, 15 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Magic in the Quran: Musa and Pharaoh's magicians, an illusion

In the Quran the magic of Pharaoh's magicians was only an illusion; Musa's fear was a natural human reaction, not proof that the magic was real. Mufti Abu Layth says the claim of any fantasy magic is absolutely absurd.

Answer from 15 April 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Magic: Myth and Reality in Islam by Mufti Abu Layth (at 10:13)

A more recent answer on quran/stories-of-the-prophets/moses exists (19 February 2022): What do you think of the rational readings of the Quran on the Marvelous Quran channel?

Watch on YouTube at 10:13 · Open the segment

Three kinds of what was called magic: mind control, potions and illusion

Sun, 15 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Three kinds of what was called magic: mind control, potions and illusion

What people called magic fell into three kinds: mind control and hypnosis, chemical potions, and stage illusion, all of which have natural explanations. Mufti Abu Layth says that today we have explanations of how the potions once seen as magic actually work.

Answer from 15 April 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Magic: Myth and Reality in Islam by Mufti Abu Layth (at 5:07)

A more recent answer on belief/unseen-beings/magic-evil-eye-and-superstition exists (12 January 2021): If you deny the evil eye, why do you cite scholars who believed in it?

Watch on YouTube at 5:07 · Open the segment

What magic means: fantasy magic versus illusion, and the Arabic sihr

Sun, 15 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

What magic means: fantasy magic versus illusion, and the Arabic sihr

The question is not illusion or trickery but 'fantasy magic' that changes reality, which he calls absurd; the Arabs used sihr for anything inexplicable. Mufti Abu Layth says the issue is fantasy magic, which people find absurd until somebody stamps religion on it.

Answer from 15 April 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Magic: Myth and Reality in Islam by Mufti Abu Layth (at 0:00)

A more recent answer on belief/unseen-beings/magic-evil-eye-and-superstition exists (12 January 2021): If you deny the evil eye, why do you cite scholars who believed in it?

Watch on YouTube at 0:00 · Open the segment

Is jinn possession just a difference of opinion among scholars?

Sun, 15 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Is jinn possession just a difference of opinion among scholars?

Mufti Abu Layth refuses to treat it that way: although scholars from Fakhr al-Din al-Razi to Shaltut, Ibn Ashur and al-Shawkani rejected possession while Ibn Taymiyya affirmed it, this is not a harmless fiqh difference like raising the hands in prayer, because the belief drives abuse and exploitation and brings ridicule on Islam. Mufti Abu Layth refuses to treat possession as one of two acceptable opinions, since unlike a difference such as raising the hands in prayer it unleashes mass exploitation and abuse and brings ridicule on Islam and the Prophet, and he notes that a number of scholars, among them al-Razi and al-Shawkani, rejected it.

Answer from 15 April 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Jinn: Myth and Reality in Islam by Mufti Abu Layth (at 1:05:31)

A more recent answer on fiqh/legal-theory exists (18 October 2025): If reason helps us understand the Quran, does the reasoning of earlier scholars matter too?

Watch on YouTube at 1:05:31 · Open the segment

How does Mufti Abu Layth explain an exorcist who says he is possessed by a jinn?

Sun, 15 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

How does Mufti Abu Layth explain an exorcist who says he is possessed by a jinn?

As displacement of guilt: the exorcist's 'jinn' professed sexual love for him, which Mufti Abu Layth reads as the man projecting desires he could not reconcile with his religious identity onto a jinn. He says the man may sincerely believe it, but belief does not make it true. Mufti Abu Layth reads the exorcist's 'jinn', who professed sexual love for him, as a displacement of guilt, the projection of desires the man could not own as a religious figure, sincerely believed but not true.

Answer from 15 April 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Jinn: Myth and Reality in Islam by Mufti Abu Layth (at 1:01:35)

A more recent answer on relationships/sexuality-and-orientation exists (22 February 2023): Is it okay for adults or children to change gender?

Watch on YouTube at 1:01:35 · Open the segment

Can a jinn fall in love with someone or break up a marriage?

Sun, 15 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Can a jinn fall in love with someone or break up a marriage?

No, in Mufti Abu Layth's view: jinn, if they exist, would be as different from humans as extremophile bacteria, and nobody thinks a bacterium is jealous of their marriage. Relationships end through human behaviour, and people should own that rather than blame the jinn. Mufti Abu Layth holds that even if the jinn exist they would belong to a domain of life as remote from humans as archaea, so the idea of a jinn falling in love with someone or wrecking a marriage is absurd, and people must take responsibility for their own relationships.

Answer from 15 April 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Jinn: Myth and Reality in Islam by Mufti Abu Layth (at 58:57)

A more recent answer on belief/unseen-beings/jinn-possession exists (26 April 2021): Do obscene or blasphemous thoughts during prayer ruin my salah?

Watch on YouTube at 58:57 · Open the segment

Why do cases of 'possession' in Muslim communities so often involve women with trauma?

Sun, 15 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Why do cases of 'possession' in Muslim communities so often involve women with trauma?

