Kashmir’s dark side: How black magic is destroying lives

By : Mehr-u-Nisa Zargar

By early May, Shoby Jan, a resident of the Kachdoora area in south Kashmir’s Shopian allegedly showed an immense transformation in her behaviour. It was not normal.

After days of struggle, her husband Muzaffar Ahmed Sheikh got in touch with a faith healer from Qazigund in the Kulgam district. The “faith healer” came to her house in Kachdoora and right away said, Shoby was possessed by a Djinn.

After the “revelation” Shoby started facing a social boycott. Nobody visited her or went close to talk to her. She faced isolation for days after being confined to a secluded space in the house.

Zakir Ahmed Naik, a conman in the guise of a faith healer decided 24 May as the date for exorcism and landed in the house of Shoby in Kachdoora. The process of exorcism started and Zakir recited something with closed eyes and started performing an exorcism. He held a stick and beat Shoby Jan mercilessly. Shoby, as per her mother, kept pleading for mercy constantly. However, the Zakir said it was the Djinn pleading for mercy, not Shoby.

“I could hear the sound of my daughter. There was no Djinn. It was my dearest daughter. I asked Zakir to stop, but he told me that the exorcism was important to be performed. When I insisted on the fact that he should not beat Shoby. Zakir pushed her to the sides,” she said.

Zakir had the support of Shoby’s husband and her brother who kept supporting Zakir and did not pay a heed to her mother’s repeated cries for mercy.

Zakir kept beating Shoby with a stick until she fainted. Sensing trouble, Zakir told the family that the Djinn had left the body and Shoby needs to be taken home. “When Shoby did not wake up for a while. We took her to the hospital, where the Doctors declared her brought dead on arrival,” the mother said.

The Jammu Kashmir Police arrested three people in connection with Shoby’s death.

Recently in Kashmir valley, a lot of videos have appeared on social media where this serious issue of black magic has been emphasized with tangible events to shake the conscience of people about this tumultuous situation in which Kashmir has become terribly mired.

There are several stories to be told, but some stories are painful and dreadful enough to arouse the soul of any human. Likewise, a family in Srinagar’s Shalimar became a victim of black magic after they had some dispute on their paternal property

A family member wishing to maintain anonymity told that the family resided in a two-room house and that the brothers lived in the same house as well. He worked all day as a regular person, providing for his family and kids.

“My family has stayed quite poor and all the money we make is earmarked for all medical expenses. My children’s mental health deteriorated, and they began getting sick frequently. We also encountered significant financial difficulties,” His wife Rehana(name changed) told.

After being devastated by the sudden turn of events, Rehana went to a nearby saint. He began praying holding prayer beads after Rehana explained all of her issues. After pausing for a moment, he took a deep breath and informed me that someone had cast ‘black magic’ on the entire family. “My spirit shook as I listened to him, and I started crying. After a brief pause, he advised me to not worry and to visit him in the evening with my entire family and requested to bring a box of candles along,” she said.

What is black magic?

The practice of employing supernatural power for evil and self-serving purposes, such as getting out wicked activities to harm someone’s physical, mental, or financial well-being is known as black magic, sometimes known as witchcraft, dark magic, or left-hand route.

It has been historically used for the use of magic or other supernatural talents for evil or self-serving purposes, as well as magic that is related to the devil or other demonic beings.

Black Magic is described Religious scriptures as being black energy blended with spirits, Djinn, Movakkil, Devi, Devta, and Evil powers as well, which is why it is faster and stronger.

When weak planets or houses, such as the moon, Mercury, or the analytical power-related planet Rahu, Ketu, Saturn, or the most unfavorable planet, are in exact or close proximity to one another, one is more susceptible to black magic (energy).

In most traditional societies around the world, both historically and today, the phrase is frequently used to refer to people who employ metaphysical means to harm innocent people.

The term may now more frequently refer to benevolent, beneficial, or neutral modern paganism practises, like as divination or spellcraft, especially in western popular culture.

Paranormal and magical thinking both exist in common public beliefs.

Pseudoscientific justifications may affect how accepted reported paranormal events are, according to a 2012 study. The study examines paranormal beliefs and tests how three different versions of a supernatural news item affect undergraduate professional students using a paranormal belief survey and controlled experiment.

A story was told in three different ways: as a straightforward news piece, second with a pseudoscientific justification, and with a damning scientific critique. The findings showed that many students do believe in magic, but they were able to distinguish between real science and pseudoscience.

Students were more likely to find paranormal claims trustworthy, convincing, and scientific when they already held paranormal views.

Dr Nadeem, working in a government hospital in Kashmir said, “The practitioners of black magic in Kashmir are at times more trusted than a doctor. Patients of cough, fever, jaundice are treated with recitation instead of medicine.”

Things become worse when Black magicians seek favors by claiming to be an incarnation of a holy spirit, or the client’s wife or husband in a past life, Dr. Nadeem said.

When people are faced with problems, the ability to reason disappears, and the “practitioners” seize the chance. There are numerous examples of cheating and fraud on numerous charges, he feels.

