# If possession were real, why is there no sahih hadith of the Prophet casting out a jinn?

*Exorcisms in the Gospels but not the Quran, no sahih hadith on possession, and psychiatric treatment first*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/ksqksrxndnw/s/19/
- Date: 2020-04-22 · Kind: discussion · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Shaykh Dr. Shabir Ally | Juxtaposing the Quran, Jumbling Aisha's age & Jinn Possession | MindTrap#16 (1:29:36–1:33:31)
- Status: a view quoted in order to be discussed, not a position held
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsQKsrXndNw&t=5376s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/ksqksrxndnw/

**Topics:** Jinn possession; Christians and other faiths; Guest conversations

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** The Gospels make exorcism a chief miracle of Jesus, but the Quran never mentions it and there is no sahih hadith of the Prophet casting out a jinn, so the guest calls the belief overstated. Following Bilal Philips's study, he says the symptoms match psychological illness and medical treatment should come first.

## Longer summary

The guest says the Bible repeatedly shows Jesus driving out demons, once sending them into a herd of pigs that rushed off a cliff, so that exorcism is one of his chief miracles in the Gospels; yet the Quran, which mentions many miracles of Jesus including some not in the Bible, says nothing about him driving out demons, which would be strange if possession were real. Likewise, since jinn are said to operate in warm climates and the Prophet lived in one, the authentic collections should be full of reports of him driving out jinn, but those who argue for possession cite reports from works such as Abu Dawud compiled without the scrutiny of Bukhari and Muslim, and there is not a single sahih hadith in the whole category. He concludes the matter is overstated, and cites Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips's book The Exorcist Tradition in Islam, a University of Wales study whose case studies of supposed possession and recurring treatments suggested a psychological phenomenon; Philips concluded that the symptoms match those of psychological problems and that psychiatric treatment should be tried first, with possession concluded only if it fails, though the guest thinks it reasonable to keep searching for a cure, by which he confirms he means medical intervention. He adds that believing in possession forecloses a cure, that some people even say a car is possessed when it should go to a mechanic, and that in some societies jinn are believed to be under every rock.

## Sources and names cited

- Dr Shabir Ally (guest)
- Jesus (Isa)
- jinn
- Sunan Abi Dawud
- Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips
- The Exorcist Tradition in Islam (Bilal Philips)

## Transcript (machine tier, 1:29:36–1:33:31)

[1:29:31] you know being informed by my comparative religion studies I in the Bible there is much mention of assadís and I'm driving out demons like he would go into a certain town and he drives out demons he goes into another town he's driving out demons once he drove out so many demons that they fell that demons pleaded with him okay there don't destroy us just put us into the herd of pigs and he put them into the herd of pigs and the herd of pigs immediately rushed off the cliff to their deaths well you know if Jesus is possessing all like driving out all of these demons this seems to be one of the chief miracles that he performs not

[1:30:09] about repeatedly he performs this in the Gospels now the Quran of course mentions many miracles of asylum even miracles that are not mentioned in the Bible and and yet the Quran doesn't mention anything about Jesus at Isis and I'm driving out demons now that would be very strange now some people say that the demons these jinns operate most in the in the warm climates now our prophet sallallaahu salaam operated in the warm climate and you may think that there would be many people in his circumstance who were possessed by jinns and we would have many reports in the authentic collections of hadith showing that he drove off a gene here

[1:30:48] origin there but I also want to prove that the that this is the reality they would she's on a narrative from something like abu allah which is a sir known collection of hadith and probably with without the great scrutiny that well we know it's not with the great scrutiny that Bukhari and Muslim so I approach in fact there isn't a single sahih hadith in this entire category of demonic possessions yeah so so in the end I had to conclude that that this whole thing is overstated moreover shake abominable a Philips wrote a book called the exhausted tradition in Islam yeah I

[1:31:27] did read the University of Wales and he had done some case studies of people who thought they were jinn possessed and there were treatments being given and so on and then sometimes they recurred and you know they thought they were cured and then they're back again reading all of these reports it seems that this is a psychological phenomenon and in fact Sheikh Abu Amina himself concluded that the symptoms of jinn possession are similar to the symptoms of a person on the ground going psychological problems and if we see that the person has these symptoms the best course of action is to

[1:32:07] proceed with psychiatric treatments and if those treatments fail then you would conclude that this is a jinn a case of jinn possession of course the the psychiatrist's will not reach that conclusion they were they were thinking that there is something that eludes them and eventually that a cure is there to be found and I think that's a reasonable approach to keep searching for a cure rather than if you think position you know you mean just to be clear by queue you mean medical intervention yes

[1:32:45] because if you think that something is Jen possess well then there will be no cure for it and then if you start thinking that things are Djinn possessed then I've heard people say that a car is Djinn possessed so you know if my car is broken I take it to a mechanic I don't conclude that there's a jinn interfering with the car and and in some Muslim societies you know jinns are so widely believed in and some people make a joke and saying that if you pick up a rock in those societies there'll be you know a number of jinns under there

[1:33:25] mm-hmm you know similarly to that like what you said share about the car sometimes people do feel or maybe a Djinn is interfering or more so for extending forward from that they say that magic has been done onto my car well somebody has done magic on to me this is another the other side that afflicts you know the other side of the coin that's afflicting so much harm on the Muslim community when it comes to mental health one is demonic possessions and the other is this thing that okay well

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment KsQKsrXndNw/s/19. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/ksqksrxndnw/s/19/

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