Because, Mufti Abu Layth says, such cases are usually breakdowns of a psyche tormented by control, suspicion, forced or cousin marriages and abuse, which the stigma around mental health stops families from acknowledging, so they call it jinn or magic. The hadith that every disease has a cure means go and find it. Mufti Abu Layth holds that the hadith that every disease has a cure known to those who know it is a call to seek explanations, and that many cases called possession in Muslim communities, especially among women, are breakdowns under control, forced marriage and abuse that the stigma around mental health prevents families from naming.

Answer from 15 April 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Jinn: Myth and Reality in Islam by Mufti Abu Layth (at 55:02)

A more recent answer on belief/unseen-beings/jinn-possession exists (26 April 2021): Do obscene or blasphemous thoughts during prayer ruin my salah?

Watch on YouTube at 55:02 · Open the segment

What is the 'jinn of the gaps'?

Sun, 15 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

What is the 'jinn of the gaps'?

It is Mufti Abu Layth's name for blaming the jinn for anything not yet understood, as atheists accuse believers of a god of the gaps. He lists conditions such as Capgras delusion, hemispatial neglect, aphantasia and foreign accent syndrome that have or will have natural explanations but would once have been called possession. Mufti Abu Layth holds that attributing whatever cannot yet be explained to the jinn is a 'jinn of the gaps' argument, as weak as the god of the gaps that atheists criticise, and that not knowing an answer does not mean it cannot be known.

Answer from 15 April 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Jinn: Myth and Reality in Islam by Mufti Abu Layth (at 48:28)

A more recent answer on belief/reason-and-revelation exists (18 October 2025): Why did Mufti Abu Layth bring up 3:188 against the Quran-only position?

Watch on YouTube at 48:28 · Open the segment

If jinn do not possess people, what is ruqya for?

Sun, 15 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

If jinn do not possess people, what is ruqya for?

The Quran is a cure for what is in the hearts, meaning disbelief and superstition, not a medical treatment. Ruqya and the du'as taught against omens are a scaffolding that steadies a person's faith until it can stand on its own, because the mind clings to ritual. Mufti Abu Layth holds that the Quran's healing is for what is in the hearts, meaning disbelief and superstition, and that ruqya and the du'as taught against omens are a scaffolding, like a walking frame, that steadies people's iman because the human mind clings to ritual.

Answer from 15 April 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Jinn: Myth and Reality in Islam by Mufti Abu Layth (at 44:33)

A more recent answer on quran/tafsir exists (18 October 2025): Why are two of the daily prayers recited silently when 17:110 says not to be silent?

Watch on YouTube at 44:33 · Open the segment

If exorcisms and ruqya sometimes work, does that prove possession is real?

Sun, 15 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

If exorcisms and ruqya sometimes work, does that prove possession is real?

No: real symptoms can be produced or relieved by belief alone, as Ted Kaptchuk's study with fake pills and retractable needles showed, so an exorcism or ruqya can 'work' through the placebo effect. Some people would also have recovered regardless. Mufti Abu Layth holds that the placebo and nocebo effects, demonstrated in Ted Kaptchuk's sham-treatment study, explain why people genuinely feel better or worse after exorcisms and ruqya, and that some would have recovered anyway.

Answer from 15 April 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Jinn: Myth and Reality in Islam by Mufti Abu Layth (at 40:37)

A more recent answer on arts/science-and-the-universe exists (10 March 2023): Can a pregnancy last for years, as was said of Imam Malik's birth?

Watch on YouTube at 40:37 · Open the segment

What medical conditions could have been mistaken for possession in the past?

Sun, 15 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

What medical conditions could have been mistaken for possession in the past?

Conditions such as palinopsia, where after-images persist, and Charles Bonnet syndrome, where people see faces, teeth and buildings that are not there, have known brain causes today but would once have looked like demons. Oliver Sacks's patient knew her visions were unreal, unlike the persecutory beliefs of psychosis. Mufti Abu Layth holds that conditions now explained neurologically, such as palinopsia and Charles Bonnet syndrome, would in the past have been read as demons or possession for want of any other explanation.

Answer from 15 April 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Jinn: Myth and Reality in Islam by Mufti Abu Layth (at 36:39)

A more recent answer on arts/science-and-the-universe exists (10 March 2023): Can a pregnancy last for years, as was said of Imam Malik's birth?

Watch on YouTube at 36:39 · Open the segment

Why does it matter whether people believe in jinn possession?

Sun, 15 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Why does it matter whether people believe in jinn possession?

Because the belief brings mockery on Islam and sustains an industry of abuse, with beatings, sexual violence and extortion, including a house gifted to a practitioner as a 'cure'. Mufti Abu Layth says Islam will bear the blame and future generations will treat it as mythology. Mufti Abu Layth holds that the belief in possession must be confronted because it exposes Islam to mockery and underwrites an industry of beatings, sexual violence and financial exploitation, for which Islam itself will be blamed by coming generations.

