KOZHIKODE: After a brief lull, jinn possession and black magic have again become a topic of live discussion among the Mujahid groups in Kerala. Five rounds of public programmes have been completed by Kerala Nadvathul Mujahideen (KNM) Markazudawa and Wisdom Islamic Organisation at Parappanangadi in Malappuram district and both are gearing up for more such rounds.
The core of the debates is whether the belief in ‘jinn possession’ is real and whether sihr (black magic) can have an impact on human beings. The Wisdom group asserts that jinn can enter the human body and black magic can impact humans, which is denied by Markazudawa.
“Many superstitions like black magic that disappeared with the advent of the Mujahid movement are making a comeback in Kerala. Our effort has been to check the re-emergence of these dangerous trends. It was the influence of Gulf Salafism that accentuated the trend,” said Mansoor Ali Chemmad, one of the debaters from the Markazudawa side.
“We know that these issues should not be debated in the public. But we are constrained to answer in the public as the challenges are made in the public,” he said.
The main bone of contention is a hadees in Imam Bukhari’s book that says that someone did sihr on Prophet Muhammad and he was under the spell for a brief period. Markazudawa says that this hadees should not be counted though it has been graded as sahih (credible).
Markazudawa also believes that intervention of the devil or satan in human life is limited to creating waswas (confusion or disturbing thoughts). “There are metaphorical references in the Holy Quran and hadees and these lines are read literally by the Wisdom group,” Mansoor Ali said.
But the Wisdom group believes that jinn possession and impact of sihr are attested by Holy Quran and hadees. “Moreover, these were recognised by founder leaders of the Muhajid movement including K M Moulavi. You can see it in the fatwas of Moulavi published in the 1940s and in the Quran interpretation (thafseer) of Amani Moulavi,” said Abdul Malik Salafi, who takes part in the debates from the Wisdom side.
“There is no point in denying what has been there in the Islamic scriptures. Majority of Muslim, barring a few rationalists in religion, deny these things,” he added. Salafi added that there are remedies to jinn possession and sihr in Islamic scriptures like reciting certain verses in Holy Quran.
“We should confine ourselves to what is said in the scriptures and should not deny or go beyond it. This has been the stand of the Mujahid movement in Kerala. Deviations such as denying what is in Islam emerged due to the influence of Chekannur Moulavi,” Salafi added.
Discussions on jinn and sihr erupted among the Mujahids in Kerala around 2007 and were subjected to hair-splitting arguments for years, leading to splits in the movement.