Diagnosis of Jinn Possession Amongst Patients with Mental Disorders using Thermal Imaging

*Perhubungan Penulis: Hamidi Abdul Rahman, Institut Alam dan Tamadun Melayu, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Malaysia; Email: hamidi@pisang.uk Abstract: The belief in jinn possession is embedded in the Muslim faith. A previous quantitative study had identified symptoms of jinn possession. It shows that there are overlapping symptoms between jinn possession and mental disorders, leading to different diagnoses. An exploratory study was done to investigate the possibility of jinn possession amongst patients who have already been diagnosed with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and epilepsy using four case studies. All the patients have at least five significant symptoms of jinn possession and were on medication for their respective mental disorders. Thermal images of the patients were recorded using a thermal imaging camera to monitor temperature change before and after ruqyah. The thermal images before and after ruqyah were compared, and it was observed that parts of the body temperature for all four patients became hotter after ruqyah, indicating that all of them have jinn possession. This reaction to ruqyah is considered as a sign of jinn possession by ruqyah practitioners. It is possible that some of those who have been diagnosed with mental disorders may also have an underlying jinn possession issue. Using ruqyah as a complementary therapy on this category of patients may bring better therapeutic benefits. Further studies need to be conducted to identify the extent of jinn possession amongst those with mental disorders. The symptoms of jinn possession can be used as a guide for identifying possible cases of jinn possession amongst those with mental disorders.


Introduction
Trance and Possession Disorder in ICD-11 refers to the condition where a person's behaviour is replaced by an external possessing identity (WHO, 2020). The external possessing identity is known as jinn within the Muslim community. The belief in jinn possession is embedded in the Muslim faith, and there are various complementary treatments for jinn possession, ruqyah being one that had gained. Ruqyah involves the recitation of Quranic verses and other recitations such as salutations of the Prophet and supplications as long as they comply with the Islamic legal system (Khadher et al., 2016). The recitations can cause reactions such as feeling hot, vomiting, aggressive behaviour, change of personality, unconsciousness. Ruqyah practitioners take these unexplained reactions as an indication of jinn possession. A previous quantitative study analysed 34 symptoms associated with jinn possession and identified 23 significant symptoms and 11 non-significant symptoms (Hamidi et al., 2019). The study shows that there are overlapping symptoms between jinn possession and mental disorders. Some of the symptoms of jinn possession associated with hallucinations, abnormal thoughts and low mood are also symptoms of mental disorders. The overlapping symptoms have led to differences in diagnoses and eventually different forms of interventions. A study in The Netherlands has found out that many Muslims attribute not only mental health problems to jinn possession (Lim et al., 2018), but also psychotic symptoms to jinn possession (Lim et al., 2015). A study in Saudi Arabia found that Muslims attribute epilepsy to jinn possession. In Iraq, faith healings are more prevalent than psychiatric treatment in the treatment of mental illnesses (Maha et al., 2019). As there are overlapping symptoms between jinn possession and mental disorders, it is also possible that those who have been diagnosed with mental disorders may also be affected by jinn possession.

Method
An exploratory study was done to investigate the possibility of jinn possession amongst those who have already been diagnosed with mental disorders using four case studies.

Case 1:
The patient is a male who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia. He has six significant symptoms associated with jinn possession, i.e. feeling suicidal, loner, seeing things, hearing voices, loss of ability to focus and laziness.
Case 2: The patient is a male who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia. He has five significant symptoms associated with jinn possession, i.e. inability to focus, laziness, aversion from remembering Allah, hearing voices and paranoia.

Case 3:
The patient is a female who has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. She had five significant symptoms associated with jinn possession, i.e. inability to focus, paranoid, loss of meaning of life, ill thoughts and loner, and three non-significant symptoms, i.e. extreme anger, frequently anxious and frequent headaches.

Case 4:
The patient is a female who has been diagnosed with epilepsy. She had six significant symptoms associated with jinn possession, i.e. inability to focus, seeing things, loner, loss of meaning of life, extreme tiredness and dream of poisonous animals. She had three non-significant symptoms, i.e. extreme anger, seizures, loss of appetite.
Feeling hot is one of the reactions to ruqyah for those with jinn possession. The temperature can be monitored using a thermal imaging camera. Ruqyah were performed on four patients with mental disorder, and their thermal images before and after ruqyah were taken. The colour spectrum scheme of the thermal images was set to display white as the hottest and black as the coldest. All four patients were on medication for their respective mental disorders.

Results
The outcome of the case studies are as follows: Result Case 1: The thermal images of the patient with schizophrenia is shown in Fig. 1. After ruqyah, the subject's hands and right foot became hotter.

Result Case 2:
The thermal images of the patient with schizophrenia is shown in Fig 2. After ruqyah, his face and legs became hotter.

Result Case 3:
The thermal images of the patient with bipolar disorder is shown in Fig. 3. After ruqyah, her whole body became hotter.

Result Case 4:
The thermal images of the patient with epilepsy is shown in Fig. 4. After ruqyah, her face, hands and legs became hotter.

Figure 2: Thermal images of the subject with schizophrenia
Before ruqyah After ruqyah

Figure 3: Thermal images of the subject with bipolar
Before ruqyah After ruqyah

Figure 4: Thermal images of the subject with epilepsy
Before ruqyah After ruqyah

Discussion
Temperature increase was observed in all four patients. This is an indication that the four patients have jinn possession, according to ruqyah practitioners. The differences in diagnosis between psychiatrists and ruqyah practitioners do not mean that one or the other is wrong. Instead, the diagnosis was made to enable the best intervention from the perspectives of ruqyah practitioners and psychiatrists. Since there are overlapping symptoms between mental disorders and jinn possession, it can be said that all four patients have mental disorders and also have jinn possession.
Ruqyah is a complementary therapy, and in these cases, the patients could benefit from both modern medical treatment and complementary ruqyah therapy. Many studies have shown ruqyah therapy has brought therapeutic benefits to those with or without jinn possession. A case study on using ruqyah on a patient with severe cluster headache who initially only responded to morphine treatment has brought very significant improvement. The patient stopped being reliant on morphine since starting ruqyah therapy and continued to experience sustainable health improvement (Hamidi & Supyan, 2021b). Another case study on a person with severe eczema achieved extraordinary improvement after four days of ruqyah therapy. The person had symptoms of jinn possession (Hamidi & Supyan, 2021a). Studies had also showed the therapeutic effect of ruqyah on the treatment of depression (Afifudin & Nooraini, 2016;Musthika & Kumoro, 2020;M. Fais & Anwar, 2020;Zul Azlin et al., 2018). Ruqyah, being a popular therapy for jinn possession, can complement modern medicine for the treatment of those who have been diagnosed with mental disorders and at the same time have symptoms of jinn possession. The importance of Complementary therapy is being recognised by the World Health Organisation (WHO), where it has formulated its strategy for promoting and supporting member states in the use of Traditional and Complementary Medicine (WHO, 2013).