Answer from 15 April 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Jinn: Myth and Reality in Islam by Mufti Abu Layth (at 34:00)

A more recent answer on belief/unseen-beings/jinn-possession exists (26 April 2021): Do obscene or blasphemous thoughts during prayer ruin my salah?

Watch on YouTube at 34:00 · Open the segment

How do we know mental illness is not really jinn possession?

Sun, 15 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

How do we know mental illness is not really jinn possession?

Mufti Abu Layth answers that an explanation which fits everything, like a child told that cyborgs cause all events, is not thereby true; the jinn have become the Muslim catch-all. Such belief is what Basil Mitchell's parable of the partisan describes, a faith no evidence can shake. Mufti Abu Layth holds that using the jinn to explain anything unexplained is like a child's all-purpose conspiracy, an unfalsifiable non-propositional faith such as Basil Mitchell's partisan holds, which no evidence or reasoning can touch.

Answer from 15 April 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Jinn: Myth and Reality in Islam by Mufti Abu Layth (at 28:46)

A more recent answer on belief/reason-and-revelation exists (18 October 2025): Why did Mufti Abu Layth bring up 3:188 against the Quran-only position?

Watch on YouTube at 28:46 · Open the segment

Why do only believers in jinn possession seem to experience it?

Sun, 15 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Why do only believers in jinn possession seem to experience it?

Mufti Abu Layth says personal and family anecdotes are used to defend possession while the same Muslims dismiss Hindu miracles or Christian doctrine by reasoning against them, applying reason to everyone's claims but their own. He cites a study finding the brain's rational centre quietens during one's own religious experience. Mufti Abu Layth holds that Muslims apply reason to dismiss other religions' miracles and doctrines but switch it off for possession once a belief has been Islamised, relying instead on anecdotal experiences that only ever afflict believers.

Answer from 15 April 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Jinn: Myth and Reality in Islam by Mufti Abu Layth (at 24:48)

A more recent answer on belief/reason-and-revelation exists (18 October 2025): Why did Mufti Abu Layth bring up 3:188 against the Quran-only position?

Watch on YouTube at 24:48 · Open the segment

What does the hadith 'Satan flows through the son of Adam like blood' mean?

Sun, 15 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

What does the hadith 'Satan flows through the son of Adam like blood' mean?

In context it is about suspicion: the Prophet said it after explaining to some men that the woman with him was his wife Safiyya, so it refers to the insinuations that pass through human minds, not to possession. Mufti Abu Layth adds that the exorcism trade is a large industry whose practitioners may nonetheless be sincere. Mufti Abu Layth holds that the hadith that Satan flows through the son of Adam like blood, read in its context with Safiyya, concerns human suspicion and insinuation, since the men addressed were not possessed, and that it does not support possession.

Answer from 15 April 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Jinn: Myth and Reality in Islam by Mufti Abu Layth (at 22:09)

A more recent answer on belief/unseen-beings/jinn-possession exists (26 April 2021): Do obscene or blasphemous thoughts during prayer ruin my salah?

Watch on YouTube at 22:09 · Open the segment

Should I believe something just because people say the Quran or hadith say so?

Sun, 15 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Should I believe something just because people say the Quran or hadith say so?

No: Mufti Abu Layth says the Quran itself appeals to reason, asking people to look, reflect and ponder, and condemns following forefathers blindly, so claims like possession must be tested against reason through the Quran. Someone reading the Quran without a cultural inheritance would never derive possession from it. Mufti Abu Layth holds that the Quran calls people to reason rather than to belief because it says so, and that a claim such as possession, which no one would derive from the Quran without a cultural inheritance, must be tested against reason through the Quran.

Answer from 15 April 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Jinn: Myth and Reality in Islam by Mufti Abu Layth (at 19:34)

A more recent answer on belief/reason-and-revelation exists (18 October 2025): Why did Mufti Abu Layth bring up 3:188 against the Quran-only position?

Watch on YouTube at 19:34 · Open the segment

Are there authentic hadith showing the Prophet casting out jinn?

Sun, 15 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Are there authentic hadith showing the Prophet casting out jinn?

No report of the Prophet expelling a jinn is free of criticism: the Ya'la ibn Murra and Umm Aban reports are weak, and the sound version of Uthman ibn Abi al-As's story in Sahih Muslim mentions no jinn at all, as al-Nawawi points out. Mufti Abu Layth asks why a Prophet sent as a mercy would never have taught about so common a danger. Mufti Abu Layth holds that no hadith cited for jinn possession is free of criticism, that the sound version of Uthman ibn Abi al-As's complaint in Sahih Muslim mentions no jinn, as al-Nawawi notes, and that the Prophet, sent as a mercy to mankind, never taught about so ubiquitous a danger in any sound transmission.

Answer from 15 April 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Jinn: Myth and Reality in Islam by Mufti Abu Layth (at 13:03)

A more recent answer on hadith/false-and-fabricated exists (18 October 2025): Why does Mufti Abu Layth see the Quran-only movement as a reaction of anger?

Watch on YouTube at 13:03 · Open the segment

Does the Quran's riba verse prove that Satan can possess people?

Sun, 15 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Does the Quran's riba verse prove that Satan can possess people?

