Question

How can a person performing ruqyah manage or control violent jinn?

Answer

We seek refuge with Allāh from the evil that He has created, and we ask Allāh to protect us all from being overcome by our enemies.

The first thing that should be noted is that truly violent jinn are a small minority of ruqyah cases. No doubt, many of the jinn will thrash around, scream, threaten, and try to scare; however, the number that are actually willing to carry out their threats are relatively small, and all praise is for Allāh.

When you are dealing with truly violent jinn, there are a few points to bear in mind:

  • Your protection can only come from Allāh - place your trust completely in Him, and remember that Allāh is al-Qawiyy, al-Mateen - the Most Strong and the Most Powerful. If he protects you, there is nobody who can harm you, regardless of their strength.
  • Make frequent supplication, especially supplication for overcoming your enemy.
  • Do not try to overpower the jinn through strength. I see a lot of brothers make this mistake, especially if they are themselves strong. They try to compete with the jinn physically. Overpower the jinn through the Qur'an. Recite and blow, and trust completely that it will work. I had one case where the jinni decided that it wanted to twist and break my hand. The brother himself who was affected was extremely strong without a jinni, so with a jinni he was even worse. He started to crush my hand, and I simply read some words of remembrance, and blew on the hand he was crushing me with, and he completely let go. If you try to fight them with strength, they will usually win. If you try to fight them with the Qur'an, they will lose every single time. I remember another case in which a brother was so violent that they said that nobody could even do ruqyah upon him. I went to read on him and at first when he grabbed me, I tried to fight back, but it was just making it worse. So I just relaxed and focused completely on recitation, and the brother calmed down and listened. I spoke to him afterwards and he said to me that if I had carried on fighting back, he would have killed me, and he suggested that this was because of the pride and anger of wanting to overcome him. He said that when I relaxed and humbled myself before Allāh, and put my trust in the Qur'an, he couldn't attack me.
  • Don't just think about your own safety, but also the patient's safety. Make sure that there's nothing in the room that they could hurt themselves with. The majority of violent jinn will attack the patient before they attack the one performing ruqyah, so don't allow any dangerous objects in the room that the patient might hurt themselves with.
  • Don't allow the jinn to intimidate you. The jinn learn habits based on your reaction. If you let them hurt you and intimidate you, they will learn that they can get away with it, and do it all the time. If you put your foot down and teach the jinn that misbehaviour will lead to severe punishment with ruqyah, then they will soon learn that shouting, screaming, and violence don't help.
  • If you're struggling, keep some ruqyah water in a spray bottle and use it to subdue the jinn. Not all jinn are affected by it, but for many of them, it works.
  • Try to get help from other people. Having more than one person always makes you feel more confident, and helps you to deal with the issue in a way that is safer for you and for the patient.
  • Take some time to learn safe methods of controlling someone who is stronger than you. Take a day or two to learn simple and safe restraining techniques from a proficient teacher. As mentioned above, this will not get you 100% of the way, but it will give you increased confidence, and help you to safely manage the patient.
  • If you still can't manage, then at the end of the day, you have to keep yourself out of harms way, and to make du‘ā that Allāh helps the patient.
  • Be extremely cautious when physically restraining a patient, especially in countries which do not recognise ruqyah as a legitimate treatment. You are almost certainly doing something for which you could be prosecuted, and you likely have no legal backing for your actions. All that you can do is your best to bring the situation to a safe conclusion for you and for the patient.
  • Remember that your enemy doesn't overcome them because of their power, but because of your sin, so always take yourself to account, and repent.

Allāh knows best.