Do Souls of the Dead Return Back to this World? part III

The Supernatural is thus not the World of Spirits and Lost Souls, but the World of Jinn SPIRIT POSSESSION Another widespread fallacy is the concept of spirit-possession, during which a supposed spirit (of a dead person) occupies the human body and the individual experiences fits and epilepsy. The Shaytaan has used this false belief so strongly to corrupt people's Aqeedah that some of those who believe in spirit possession even commit acts of Shirk, like performing un-Islamic rituals and offerings at the tombs, hanging amulets containing words of disbelief, etc. to protect themselves from possession and to seek treatment. It should be made known that most of these cases are due to psychological illness, mistakenly understood to be spirit-possession. The reason behind the prevalence of this misconception, to some extent, is the practice of some exorcists, who have made exorcism a way of obtaining money from the common masses. They convince people into believing that they have been possessed by spirits and earn money in the name of treatment. However, real cases of possession are very few and they are due to the Jinn, who occupy the human body and not spirits. And Al-hamdulillah, Allah and His Messenger (sallallahu alaihe wa-sallam) have rightly guided us in this regard; anybody possessed by the Jinn can be cured by the prescribed treatment mentioned in the Sunnah of Allah's Messenger (sallallahu alaihe wa-sallam), Insha'Allah. The Reality : In light of what has preceded (about the soul and its journey after death in the previous article), it can be undoubtedly said that spirits of the dead do not return back to the world after death. Thus, it is not possible that the spirits can possess the human body. The only possible source, which could be involved in possessing human body, is the Jinn. Shaikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (rahimahullah) states in Majmoo al-Fatawa, "The existence of the Jinn is an established fact, according to the Book, the Sunnah and the agreement of the early scholars. Likewise, the penetration of a Jinni into a human body is also an established fact, according to the consensus of leading Sunni scholars. It is also a fact witnessed and experienced by anyone who reflects on it. The Jinni enters the one seized by fits and causes him to speak incomprehensible words, unknown to himself; if the one seized by fits is struck a blow sufficient to kill a camel, he does not feel it." Evidence for Jinn Possession Allah says: "Those who eat Riba (interest) will not stand (on the Day of Judgment) except like the standing of a person beaten by the Shaytaan leading him to insanity ('mass')." [Soorah al-Baqarah (2): 275] In this verse, Allah compares the state of those who eat Riba, on the Day of Judgment, with the one beaten by the Shaytan leading him to insanity. The word used in this verse for insanity is 'mass', which also means devil possession. Since Allah has made the Qur'aan, the most truthful book, it can never contain a false comparison. Therefore, this verse proves the truthfulness of Jinn-possession. Al-Qurtubee writes in his Tafseer of this verse: "This verse contains proof against those who deny the possession by way of Jinn, claiming that it is a result of natural causes, as well as those who claim that Shaytaan does not enter humans nor does he touch them." Clear Evidence of Jinn possession from the Sunnah are in a number of authentic tradition, one of which is related by, Ya'la Ibn Murah (radhiallahu anhu), who says: "I saw Allah's Messenger (sallallahu alaihe wa-sallam) do three things which no one before or after me saw. I went with him on a trip. On the way, we passed by a woman sitting at the roadside with a young boy. She called out, 'O Messenger of Allah, this boy is afflicted with a trial, and from him we have also been afflicted with a trial. I don't know how many times per day he is seized by fits.' He (sallallahu alaihe wa-sallam) said: 'Give him to me.' So she lifted him up to the Prophet. He (sallallahu alaihe wa-sallam) then placed the boy between himself and the middle of the saddle, opened the boy's mouth and blew in it three times, saying, 'In the name of Allah, I am the slave of Allah, get out, enemy of Allah!' Then he gave the boy back to her and said: 'Meet us on our return at this same place and inform us how he has fared.' We then went. On our return, we found her in the same place with three sheep. When he said to her, 'How has your son fared?' She replied: 'By the One who sent you with the truth, we have not detected anything (unusual) in his behavior up to this time