No: Mufti Abu Layth says the verse is imagery, read by the commentators as describing how riba-takers rise on the Day of Judgement or as a picture of consuming greed, and the Quran uses such images, like the zaqqum tree's heads of devils, because humans have imagination. Mufti Abu Layth holds that the riba verse's image of one driven unstable by Satan's touch is Quranic imagery drawing on human imagination, read by commentators as describing the resurrection or greed, and is not evidence for possession, just as the zaqqum tree's 'heads of devils' is not.

Answer from 15 April 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Jinn: Myth and Reality in Islam by Mufti Abu Layth (at 7:47)

A more recent answer on quran/tafsir exists (18 October 2025): Why are two of the daily prayers recited silently when 17:110 says not to be silent?

Watch on YouTube at 7:47 · Open the segment

Why did religious scholars end up explaining things like illness and the mind?

Sun, 15 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Why did religious scholars end up explaining things like illness and the mind?

Because for most of history the ulama were the only educated class, so people brought them every unexplained question, from the divisibility of atoms to whether the intellect sits in the heart or the brain. They answered with the knowledge of their day, which is the background to the possession belief. Mufti Abu Layth says that the ulama were historically the only learned class and so were asked to explain worldly phenomena with the knowledge of their time, which is the backdrop against which the belief in possession took shape.

Answer from 15 April 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Jinn: Myth and Reality in Islam by Mufti Abu Layth (at 3:52)

A more recent answer on belief/reason-and-revelation exists (18 October 2025): Why did Mufti Abu Layth bring up 3:188 against the Quran-only position?

Watch on YouTube at 3:52 · Open the segment

Does jinn possession exist in Islam?

Sun, 15 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Does jinn possession exist in Islam?

Not as popularly pictured, Mufti Abu Layth holds: the idea of demons taking over a body and causing illness and insanity does not survive the Quran, the authentic Sunnah and reason. He asks what the jinn would even gain by it and sets out to trace where the belief comes from. Mufti Abu Layth holds that jinn or demonic possession, as popularly pictured, does not exist when examined against the Quran, the authentic Sunnah and reason, and that the first question to ask is what objective the jinn would have in possessing anyone.

Answer from 15 April 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Jinn: Myth and Reality in Islam by Mufti Abu Layth (at 0:00)

A more recent answer on belief/reason-and-revelation exists (18 October 2025): Why did Mufti Abu Layth bring up 3:188 against the Quran-only position?

Watch on YouTube at 0:00 · Open the segment

Did someone really do magic on the Prophet?

Tue, 13 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Did someone really do magic on the Prophet?

No: he calls the report of magic on the Prophet falsely attributed and an affront to his honour, and says the Quls were revealed years earlier in Makkah. Mufti Abu Layth says the incident of magic being done on the Prophet in Madinah is falsely attributed.

Answer from 13 February 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: The Evil Eye has no reality in Islam - Mufti Abu Layth al-Maliki (at 6:50)

A more recent answer on hadith/false-and-fabricated/about-the-prophet exists (19 August 2022): Recap: the novel, insult versus critique, and the false story summarised

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Is the evil eye real in Islam?

Tue, 13 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Is the evil eye real in Islam?

Belief that a look can cause disease or disaster contradicts tawhid; the evil eye is simply envy, whose harm lies in how it is acted upon. Mufti Abu Layth says believing in superstitions such as the evil eye causing harm contradicts the tawhid of Allah.

Answer from 13 February 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: The Evil Eye has no reality in Islam - Mufti Abu Layth al-Maliki (at 0:00)

A more recent answer on belief/tawhid-and-shirk exists (22 February 2023): Should scholars publicly condemn a scholar said to have joined in a libation ritual?

Watch on YouTube at 0:00 · Open the segment

Why not treat jinn possession as just a difference of opinion among scholars?

Wed, 20 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Why not treat jinn possession as just a difference of opinion among scholars?

Because it is not a harmless difference like raising the hands in prayer: belief in possession underwrites mass exploitation, a multi-million pound industry and ridicule of Islam and its Prophet. Al-Razi, al-Maraghi, Ibn Ashur and al-Shawkani are among those who denied it, and the abuse must end. Mufti Abu Layth refuses a diplomatic stance that treats possession as one of two valid opinions, because unlike a difference over raising the hands in prayer this belief underwrites mass exploitation and abuse and brings ridicule on Islam and its Prophet.

Answer from 20 September 2017 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Jinn Possessions: Myth and Reality in Islam by Sh. Akram Nadwi & Mufti Abu Layth (at 1:56:14)

A more recent answer on history/scholars-and-imams exists (10 December 2022): How did Abu Hanifa become a scholar after starting out as a merchant?

Watch on YouTube at 1:56:14 · Open the segment

How does Mufti Abu Layth explain an exorcist who speaks as his own jinn?

Wed, 20 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000

How does Mufti Abu Layth explain an exorcist who speaks as his own jinn?

