Iblisinanewgarment:twelvewaysfraudulent"raqis"deceive—withcasestoriesfrompractice

"I am a clear warner to you"

The source opens this sequel to its essay on ruqyah's enemies with two narrations from the introduction of Sahih Muslim. 'Abdullah ibn 'Amr said: "In the sea are devils imprisoned, bound by Sulayman; soon they will emerge and recite Quran to the people." And 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud said: "Shaytan takes the form of a man and comes to people and tells them lies, and they disperse, and one of them says: I heard a man whose face I recognise, though I do not know his name, narrating…" Both are Companions' reports on unseen matters, and so carry the ruling of the raised (marfū') — devils will come wrapped in Quran. Then the hadith "the religion is sincere counsel" — and so, out of duty to patients and fear for the reputation of treatment by the Quran, the source warns against men whose fame is built on falsehood dressed as truth.

The trigger, it says, was the spread of raqis wearing the garment of the Book and the Sunnah while walking the path of sorcerers, soothsayers and liars. The sick person longs to hear the detail of his illness and the evils surrounding him — and this class of criminal learned to feed that longing. Their methods:

The twelve marks of the fraud

1. Some are themselves possessed — patients who never recovered, who now "treat" others with the help of the mass that is in them.
2. Some use the so-called "Muslim jinn" — plentiful, the source says, in its author's own city of Jeddah — hiding it and appearing to recite Quran only; some even carry recommendations from sheikhs. They have plunged patients into ruin.
3. They lie to society that they are the most knowledgeable of people in ruqyah and treatment.
4. They award themselves titles — "consultant in the science of jinn and medicine" — before an audience that has no idea who they were a few years earlier.
5. They diagnose by falsehood — with jinn-fetched "news" or plain lies under oath: "So-and-so is afflicted by 'ayn", "this is sihr", "this is only psychological" — and often the truth is the reverse.
6. Some open luxury clinics — finest dress, plush premises in the best districts — and the appearance itself becomes the deception.
7. They diagnose without reciting. One of them, patients report, never reads more than a single verse — sometimes not even to its end — before pronouncing on 'ayn and sihr from a symptom checklist.
8. One chokes nearly every patient. He seizes the patient, who blacks out for seconds; on waking, the fraud announces that the knots are undone, the sihr annulled, the jinni killed or burned — some are even told to prostrate in thanks for a cure that never happened. The source notes in passing that pressure of this kind has been said to have effect in some cases — but not like this, it says. (Our position is stricter still: no choking, no force, ever. It appears in classical discussion and we mention it only to warn.)
9. The "herb expert". One claims to have discovered herbs no one before him knew, mixtures "guaranteed to kill the jinn and annul the sihr on the first dose". Analysis of his greens revealed crushed croton seeds (habb al-mulūk) disguised in the blend — a violent purgative. He orders patients to take it for three weeks; most cannot bear ten days of the gripping pain, and the after-effects are ruinous. (Croton seed is genuinely toxic. Never take unlabelled mixtures from anyone.)
10. This is happening in the source's own city. Every week, it says, patients bring stories that shake the body — of men who appear pious and upright and have entangled unsuspecting women: some fell, some escaped when the "sheikh's" demands or false marriage promises exposed him.
11. The seclusion trick. Challenged on how he could seclude himself with a woman with no mahram, one of them answered: "There is no seclusion — we are three: me, her, and the jinni inside her." The man who said this, the source notes bitterly, was no ignorant layman but an imam and khatib — "but it is fitnah".
12. The protected one. One operates above every rule because of his connections — "the letter wāw: wāsitah" — ignoring regulations, untouched by complaints, "even if a patient died at his hands".

Where are the authorities?

The source recalls when the religious-affairs committees genuinely followed up on raqis, and laments that firm measures have stopped while these men go on deceiving. Real oversight, it says, must fall on the connected and unconnected alike; and the frauds must be exposed with clear proof. It takes comfort that many patients themselves recoil: their fitrah refuses to continue with such men.

Three stories of one man — "the sheikh who chokes 99% of his patients"

The first. A woman called to describe her previous ruqyah. Asked what was recited and what she felt, she answered: he read one half-verse — "and when they had thrown, Moses said: what you have brought is sihr…" — then leapt from his place and choked her; she blacked out for seconds, and on waking was told: "You have sihr; its keeper is a boy of fourteen with a large tribe — but Allah will help you against them." The whole session: four minutes.

The second. A friend brought his wife, long afflicted. The raqi relating these stories recited; within ten minutes the signs appeared, and they continued for half an hour until the case was clear. The husband marvelled: at the other man's clinic, five minutes had cost a large sum — one third of it for two verses, and two thirds, as he put it, to be told "you must get along" and be ordered to kiss his wife in front of him — which he refused, astonished at such a man.

The third. A young man came still believing himself cured, since the fraud had "driven out his devils". Recitation showed nothing had left. How had it happened? Two verses, then the choke; he fell, blacked out, and on waking was told, "Praise Allah for your cure — prostrate in thanks." He wept in prostration on the tiles, thinking his blackout was the death of the jinni. It was nothing but the man's deceit.

And one more: a young woman in her twenties was told she "needed cupping — on the chest", the man pressing his hand to mark the spot. Terrified, she froze and fled; he then told her family that "the jinni" was behind her anger. Her own mother did not believe her account — and the girl was left with lasting distress and a broken trust in all raqis.

All these stories, the source says, concern a single practitioner — and were it not for the Prophet's way of saying "what is wrong with people who do such-and-such" without naming, it would have published the man's name and address.

What to take from this

• A real raqi recites — at length, clearly, from the Quran — and never needs theatrics, blackouts or announcements of instant cure.
• Any physical force is disqualifying. So is any seclusion with a woman, any touching, any "the jinni makes it allowed" excuse.
• Refuse unlabelled herbal mixtures outright.
• Grand titles, luxury clinics and celebrity prove nothing. Ask patients who have actually recovered, and ask the raqis known for their integrity.