Islamic Witch Hunts

The belief in possession by jinn, witchcraft, and the effects of the "evil eye" are mainstream Islamic beliefs, supported by sahih (authentic) hadith. Prophet Muhammad believed himself to have been affected by the evil eye and the witchcraft of a Jew. Consequently, the evil eye is considered a fact that is responsible for the deaths of many Muslims (second only to the will of Allah).

Today, the motif of the Hand of Fatima (daughter of Muhammad) is used everywhere in North Africa, especially in jewelry and in door knockers, because it "keeps away the Evil Eye," and according to Islamic scholars, witches must be executed without hesitation.

Algeria

• 35 people, including a 83-year-old woman, accused of witchcraft are arrested in a village south of Bordj Bouarreridj. Material allegedly used for rituals and healing are seized

Belgium

• Authorities arrest a Moroccan Muslim faith healer over what appears to be an exorcism gone wrong. The 'treatment' given to the 18 year-old lesbian girl results in her dying of burns
• Muslim woman believed to be possessed, dies from exorcism after the exorcists put their fingers down the woman’s throat, forced her into bathing in hot water and beat her with a stick

Gambia

• Guinean witch-hunters accompanied by police, army and national intelligence agents kidnap up to 1,000 people on suspicion of witchcraft after Pres. Yahya Jammeh's grandmother dies from "witchcraft". Forced to consume poisonous drinks, leaving at least two dead

India

• 5 Muslim widows are dragged out of their huts by a mob, then taken to a playground, stripped naked, beaten and forced to eat human excrement in front of hundreds of villagers after being labeled as witches by a local cleric
• In 2 separate incidents, male villagers suspected to be involved in sorcery are attacked. One of them is beaten to death, while the other is hospitalized from injuries he gained from a group of villagers

Kuwait

• Interior Ministry sources say the 1,800, mainly Falasha (Ethiopian/black) Jewish maids working in Kuwaiti households practice black magic and are a danger to Muslim children
• Woman loses custody of her two children because she is a "witch" who "practices sorcery". Court places the children in her ex-husbands care
• Women to be summoned for interrogation by police, after her ex-husband files a complaint accusing her of practicing black magic and harming him and his two daughters

Nigeria

• A man who allegedly confessed to murdering women to use in witchcraft rituals, is forced out of the town chief's office by a Muslim lynch mob and beaten to death. The mob also burn a part of the chiefs office

Pakistan

• Sufi master tortures a 16-year-old boy to exorcise him of demons. Medical examination confirms the "boy’s muscles have been damaged due to the bruises caused by hot blades and knives"
• Pir recites Quranic verses and slowly tortures to death a 19-year-old mentally challenged boy and beats his twin brother violently with a rod to exorcise a djinn from their bodies

Palestinian Authority area

• 62 year old shot to death by Muslims in her home and in front of her husband. She had been accused by neighbors of practicing witchcraft, a claim which was investigated by Hamas authorities
• 150 women arrested in 2010 in Gaza for witchcraft of some sort. One of the Palestinian awareness campaigns against "witches" was launched by displaying large posters in mosques, universities and public offices

Saudi Arabia

• Illiterate woman arrested in 2005 for practicing witchcraft and convicted in 2008 after being beaten and forced to "sign" a confession, now faces death by beheading. One of her accusers claims she made him impotent
• "Saudi courts are sanctioning a literal witch hunt by the religious police." Lebanese TV presenter sentenced to death on charges of witchcraft. Two other people arrested on similar charges in the last month alone
• On the advice of a Muslim cleric, a 29-year-old male is chained in a basement apartment in Mecca for more than six years due to his father believing he's possessed by an evil female jinn
• Man shoots 7 bullets at different parts of a man’s body, killing him, then hands himself over to the police and tells them he did it because the man was a sorcerer who tried to cast a magic spell on him and his wife
• "Sorceress" who practiced witchcraft on 98 "victims" is arrested. She faces trial for practicing sorcery while experts will be called in to "neutralize the effects and spells of her talismans and other tools"
• Religious police "break" a spell that a housemaid put on 5 daughters of her elderly employer. According to the Head of the Commission, foreigners, particularly women, responsible for these acts of black magic in Saudi Arabia
• Sudanese man named Abdul Hamid al-Fakki, accussed of witchcraft and sorcery, beheaded by sword. His September execution brings to 42 the number of people beheaded in Saudi Arabia this year
• African man sentenced to eight months in prison and 300 lashes for practicing black magic near the Jamarat area in Mina on the third day of Hajj
• Saudi woman convicted of "practicing witchcraft and sorcery," is beheaded in a cruel "three steps" gradual beheading, taking the total number of executions in Saudi Arabia for 2011 to 73
• Muslim faith healer beats Egyptian woman to death in an attempt to extract the jinn that "possessed" her
• Father blames Asian housemaid for killing his little daughter using black magic and trying to do the same to his entire family. Older daughter "possessed" by jinn, confirming the maids guilt, she is arrested by religious police
• Sri Lankan woman facing decapitation by sword on a witchcraft charge, after a Saudi man claims his 13-year-old daughter "suddenly started acting in an abnormal way, which happened after she came close to the Sri Lankan"
• Police arrest Indonesian maid who allegedly "controlled a Saudi family for nearly 20 years by forcing them to follow her orders through magic" and causing them "health problems"
• Saudi man found in possession of books and talismans, executed by beheading on charges of sorcery and witchcraft
• "Recently, all family members has started to suffer from fainting and epileptic fits. After the housemaid fled, we found magic items", Indonesian housemaid hunted by Police for being a witch

United Kingdom

• Women severely injured after hours of being tied to a bed, soaked in holy water and beaten with a cane by an imam in an exorcism watched by family, husband encourages him to hit her harder in order to ‘beat the demon out’

Yemen

• 'Supporters of Shari'ah Law' break into the home of a herbal healer, behead her for "practicing magic and sorcery", and then hang her severed head in front of another popular healer's home as a warning to him

Downloads

• Islamic Voodoos - PDF - A free 147 page eBook

See Also

• Witchcraft - A hub page that leads to other articles related to Witchcraft

External Links

• The evil eye an obsession for most Middle Eastern families - Diana al-Jassem, Arab News, December 31, 2010