The exorcist's 'jinn', which declared its love for him, is read as displacement of guilt: a religious man projecting feelings he could not own onto a jinn, believing it sincerely without it being true. People must own their failed relationships instead of blaming jinn. Mufti Abu Layth says the exorcist whose 'jinn' professed love for him was displacing his own guilt by projecting feelings he could not own onto a jinn, sincerely but not truly, and that the 'jinn of the gaps' is nonsensical, makes religion a joke and leaves real abuse untouched.

Answer from 20 September 2017 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Jinn Possessions: Myth and Reality in Islam by Sh. Akram Nadwi & Mufti Abu Layth (at 1:51:02)

A more recent answer on wellbeing/islamic-psychology exists (19 August 2022): Why did Salman Rushdie write The Satanic Verses?

Watch on YouTube at 1:51:02 · Open the segment

Could a jinn fall in love with my spouse and break up my marriage?

Wed, 20 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Could a jinn fall in love with my spouse and break up my marriage?

No: a jinn, created from fire, would belong to a domain of life as alien to us as extremophile bacteria, which do not fall in love or envy marriages. Blaming jinn or magic for a failed relationship comes from the stigma Muslims attach to mental illness. Mufti Abu Layth says Muslims' stigma against mental illness pushes them to blame jinn or magic, and that jinn, if considered at all, belong to a different domain of life from humans, like extremophile Archaea, so they do not fall in love or wreck marriages.

Answer from 20 September 2017 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Jinn Possessions: Myth and Reality in Islam by Sh. Akram Nadwi & Mufti Abu Layth (at 1:48:25)

A more recent answer on belief/unseen-beings/jinn-possession exists (26 April 2021): Do obscene or blasphemous thoughts during prayer ruin my salah?

Watch on YouTube at 1:48:25 · Open the segment

Why are so many 'possessed' people in the community women?

Wed, 20 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Why are so many 'possessed' people in the community women?

Dissociative disorders that look like possession occur mostly among women with histories of trauma, excessive control, pressured or forced marriages and childhood beatings. The psyche breaks down under such treatment just as the body reacts to injury. Mufti Abu Layth says that dissociative disorders in the community occur more often among women with backgrounds of trauma, excessive control, forced or pressured marriages and beatings, and that the psyche breaks down under such treatment as the body would, which is what gets called possession.

Answer from 20 September 2017 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Jinn Possessions: Myth and Reality in Islam by Sh. Akram Nadwi & Mufti Abu Layth (at 1:45:48)

A more recent answer on society/women-and-gender exists (10 March 2023): Who carried on Imam Malik's teaching after him?

Watch on YouTube at 1:45:48 · Open the segment

Could strange symptoms blamed on jinn have medical explanations?

Wed, 20 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Could strange symptoms blamed on jinn have medical explanations?

Yes: face blindness, mirror-touch synaesthesia, phantom limbs, alien hand syndrome, the Capgras delusion, hemispatial neglect, aphantasia and foreign accent syndrome are all documented conditions that the past could only call demons. Blaming the unexplained on jinn is a 'jinn of the gaps'; the Prophet's hadith on cures says go and find the knowledge. Mufti Abu Layth says the many neurological conditions science now describes, from prosopagnosia to foreign accent syndrome, show that attributing the unexplained to jinn is a 'jinn of the gaps' fallacy, and that the Prophet's hadith on cures tells people to seek the knowledge.

Answer from 20 September 2017 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Jinn Possessions: Myth and Reality in Islam by Sh. Akram Nadwi & Mufti Abu Layth (at 1:37:52)

A more recent answer on arts/science-and-the-universe exists (10 March 2023): Can a pregnancy last for years, as was said of Imam Malik's birth?

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If jinn do not possess people, what is ruqya for?

Wed, 20 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000

If jinn do not possess people, what is ruqya for?

The Quran is a cure for what is in the hearts, meaning disbelief and superstition, and ruqya and the taught du'as are a scaffolding to steady people's iman because humans cling to ritual and fall easily into superstition. The du'a against omens shows the Prophet using this method. Mufti Abu Layth holds that the Quran's healing is for what is in the hearts, meaning disbelief and superstition, and that ruqya and the taught du'as are a scaffolding Allah gave to steady people's iman because humans fall easily into superstition.

Answer from 20 September 2017 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Jinn Possessions: Myth and Reality in Islam by Sh. Akram Nadwi & Mufti Abu Layth (at 1:35:16)

A more recent answer on belief/unseen-beings/jinn-possession exists (26 April 2021): Do obscene or blasphemous thoughts during prayer ruin my salah?

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If someone got better after ruqya or an exorcism, does that prove it worked?

Wed, 20 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000

If someone got better after ruqya or an exorcism, does that prove it worked?

Not necessarily: the placebo and nocebo effects produce real relief and real symptoms, as Kaptchuk's trial with cornstarch pills and retractable needles showed. Some patients would also have recovered anyway and are counted as cures. Mufti Abu Layth says that apparent cures through ruqya or exorcism can be explained by the placebo and nocebo effects, which Ted Kaptchuk's sham acupuncture trial showed produce real symptoms and real relief, or by people who would have recovered anyway.

