Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s (UKM) Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities will hold a two-day forum to help local Muslim doctors reconcile their beliefs in spiritual beings and black magic with modern medicine.

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 8 ― Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) will hold a two-day regional forum later this month, which it said aims to help local Muslim doctors reconcile their beliefs in spiritual beings and black magic with modern medicine.

The forum, organised under the university’s Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, will feature several international faith healers, a surgeon from Indonesia, and a local medical officer to share their experiences in dealing with “supernatural cases” and “djinns” (genie).

“We want to combine information from both medical and psycho-therapy fields to talk about medical diseases that look medical, but are actually not,” organiser Nor Azian Ab Rahman, a PhD candidate with the university, told Malay Mail Online over phone.

“As a Muslim, we hold to the scriptures and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad. Djinns can cause diseases, so how do we prove it through science and logic?”

Before the advent of modern medicine, malicious black magic involving malevolent “makhluk halus” (fairies, or “unseen beings”) such as djinns were often blamed by the Malay community for ailments that were then treated using exorcisms.

Historically, the Malays would consult a bomoh or pawang, a shaman who mixes ancient pagan and Islamic teachings, but the role is now increasingly undertaken by pseudo-scientific faith healers.

The forum, scheduled for November 29 and 30 is held in collaboration with the Federation of Islamic Medicine Practitioners' Associations (Gappima) and United Kingdom-based faith healing group Professional Islamic Support and Nurture Group (Pisang).

Azian is also Pisang’s secretary and director of research, in addition to Gappima’s assistant secretary.

The regional forum is funded by the Selangor Zakat Board.

Among the topics to be discussed are “black magic phenomena in medical cases” and “djinn possession in mental health disorder”.

Azian said her field of research is in the “signs and symptoms of djinn-related diseases”, part of a programme compiling “local knowledge” under a RM7 million five-year Long-Term Research Grant Scheme on “healing” involving UKM and Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM).

When asked to elaborate on “supernatural diseases”, Azian related the experience of Dr Sagiran, a surgeon with Muhammadiyah University of Yogyakarta, Indonesia, who treated a patient with 27 nails found inside him.

Azian said the nails returned even after Dr Sagiran removed them surgically, and only disappeared when Dr Sagiran implemented faith healing that included prayer recitals to “exorcise” the djinn from the patient.

As such, Dr Sagiran will be one of the speakers in the forum, in addition to: Fadhlan Abu Yasir, the president of Indonesian faith healing group Ruqyah Syar'iyyah; Pisang’s president Hamidi Abdul Rahman; and Ministry of Health’s medical officer Dr Hafizah Amanulla.

Azian said the Malay community had used both paranormal and physical approaches in medicine before the 15th century, but later lost out to modern medicine brought by Western colonials.

She said she hopes the forum and research will help Islamic healing be integrated into the local healthcare system, where doctors can refer patients to faith healers when they recognise symptoms of djinn possessions or black magic.

“Even for mental disorder, in the field of psychiatry and mental health, they do not take into account the djinn factor,” Azian claimed.

“They have to admit, there are still many things which are left unanswered in the medical field … We hope to find points of intersections, where we can collaborate.”