Possession of humans by jinn

30-6-2016 | IslamWeb

Question:

Assalaamu alaykum. Is there a consensus on the existence of jinn possesion, and where can it be found?

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

We have not come across a scholar who stated a consensus (Ijmaa') of the scholars that the jinn entering the body of the human being person is confirmed, but Shaykh Ibn Taymiyyah said, “There are no leading Muslim scholars who deny the entry of the jinn in the body of the possessed person and other than him, and whoever denies this and claims that the sharee'ah denies this fact, then he has indeed lied against the sharee'ah, and there is no Islamic evidence that negates this.” Nonetheless, this is not an explicit statement that there is a consensus of the scholars in this regards.

On the other hand, a narration reported from Ibn Hazm indicates that he denies this (jinn possession) as he said in his book entitled Al-Fisal fee Al-Milal wal-Ahwaa' wan-Nihal, “As regards possession (by jinn), then Allaah says (what means): {…as one whom the devil by his touch has driven to madness...} [Quran 2:275] So, Allaah Almighty mentioned the influence of the devil on the possessed person and that this happens by touching, so it is not permissible for anyone to add anything to this…” 

However, the possibility of the devil entering the human body and affecting it has been proven by evidence from the Quran and the Sunnah as well as sound practical sense; as we have already highlighted in fatwa 18484; so please refer to it.

Allaah knows best.