KAZAKHSTAN Kazakh Islam and the return of superstitions about the Jinn

The video of an “exorcism” performed on a girl that has gone viral on social networks is sparking strong discussions in Kazakhstan. The denunciation of the intellectual Gaziz Abišev: “The ultra-conservative part of society, behind the banners of passionate ideologies, is trying in various ways to return the nation to the darkness of the past.”

Astana () – The exorcism rite of “expulsion of the Jinn” of a 9-year-old girl, carried out by a self-proclaimed healer who has become very popular, Kejkuat Ospanov, who spread the video on the Internet, has caused a stir and great discussions in Kazakhstan. In it, the supposed exorcist fights with the “19-year-old Ljazzat”, an evil spirit (a Jinn, according to Islamic tradition) who had taken possession of the body of the girl, who lies with her hands tied on the ground, screaming and crying while two adults hold her down. Ospanov asks the spirit questions in the Kazakh language, which the genie answers through the girl.

In the dialogue it is revealed that Ljazzat is “19 years old, but a thousand”, and that he has taken possession of the girl “without spells” along with eight other spirits. The girl had been taken to the healer because “she behaved strangely like an adult,” according to her parents’ story, “she didn’t want to play with anything and she didn’t give any explanations, she said she was 19 years old and she cleaned the house without them. “No one would ask him,” and because of this sudden “maturity” his parents were scared.

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 taking possession of their daughter, that “such rituals can only cause enormous harm.” Abišev proposes putting this “specialist in the fight against black magic” in front of some “prisoners” to see how he does. In his opinion, these types of phenomena are a consequence of the decline in the educational level of the population of Kazakhstan. Remember that “for a few decades, the Kazakhs tried to rise above other peoples, producing engineers, doctors, programmers and other professionals of the highest level, while now the ultra-conservative part of society, behind the banners of passionate ideologies, “Tries in various ways to return the nation to the darkness of the past.”

On his Facebook page, the healer Kejkuat offers a graph of his sessions, in which he tours different cities in Kazakhstan, and in one of his latest posts he claims to have gone to heal people in Moldova. According to Imam Altynbek Utyskhanov, before dedicating himself to exorcism activities, Ospanov was one of the custodians of the central mosque of the city of Atyrau, without ever having received any religious appointment 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 know how to distinguish authentic faith from the excesses of obscurantism.” Remember the responsibility of parents and adult members of all families to maintain common sense. The guarantor of children’s rights, Dinara Zakieva, in turn commented on the ritual on Instagram, ensuring that “we are working with the Ministry of the Interior and regional officials to investigate the personality of this exorcist and the data of the child subjected to exorcism. and we will give explanations about the incident.

Several sites report comments on the incident, recalling the importance of protecting children as the most important part of the entire society. Orda.kz reports the case of a father with six adopted children in Šimkent, who exercises violence on the children for pseudo-religious reasons, regularly beating them without allowing them to wash and feeding them food from the dogs and cats in his home to “preserve them from the evil spirits.