Answer from 20 September 2017 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Jinn Possessions: Myth and Reality in Islam by Sh. Akram Nadwi & Mufti Abu Layth (at 1:31:20)

A more recent answer on arts/science-and-the-universe exists (10 March 2023): Can a pregnancy last for years, as was said of Imam Malik's birth?

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Could seeing figures or faces that are not there be a brain condition rather than a jinn?

Wed, 20 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Could seeing figures or faces that are not there be a brain condition rather than a jinn?

Yes: palinopsia makes after-images persist and Charles Bonnet syndrome makes an overactive fusiform gyrus produce faces, teeth and buildings, as Oliver Sacks's patient saw men with long teeth while knowing they were not real. In the past such visions could only be explained as demons. Mufti Abu Layth says conditions such as palinopsia and Charles Bonnet syndrome show how abnormalities in the brain produce visions of people and shapes that someone in the past could only have explained as demons.

Answer from 20 September 2017 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Jinn Possessions: Myth and Reality in Islam by Sh. Akram Nadwi & Mufti Abu Layth (at 1:27:25)

A more recent answer on arts/science-and-the-universe exists (10 March 2023): Can a pregnancy last for years, as was said of Imam Malik's birth?

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What harm does belief in jinn possession do?

Wed, 20 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000

What harm does belief in jinn possession do?

Belief in possession sustains beatings, sexual violence, exploitation and the extraction of money and even houses, and because it is dressed as Islam, Islam will be dismissed as mythology by the coming generation. Neurosis and psychosis are introduced as the frame for the psychological cases. Mufti Abu Layth says the belief in possession must be tackled because it mocks Islam and its Prophet and sustains a tyranny of abuse, from beatings and sexual violence to the extraction of money and property, and that Islam will be left to carry the blame as mythology.

Answer from 20 September 2017 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Jinn Possessions: Myth and Reality in Islam by Sh. Akram Nadwi & Mufti Abu Layth (at 1:24:46)

A more recent answer on belief/unseen-beings/jinn-possession exists (26 April 2021): Do obscene or blasphemous thoughts during prayer ruin my salah?

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How do we know mental illnesses are not really jinn possessions?

Wed, 20 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000

How do we know mental illnesses are not really jinn possessions?

A theory that explains everything, like a child's cyborg conspiracy, is not thereby true, and 'the jinn' is such a theory for Muslims. Like Basil Mitchell's partisan who rationalises everything the stranger does, this is non-propositional faith that no evidence can reach. Mufti Abu Layth says that explaining anything unexplained by the jinn is a one-size-fits-all paradigm like a child's conspiracy theory or Basil Mitchell's partisan, a non-propositional faith that no evidence or reason can touch.

Answer from 20 September 2017 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Jinn Possessions: Myth and Reality in Islam by Sh. Akram Nadwi & Mufti Abu Layth (at 1:19:28)

A more recent answer on belief/reason-and-revelation exists (18 October 2025): Why did Mufti Abu Layth bring up 3:188 against the Quran-only position?

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People I know have seen jinn possession; does that not prove it?

Wed, 20 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000

People I know have seen jinn possession; does that not prove it?

Anecdotal experience is no proof: Muslims dismiss other faiths' miracle claims by reason while refusing to reason about their own, and possession afflicts only those who believe in it. A brain study found the prefrontal cortex shutting down during people's own religious experiences. Mufti Abu Layth says Muslims accept anecdotal experiences of possession while dismissing other faiths' miracle claims by reason, that possession seems to afflict only those who believe in it, and that people switch off their reasoning for their own faith.

Answer from 20 September 2017 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Jinn Possessions: Myth and Reality in Islam by Sh. Akram Nadwi & Mufti Abu Layth (at 1:15:34)

A more recent answer on belief/reason-and-revelation exists (18 October 2025): Why did Mufti Abu Layth bring up 3:188 against the Quran-only position?

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Does the hadith that Shaytan flows in a person's blood prove possession?

Wed, 20 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Does the hadith that Shaytan flows in a person's blood prove possession?

No: the Prophet said it to two men who saw him with his wife Safiyya, about human suspicion, and nobody present was possessed. The Quran itself appeals to reason and proof, so possession must be tested by reason, which someone reading the Quran without cultural baggage would never find in it. Mufti Abu Layth holds that the Quran itself calls people to reason rather than to belief on its own say-so, so a claim like possession must be tested against reason, and that the hadith of Shaytan flowing in the blood concerns human suspicion, as its Safiyya context shows, not possession.

Answer from 20 September 2017 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Jinn Possessions: Myth and Reality in Islam by Sh. Akram Nadwi & Mufti Abu Layth (at 1:09:02)

A more recent answer on belief/reason-and-revelation exists (18 October 2025): Why did Mufti Abu Layth bring up 3:188 against the Quran-only position?

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Are there authentic hadith of the Prophet casting a jinn out of someone?

Wed, 20 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Are there authentic hadith of the Prophet casting a jinn out of someone?

