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

*Every disease has a cure to be found; dissociative identity disorder, trauma in our communities and the stigma of mental health*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/lexzvtf9yga/s/14/
- Date: 2018-04-15 · Kind: lesson · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Jinn: Myth and Reality in Islam by Mufti Abu Layth (55:02–58:57)
- Status: latest answer on its topic; general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeXzvtf9YGA&t=3302s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/lexzvtf9yga/

**Topics:** Jinn possession; Trauma and healing; Abusive and difficult parents

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

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

**Evidence, his words at 57:48:** “we have such a stigma towards mental health Muslims get so offended if you say this could be a mental health issue” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeXzvtf9YGA&t=3468s)

## Longer summary

Mufti Abu Layth recalls the hadith heard earlier that Allah has not sent a disease without a cure, known to those who know it and unknown to those who do not, which he reads as an instruction to go and find it. He asks how someone in the past would have explained a person suddenly becoming somebody else, what was called multiple personality and is now dissociative identity disorder. In our communities such cases occur more often among women, usually with a background of trauma, abuse and tragedy: not only segregation but excessive control, constant suspicion about who they talk to, arranged and sometimes forced marriages or the emotional blackmail version of force, marriage to cousins they grew up with and are not attracted to, and, more in earlier generations, beatings as children. He asks how the psyche copes with such torment and says one way is to break down into these disorders, since the brain reacts to what is done to it as the body does. Muslims are so stigmatised about mental health that suggesting it offends them, and the family insists it is the jinn or magic, or that someone sent jinn to break up a relationship. He begins to consider what the jinn would be if they existed, pointing to the domains of life: archaea, bacteria and eukarya, from which animals and plants come.

## Sources and names cited

- report: allah has not sent down a disease without sending its cure known to those who know it
- dissociative identity disorder (multiple personality)
- jinn

## Transcript (machine tier, 55:02–58:57)

[54:41] the gaps or the moment you don't know anything oh it must be good and and in this phenomenon this is like the Djinn of the gaps like the moment we don't know anything it's the Djinn or we can't explain it must be the Jim let the Djinn of the gaps so it's it's it's not just because we don't know the answer it doesn't mean we can't know the answer the hadith that you heard earlier on that the Prophet said my angel allowed Minda in allah and allah llahu Schieffer and in rewire the prophet said i lima home and alamo jahiliya home and jail those who know that she fire will know it and those who don't know it won't know it meaning go out find it like you

[55:20] can so it's interesting to see all of these kind of things put yourself in the past where you are faced with this like if you had a person just all of a sudden with multiple personality disorders but they call today dissociative identity disorders right now how do you how do you explain that like people all of a sudden I'm somebody else and the thing is that a lot of these cases happen usually moreso than more often in our communities amongst women and they these people have a

[55:55] background of trauma abuse of just like tragedies in many cases they've got so much going on so in our communities you'll have things like you know obviously segregation but not just segregation control excessive control so let's say a girl in a typical I know in the UK this it's a change it's slowly changing but it's still there like girls are not allowed to do anything guys can do anything a guy can get away with guys can go out do everything girls can't so always restricted at home now on top of that

[56:32] always suspected like this suspicious oh are you chatting to anybody are you doing this are you doing a lot more control on ago then on top of that arranged marriages sometimes forced marriages sometimes maybe not forced but emotionally you know like our Asian version of force like the black male kind of emotional blackmail that are never gonna speak to you and then on top of that they make them marry a lot of the time their own cousins now think about it if you grow up with somebody you're already that is yeah you're probably not attracted to the person sexually and then on top of that you gotta marry them you've been controlled

[57:10] all your life maybe sometimes within our families hopefully now within the UK it's reduced or doesn't happen as much but they beat the hell out of you as kids so a lot more maybe when we were growing up but but so you've got all this kind of stuff going on you get like torture torment this or you gotta believe this you got to do this you got how does the psychic on cope one way is it breaks down into these kind of disorders it starts reacting weirdly like think about if you physically do something to your body react why would the brain not react we

[57:48] think everybody so and we have such a stigma towards mental health Muslims get so offended if you say this could be a mental health issue so what do you mean like my mom my mom ain't mental hahaha I'm not a betting man but if I was you know the thing is look well what do you mean like well does this sound normal what you're saying that you know there's all this going on and every fairy fairy tales and all this kind of stuff no but she's not no it's the jinn god damn it it's the genius the gene that makes

[58:26] sense oh it's magic oh my relationship has broken down my relationship has broken up because because of the jinn somebody sent jinn to interfere with us now I've said hmm okay even if even if right we were to consider what the jinn are and this is what I was saying earlier on there would be a different domain so they speak about life breaking off into these domains you have archaea bacteria and Eukarya and from Eukarya comes all animal plants all this kind of stuff yeah archaea actually is one of they probably feel the most ancient form of life on earth which is tiny microscopic

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment LeXzvtf9YGA/s/14. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/lexzvtf9yga/s/14/

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