In the 1973 film «The Exorcist,» a mother seeking help for her supposedly possessed daughter is instructed to first obtain medical proof that the girl has no underlying mental illness before church authorities will consider an exorcism.
In Kazakhstan, some people assert they can expel jinns (spirits) without first examining those who seek their services and offer such services for profit, according to Daniyar Zhumabekov, imam of the Kaskelen mosque in the Almaty region. He made these comments in a recent interview with the Baisemiz Life podcast.
Imam warns against profit-driven «exorcists»
Zhumabekov — known nationwide as the «Exorcist Imam» — said that some imams in Almaty not only promise successful exorcisms but also charge up to 3 million tenge (about $6,000) for these services. He clarified that offering guarantees of success is improper.
“It is better to approach this with sincere intentions and faith,” he noted.
According to the imam, those who claim they can identify a jinn simply by looking at a person’s eyes or face are mistaken, and such claims are said to contradict Sharia. Moreover, the Quran states that the devil and his followers see people, but people cannot see them.
«People do not see jinns in their true form»
Zhumabekov stressed that humans cannot see jinns in their actual form. He said a jinn may appear as a goat, a dog, a sheep, or even another person — such as a relative — but even such sightings are usually coincidental or imagined.
He gave examples: seeing a girl on a road with hooves for feet, or a goat in a field making a humanlike sound.
«This does not mean someone saw a jinn,» he said. «And even if such things happen, they are a figment of the person’s imagination.»
How the imam determines possession
When asked how he identifies possession, Zhumabekov said the reaction occurs during Quran recitation.
«Someone cries, someone gets scared, someone starts fighting. Others growl or meow like a cat. Someone rolls over if there is an evil spirit. If not, they sit still,» he explained. «Some people feel back pain, some yawn, some tear up. Some become sad; others get excited. There are many different phenomena. Based on those, I tell them if I notice anything unusual — something malicious, like magic or the evil eye.»
Unqualified clerics mislead the public
Zhumabekov noted that uneducated or untrained clerics may unintentionally mislead individuals seeking help. He observed that some claim to have studied in Egypt or Pakistan; however, he stated that such study alone does not necessarily qualify them to diagnose spiritual possession.
«Someone may say, ‘I talked to a demon,’ because a person’s voice changed — became unrecognizable, thickened, or thinned while speaking,» he explained. «But that does not mean the imam spoke to a jinn. Sometimes a person is unaware of what they said or how they said it. Declaring someone possessed based on such symptoms is a mistake.»