None of the hadith cited for possession is free of criticism; the only sound version, Uthman ibn Abi al-As in Sahih Muslim, mentions no jinn, as al-Nawawi notes, and the 'come out, enemy of Allah' reports are weak. The Prophet, a mercy to mankind, would not have left such a thing untaught. Mufti Abu Layth says not a single hadith cited for possession is free of criticism, that the sound version of Uthman ibn Abi al-As's report in Sahih Muslim mentions no jinn, as al-Nawawi notes, and that a Prophet sent as a mercy would not have left a phenomenon affecting everyone untaught.

Answer from 20 September 2017 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Jinn Possessions: Myth and Reality in Islam by Sh. Akram Nadwi & Mufti Abu Layth (at 1:02:31)

A more recent answer on hadith/authentication exists (19 August 2022): Why did Ibn Hajar say the satanic verses story has some basis?

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Does the Quran's verse about the touch of Shaytan prove that jinn possess people?

Wed, 20 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Does the Quran's verse about the touch of Shaytan prove that jinn possess people?

No: the riba verse describes how usurers will rise on the Day of Judgement or pictures their greed, and the image of Shaytan's touch is drawn from human imagination, like the tree of Jahannam whose fruit is 'like the heads of devils'. It is a misused verse, not a proof. Mufti Abu Layth says the riba verse 2:275 describes how such people will rise on the Day of Judgement or pictures their greed, and that like the zaqqum fruit resembling the heads of devils it is imagery drawing on human imagination, not evidence that possession is real.

Answer from 20 September 2017 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Jinn Possessions: Myth and Reality in Islam by Sh. Akram Nadwi & Mufti Abu Layth (at 58:35)

A more recent answer on quran/tafsir exists (18 October 2025): Why are two of the daily prayers recited silently when 17:110 says not to be silent?

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Why did Muslim scholars of the past accept the idea of jinn possession?

Wed, 20 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Why did Muslim scholars of the past accept the idea of jinn possession?

Scholars of the past were the only learned people and were asked to explain everything, from the divisibility of atoms to where the intellect sits, so they explained strange behaviour with the best knowledge they had. That is the backdrop to the confusion over possession, not a proof of it. Mufti Abu Layth says the belief in possession took root because the ulama, as the most learned people in pre-modern societies, were asked to explain every worldly phenomenon and answered as best they could with the knowledge of their time.

Answer from 20 September 2017 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Jinn Possessions: Myth and Reality in Islam by Sh. Akram Nadwi & Mufti Abu Layth (at 53:21)

A more recent answer on belief/reason-and-revelation exists (18 October 2025): Why did Mufti Abu Layth bring up 3:188 against the Quran-only position?

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What do people mean when they say someone is possessed by a jinn?

Wed, 20 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000

What do people mean when they say someone is possessed by a jinn?

The popular picture is that a jinn or demon takes over a person's mind or body, causing illness, obsessive or insane behaviour and broken relationships, supposedly to create mischief. Mufti Abu Layth presents this as the urban myth he will test against the Quran, the authentic Sunnah and reason, after the guest's closing call to disbelieve the whole business.

Answer from 20 September 2017 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: quoted view (stated in order to be discussed, not necessarily held)

Recording: Jinn Possessions: Myth and Reality in Islam by Sh. Akram Nadwi & Mufti Abu Layth (at 49:23)

A more recent answer on dialogue/guest-conversations exists (18 October 2025): How should Muslims engage people with very different views of the religion?

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Why do jinn seem to afflict only people who believe in them?

Wed, 20 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Why do jinn seem to afflict only people who believe in them?

Amulet writers, raqis and shrine touts run a business of lies, as the guest's stories of ambiguous amulets and promised sons show. Jinn never trouble him, atheists or non-Muslims, only those of weak belief, which he calls a lie against Allah and his Messenger that robs people of money and women of honour.

Answer from 20 September 2017 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: quoted view (stated in order to be discussed, not necessarily held)

Recording: Jinn Possessions: Myth and Reality in Islam by Sh. Akram Nadwi & Mufti Abu Layth (at 44:09)

A more recent answer on dialogue/guest-conversations exists (18 October 2025): How should Muslims engage people with very different views of the religion?

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Did the Prophet use ruqya or doctors when he was ill?

Wed, 20 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Did the Prophet use ruqya or doctors when he was ill?

When the Prophet fell ill Arab doctors treated him, which is how Aisha learnt medicine, so recited verses were never meant as a cure-all and the 'treatment by Quran' books misuse the book. The Quran's verses help against whispering, and one reads them for oneself without any raqi.

Answer from 20 September 2017 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: quoted view (stated in order to be discussed, not necessarily held)

Recording: Jinn Possessions: Myth and Reality in Islam by Sh. Akram Nadwi & Mufti Abu Layth (at 38:51)

A more recent answer on dialogue/guest-conversations exists (18 October 2025): How should Muslims engage people with very different views of the religion?

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Why does the guest warn women never to go to exorcists?

Wed, 20 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Why does the guest warn women never to go to exorcists?