The lack of any existential law against black magic in Kashmir prevents several people from reporting the harm caused to them by black magicians.

Of stories on black magic
Sehar, a victim of Black Magic said that the sense of fear around black magic is dominant in the society in Kashmir. “The emergence of Islam into Kashmir through Sufi Saints is the origin of the problem, I believe. People went to the Sufi Saints who were all Peers (faith healers) and they expressed their needs to the Sufi Saints, who in turn helped people. As the word spread, more and more number of needful rose with limited number of faith healers. In this scenario, a number of conmen rose to prominence and started deceiving people,” she told.

A few victims we spoke to said that the absence of law against the black magic in particular and the fear surrounding the black magicians makes them reluctant to not register complaints against them. “I lost my health to black magic and also identified the person who was going to a magician to harm my family. Initially, we thought of registering a complaint against them, however, we had already lost much during the three years that our neighbours did Sehar on us. We did not want any more trouble,” Sehar said.

Maharashtra has a law against Black Magic called Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act, 2013.

The Law is a criminal law act for the state of Maharashtra, India, originally drafted by anti-superstition activist and the founder of Maharashtra Andha Shraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS), Narendra Dabholkar (1945-2013) in 2003.

The act criminalises practices related to black magic, human sacrifices, use of magic remedies to cure ailments and other such acts which may exploit people’s superstitions.

Kashmir needs superstition law, but there needs to be discussion on what should be included. The force of law cannot dispel any superstition. A mental shift is required for it. However, laws that particularly target superstitious practises that are absolutely dehumanising, cruel, and exploitative are required to deal with them.

When Rehana returned home, she told her husband about it and he decided to visit the faith healer and departed from home in the evening with a box of candles as asked and arrived there at 7 o’clock.

Rehana while talking to us said that they were instructed to sit close to one another and the room was then locked. The faith healer took the candle box and lit the candles all around the family members. He then sat next to Rehana’s young daughter and began reciting the Qur’an aloud with his eyes closed.

Then he pulled out an empty steel plate with a red handkerchief on it from his left side. With that handkerchief, he covered the plate and began loudly reciting the Qur’an once more. After a moment, he pulled a large knife from his right hand and hit that plate twice. After that, he opened his eyes and removed the red cloth from the plate. The family was completely confused when they saw what was on the plate.

“It was horrifying. We observed a few wood seeds and a head of garlic that was coated in a tangle of indistinct black hair, several torn clothes that were coated in a film of mud and dust,” She sobbed.

“When we noticed further we discovered three folded papers and opened the page, our souls were terrified and our eyes remained wide open. Our names were engraved on it with blood, and an Arabic word bordered a human-like structure that resembled a monster. My kids were terrified, and our hearts were broken. The peer then walked outside, dug a hole, and buried the items there. He gave us some holy water to drink after he returned, and then we went home.”

People frequently act out of jealousy and use sorcery or black magic on one another to degrade them financially or emotionally, Peerzada Imran Shah, a renowned Sufi scholar from Bandipora told.

He said that people have now gone beyond all bounds, and they now desire to murder one another by using the black magic because they are jealous of one another’s advancements that Allah has bestowed upon them. “However, these illiterate and mentally ill individuals are unaware that, while they may torture someone, only God is capable of actually killing someone,” Imran who is a faith healer said.

Imran who also teaches at an Islamic seminary added that these nefarious actions have dramatically increased in Kashmir over the past few years. It’s an old procedure. Once, the magic spell that was used to spell out our beloved Prophet Muhammad (S. A. W) had an effect on him as well

According to him, “ This evil-doing is performed in order to divide families, to break marriage bonds, to have a loss in business, to disturb someone mentally, physically, financially and emotionally as well and it can be done using the victim’s hair, nails, clothes, photos, fishes, bones of animals and blood as well.”

Expressing concern over this menace, he said, “Keeping ourselves pure and clean can save us from this evil act and the Tilawat of Quran is very important because in today’s era we have lost our sense in mobile phones and other sinful acts. The house where Tilawat of the Quran is not done is the house of demons.”

Black magic has a lengthy history. Although it wasn’t invented until the contemporary age, it has been practiced for decades. We also have a limited understanding of Sehr and what is beyond the range of our sensory perception.

“The information found in Islam’s scripture sources is equally scant on specifics. In some versions of the story, the charm is “hair left on the Prophet’s comb” and “some other objects,” while in another, the charm is a string with a number of knots on it, and Muhammad SAW becomes ill and suffers from the magic.

Prophet SAW was afflicted by the enchantment, but after praying and receiving a dream or visit from Jibril(Gabriel) telling him what to do, he is ultimately healed by the might of God. This happened when Islam was just beginning.

Shah added, “Those evil magicians use the dead spirits, the jinnats to fulfil their intentions. As the jealousy among people is growing the numbers of such magicians are also growing, some do it to achieve evil powers by inversing the Quranic verses and some do it for money.

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