Kazakh Islam and the return of Jinn superstitions

The video of an ‘exorcism’ performed on a little girl that has gone viral on social networks is sparking heated debate in Kazakhstan. The denunciation of intellectual Gaziz Abišev: ‘The ultra-conservative part of society, behind the slogans of passionate ideologies, is trying in various ways to drag the nation back to the darkness of the past’.

Astana (AsiaNews) - The exorcist rite of ‘expulsion of the Jinn’ from a nine year old girl, conducted by a self-appointed healer who has become very popular, Kejkuat Ospanov, who spread the video on the web, has caused a stir and great discussion in Kazakhstan.

In it, the alleged exorcist wrestles with the ‘19-year-old Ljazzat’, an evil spirit (a Jinn, according to Islamic tradition) that had taken possession of the little girl's body, lying with her hands tied on the floor, screaming and crying while two adults hold her down. Ospanov asks the spirit questions in the Kazakh language, which the Jinn answers through the little girl.

In the dialogue it is revealed that Ljazzat is ‘19 years old, but a thousand years old’, and that he has taken possession of the girl ‘without spells’ along with eight other spirits. The girl had been brought to the healer because she was ‘behaving strangely as an adult’, according to her parents' account, “she didn't want to play with anything and didn't give any explanations, she claimed to be 19 years old and did the house cleaning without being asked”, and because of this sudden “maturity” her parents were frightened.

The Kazakh political scientist Gaziz Abišev commented on this scene on his Telegram channel, calling it ‘a symptom of the degradation of society’, wondering how parents can believe in Šajtans (Satan in Islam) and spirits that take possession of their daughter, to whom ‘such rituals can only cause enormous harm’.

Abišev proposes to put this ‘specialist in fighting black magic’ in front of some ‘jailbirds’, to see how he fares. In his opinion, phenomena of this kind are consequences of the falling level of education among the population of Kazakhstan.

He recalls that ‘the Kazakhs for a few decades tried to rise above the other peoples, producing engineers, doctors, programmers and other professionals of the highest level, while now the ultra-conservative part of society, behind the slogans of passionate ideologies, tries in various ways to take the nation back to the darkness of the past’.

The healer Kejkuat offers on his Facebook page the chart of his sessions, touring different cities in Kazakhstan, and in one of his latest posts he claims to have gone to heal people in Moldova.

As Imam Altynbek Utyskhanov has made known, prior to engaging in exorcism activities, Ospanov was one of the custodians of the central mosque in the city of Atyrau, without ever having received any religious appointments from the Spiritual Administration of Muslims.

According to the imam, ‘these rituals and mystical ideals, apart from the characters who perform them, speak of the growth of nostalgic feelings for customs that are justified without foundation through religion’.

According to Abišev, ‘religion is an important part of life, and offers many positive dimensions, but one must be able to distinguish authentic faith from the excesses of obscurantism’. He recalls the responsibility of parents and adult members of all families to maintain common sense.

The guarantor for children's rights, Dinara Zakieva, in turn commented on the ritual on Instagram, assuring that ‘we are working with the interior ministry and regional officials to investigate the personality of this exorcist and the data of the child subjected to exorcism, and we will give explanations for the incident’.

Several sites report comments on the incident, reminding of the importance of protecting children as the most important part of the entire society. On Orda.kz, a case is reported of a father with six adopted children in Šimkent, who uses violence on the children with pseudo-religious motives, beating them regularly without allowing them to wash themselves, and feeding them with food from the dogs and cats at home to ‘preserve them from evil spirits’.