Exorcists exploit women: the guest recounts a girl coached to feign possession to hide her lost virginity, and says many women have been made pregnant by such men in India and on a large scale in Britain. Every illness has a cure that must be sought by proper effort.

Answer from 20 September 2017 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: quoted view (stated in order to be discussed, not necessarily held)

Recording: Jinn Possessions: Myth and Reality in Islam by Sh. Akram Nadwi & Mufti Abu Layth (at 34:55)

A more recent answer on dialogue/guest-conversations exists (18 October 2025): How should Muslims engage people with very different views of the religion?

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Did Ibn Taymiyya believe in jinn possession, and does his view have proof?

Wed, 20 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Did Ibn Taymiyya believe in jinn possession, and does his view have proof?

Ibn Taymiyya believed jinn possess people and treated them, but by his own rule of accepting nothing without proof from the Quran and Sunnah his claims fail: seeing something leave a patient does not prove it was a jinn. Levitating patients and beating the 'possessed' are tricks played on onlookers.

Answer from 20 September 2017 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: quoted view (stated in order to be discussed, not necessarily held)

Recording: Jinn Possessions: Myth and Reality in Islam by Sh. Akram Nadwi & Mufti Abu Layth (at 30:59)

A more recent answer on dialogue/guest-conversations exists (18 October 2025): How should Muslims engage people with very different views of the religion?

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Which classical scholars denied that jinn can possess people?

Wed, 20 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Which classical scholars denied that jinn can possess people?

Ibn Hazm held that claiming possession is a claim without knowledge and haram, since the Prophet spoke only of whispering; al-Tahawi noted that every taught du'a is against whispering, al-Razi said Shaytan cannot cause illness, and al-Shafi'i rejected the testimony of anyone claiming to see jinn, which only prophets can.

Answer from 20 September 2017 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: quoted view (stated in order to be discussed, not necessarily held)

Recording: Jinn Possessions: Myth and Reality in Islam by Sh. Akram Nadwi & Mufti Abu Layth (at 23:06)

A more recent answer on dialogue/guest-conversations exists (18 October 2025): How should Muslims engage people with very different views of the religion?

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If doctors cannot explain an illness, could it be a jinn?

Wed, 20 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000

If doctors cannot explain an illness, could it be a jinn?

An illness doctors cannot explain is not thereby a jinn; that is a story made up without proof. The Quran attributes harm to Shaytan only in the sense that people follow his whispering, as in Ayyub's prayer, and forbids claiming what one has no knowledge of.

Answer from 20 September 2017 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: quoted view (stated in order to be discussed, not necessarily held)

Recording: Jinn Possessions: Myth and Reality in Islam by Sh. Akram Nadwi & Mufti Abu Layth (at 19:40)

A more recent answer on dialogue/guest-conversations exists (18 October 2025): How should Muslims engage people with very different views of the religion?

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Is there any sound hadith that a jinn possessed someone?

Wed, 20 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Is there any sound hadith that a jinn possessed someone?

There is no sound hadith of Shaytan possessing anyone; the Ibn Mas'ud report shows the jinn as a lowly creation fed on bones, not masters over humans. The guest's own investigations of 'haunted' houses and 'possessed' women found tricks and nothing else, and exorcism has become a big business.

Answer from 20 September 2017 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: quoted view (stated in order to be discussed, not necessarily held)

Recording: Jinn Possessions: Myth and Reality in Islam by Sh. Akram Nadwi & Mufti Abu Layth (at 13:06)

A more recent answer on dialogue/guest-conversations exists (18 October 2025): How should Muslims engage people with very different views of the religion?

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Does the Quran say that Shaytan or the jinn can possess or control a person?

Wed, 20 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Does the Quran say that Shaytan or the jinn can possess or control a person?

The Quran never says people lose their will; it commands believers not to follow Shaytan's footsteps, which presupposes the will and power to refuse. On the Day of Judgement Shaytan himself says he had no authority except to call people, so he teaches and whispers but never forces.

Answer from 20 September 2017 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: quoted view (stated in order to be discussed, not necessarily held)

Recording: Jinn Possessions: Myth and Reality in Islam by Sh. Akram Nadwi & Mufti Abu Layth (at 7:53)

A more recent answer on dialogue/guest-conversations exists (18 October 2025): How should Muslims engage people with very different views of the religion?

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What are the jinn and what can Shaytan actually do to people?

Wed, 20 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000

What are the jinn and what can Shaytan actually do to people?

Jinn exist and Shaytan is a clear enemy, but his only power is to whisper, as human misleaders do, and Allah gave people the fitra and reason to resist. Any claim about the jinn must be met by asking for its proof in the Quran and Sunnah and weighing its consequences; an unexplained illness is not proof of a jinn.

Answer from 20 September 2017 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: quoted view (stated in order to be discussed, not necessarily held)

Recording: Jinn Possessions: Myth and Reality in Islam by Sh. Akram Nadwi & Mufti Abu Layth (at 0:04)

A more recent answer on dialogue/guest-conversations exists (18 October 2025): How should Muslims engage people with very different views of the religion?

Watch on YouTube at 0:04 · Open the segment