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

*Neurosis, psychosis and conditions once inexplicable: palinopsia and Charles Bonnet syndrome*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/lexzvtf9yga/s/10/
- Date: 2018-04-15 · Kind: lesson · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Jinn: Myth and Reality in Islam by Mufti Abu Layth (36:39–40:37)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeXzvtf9YGA&t=2199s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/lexzvtf9yga/

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

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

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

**Evidence, his words at 37:56:** “how would I explain that in the past what an abnormality in the brain no maybe you're a demon” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeXzvtf9YGA&t=2276s)

## Longer summary

Mufti Abu Layth distinguishes neurosis, the oddities we all have and can hide in public, from psychosis, where a person cannot snap out of them, and says that while we do not have all the answers we now have some that explain what people in the past could not. He describes palinopsia, in which after-images persist abnormally long and clearly, so that a person sees someone in several places, and asks how a villager a few hundred years ago would have explained it other than as a demon. He describes Charles Bonnet syndrome, where an abnormality in the fusiform gyrus, often as sight or hearing fails, makes people see strange buildings, stretched faces and long teeth. He recounts the neurologist Oliver Sacks talking to a woman who saw men in Eastern dress with long teeth, who knew they were not real and were not trying to harm her, which he contrasts with the persecutory beliefs of schizophrenia. The part of the brain that activates for teeth was found to be firing, and the activity can be suppressed with drugs; in the past, someone reporting teeth, people and buildings would have had no explanation.

## Sources and names cited

- palinopsia (persistent after-images)
- Charles Bonnet syndrome
- Oliver Sacks (neurologist)

## Transcript (machine tier, 36:39–40:37)

[35:59] mythology Islam has just become mythology like Zeus and Apollo and the Greek gods or the Hindu gods it says stories and because it's nonsensical so I wanted to highlight that and I want to show some when we can't explain things okay when we can't explain that just to us as a few seconds to touch up we have to understand that look in science science has has gone through many like when we 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

[36:39] want when I touch up on relationships being impacted with this but when when we can't understand things look in in psychiatry in psychology you've got something called neurosis and psychosis yeah neurosis is like well when you it's like weird things weird 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 a certain extent but some people can't differentiate that weirdness with normalness so you might be weird when

[37:17] 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 that can explain whoa how would people have explained this in the past I've touched up on something in the past saying things like Palin op SIA a visual kind of when you have a problem with after images now check this out

[37:56] everybody if you look at something 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 opción you can and in certain condition affects people now can you imagine in a village a few hundred years and this happens with people I see you here now I look there see you then how would I explain that in the past

[38:35] 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 it's worth highlighting called the the Charles of the Charles bonnet syndrome we the part in the brain called the fusiform gyrus and this part it gets this it gets affected for whatever reason there's some abnormality in it now people with this start to see this is the part of the brain that processes

[39:15] 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 would see people with stretched faces and weird teeth so there's a famous case where the neurologist Oliver Sacks speaks about speaking to this lady who sees these men walking in Eastern dress clothing with

[39:52] 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 of the shawls Bonnie 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

[40:30] the brain that actually activates for teeth around there's a neuro within the fusiform gyrus the 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 explanations and an hour and let alone we've seen we also heard some examples of where people sometimes do get better you know

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment LeXzvtf9YGA/s/10. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/lexzvtf9yga/s/10/

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