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

*Palinopsia and Charles Bonnet syndrome: seeing people and teeth that are not there*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/7z8yu8kr83y/s/18/
- Date: 2017-09-20 · Kind: lesson · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Jinn Possessions: Myth and Reality in Islam by Sh. Akram Nadwi & Mufti Abu Layth (1:27:25–1:31:20)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7z8yu8Kr83Y&t=5245s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/7z8yu8kr83y/

**Topics:** Jinn possession; Science, the universe and big questions

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** 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.

**Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** 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.

**Evidence, his words at 1:28:57:** “how would I explain that in the past what an abnormality in the brain no maybe you're a demon I see you in many places” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7z8yu8Kr83Y&t=5337s)

## Longer summary

Mufti Abu Layth says psychology does not have all the answers but has some that shed light on things people in the past could only explain as demons. He describes palinopsia, in which after-images persist abnormally so that a person who looks at a phone and then away still sees the phone, and asks how a villager a few hundred years ago would have explained seeing someone in several places. He then describes Charles Bonnet syndrome, in which the fusiform gyrus, the part of the brain that processes faces, teeth, geometric shapes and buildings, becomes overactive, often in people losing sight or hearing, so that they see strange buildings and people with stretched faces and long teeth. He recounts the neurologist Oliver Sacks talking to a woman who saw men in Eastern dress with long teeth: asked whether they tried to harm her, she said no, she knew they were not real though she could see them like a film, which distinguishes her from psychosis, where the sufferer believes they are being attacked. Scans show the teeth-processing area activating, and drugs can suppress it; in the past, he says, someone reporting teeth, people and buildings would have had no explanation but a demon.

## Sources and names cited

- Oliver Sacks
- jinn

## Transcript (machine tier, 1:27:25–1:31:20)

[1:26:59] look at the domain of life it is so diverse and this is something I want to come back to when we speak I just want when I touch up on relationships being impacted with this but when when we can't understand things look in psychiatry and psychology you've got something called neurosis and psychosis yeah neurosis is like well when it's like weird things we had beliefs that we can all have or we display weird things and we can all do this is a natural to a great extent we can all I'll probably say we are all weird in our own way there's nothing wrong about that okay to

[1:27:38] a certain extent but some people can't differentiate that weirdness with normalness so you might be weird when you're at home but when you're in front of people you can behave normally some people can't do that that falls into psychosis they can't snap out of it okay and we have many today I'm not saying we have all the answers but we have some answers that give us shed light about things that can explain whoa how would people have explained this in the past I've touched up on something in the past

[1:28:17] saying things like Palin op SIA a visual kind of when you have a problem with after images now check this out everybody if you look at something in in bright light and you look away you can maybe for a fraction of a second hat see an after image in some conditions that actually persists for much longer abnormally and much stronger it's not a like a shadow after image it's like a clear after image like I look at the phone they I look there can see the phone there that actually is called Palin op see and you can and in certain condition affects people now can you imagine in a village a few hundred years

[1:28:57] and this happens with people I see you here now I look there see you then how would I explain that in the past what an abnormality in the brain no maybe you're a demon I see you in many places this is very you know this there's a condition I've once again I think I've highlighted before and it's worth highlighting called the the Charles of the Charles bonnet syndrome where the part in the brain called the fusiform gyrus and this part it gets this it gets affected for whatever

[1:29:35] reason there's some abnormality in it now people with this start to see this is the part of the brain that processes images imagery about things like teeth geometric sizes buildings so when there's an abnormality and it usually affects people sometimes who are getting losing their sight or hearing and the brain starts to compensate by over activity in in the fusiform gyrus so they will see things like people were with strange buildings they will see people with stretched faces and weird teeth so there's a famous case where the

[1:30:14] neurologist Oliver Sacks speaks about speaking to this lady who sees these men walking in Eastern dress clothing with long teeth and he asks her that and she says am I going mental and he says that these people what do they do when you see them are they trying to harm you and she says no there's not trying to harm me at all see this is the difference between cycles where people believe that oh no I'm getting attacked like in schizophrenia or different kind of disorders she says I see them but I know they're not real but I can see them and it's weird because it's like a movie but it's and he explains to it this is part

[1:30:52] of the Charles bonnet syndrome and when they check that part of the brain where a normal person if you see teeth do you know if you see teeth there's a part of the brain that actually activates four teeth around there's a neuro within the fusiform gyrus the neural activity now that part is getting activated now they can suppress this with drugs you can give drugs and that will just suppress activity how would you explain this in the past if somebody came to you and said oh I see teeth and I see people I see buildings you would have no kind of

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment 7z8yu8Kr83Y/s/18. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/7z8yu8kr83y/s/18/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.