Afghans Seek Magical Solutions

Tuesday, 20 July, 2010

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Abdol Wahed Faramarz

It was an embarrassing secret that first made Hamed turn to a magical healer. After two months of marriage, he was unable to have sexual intercourse with his wife. Feeling desperate and certain he was under a curse, the 25-year-old Afghan decided to go to a well-known mullah and ask him to help defeat the spell.

“The mullah charged me 200 US dollars for a talisman and a pill, and told me to burn the talisman in my room and take the pill, which his jinn [supernatural spirit] had brought from the other side of the world,” said Hamid. “The condition was that no one else should know about it, otherwise I would remain cursed to the end of my days.”

The English letters on the pill did make him suspicious, so he showed it to his uncle, a doctor, who told him, “This is Viagra, which you can find in nearly every chemist, and costs only one dollar.”

There is a long history of belief in magical practices, including amulets and fortune-telling, in Afghanistan. Many, particularly the poor, still seek out these traditional ways of solving problems, despite warnings from senior clerics that such practices are contrary to Islamic precepts and lead to exploitation by charlatans.

Specialist talisman inscribers claim to be able to fix all sorts of problems, from diseases and infertility to bringing lovers together, tracking down lost or stolen items, and boosting or destroying a business.

Their methods include blowing on their clients, scraping them with a knife blade, hitting them with thin, wet sticks, drawing geometrical shapes, writing mysterious figures or copying out verses of the Koran to make an amulet.

Talismans often come with special guidelines instructing that they should be buried, burnt, or washed in water which must then be drunk by the customer. Sometimes the talisman is hung around the neck of a sick person, or placed under a pillow.

Although Islam prohibits supernatural practices, these traditions have become so deeply ingrained in Afghan culture that many people believe they are part of the religion.

Mawlawi Abdul Latif Sajadi, a member of Afghanistan’s Council of Islamic Clerics, says he does not doubt that Koranic verses can cure, but only if they are recited with the aim of seeking help directly from God.

“Those who inscribe talismans are not clerics and they don’t know about Islam. They are illiterate, or near -illiterate. People should not commit sins by going to them,” he said.

Some fortunetellers argue that God has blessed them with the power to heal the sick and do other extraordinary things.

Wearing a turban and a pair of sunglasses, talisman inscriber Mohammad Rafi, 55, sits at the corner of the Maiwand Road busily writing out charms.

Every day, he waits by the roadside to earn a living. He says he has at least ten clients a day who come to share their problems and seek solutions. He earns about 14 dollars a day, and insists his work is not un-Islamic.

“I inscribe talismans and tell fortunes to serve people and earn my bread,” he said. “They are all Koranic verses, and they cure illnesses.”

He says that he has been doing the same thing all his life and no one has ever told him it is forbidden by Islam.

Sajadi, however, insists that both providing talismans and using them are sinful acts.

“Fortune-telling and talisman-writing have no scientific or religious effects or benefits,” he said. “The work and earnings of those who make a living through writing talismans are proscribed. Those who seek and receive talismans are also committing sins.”

Often, it is the poorest and least-educated sections of society who rely on charms.

IWPR interviewed Noria, a 35-year-old woman covered entirely by her veil, as she came out of a talisman shop.

She explained that her husband was paralysed six months previously, but his doctors stopped treating him, saying that he would get well in another six months.

Noria, who is illiterate, does not believe in doctors.

“The talisman inscriber told me my husband has been cursed by jinns,” she said.

Noria ties talismans to her husband’s paralysed side and sometimes burns or washes other charms for him. With their help, she said, her husband is getting better.

“This mullah is a very good person; he has healing hands,” she said. “He doesn’t charge much, which makes him very good for poor people like me. Many people have had positive results from talismans from this mullah.”

Dr Aimal Naseri, a doctor at Kabul’s Ali Abad Hospital, said the man’s paralysis could be improving by itself.

“There are many people who believe in talisman and won’t take the sick to see a doctor,” he said. “They keep going to talisman inscribers until the patient is close to death.”

Young sweethearts facing difficulties in getting married provide another major source of income for the talisman writers and fortune-tellers.

Sitting under a tree in the Khushi district of Logar province in southern Afghanistan, Shafiqullah, 30, recounted how he fell deeply in love with a girl from his village. Her father, however, refused to let her marry such a poor suitor.

But undeterred, Shafiqullah spent two years and a great deal of money on talismans. Finally, he said, “I got my sweetheart by giving a sheep to the talisman writer”.

Shafiqullah believes the charms worked, and now he and his beloved are married with two children. “I am very happy,” he said.

Abdul Basir Farid, a professor at the religious studies faculty of Kabul University, said relying on talismans to secure love counts as magic, which is totally forbidden under Islam. Anyone who does magic is regarded as an unbeliever.

“People rely on lucky charms because of the social and economic problems they face in their lives,” he said. “The government doesn’t try to solve people’s problems, so they’re compelled to seek help from the talisman writers, who besides cheating people and stealing their money, create lots of family problems.”

Ali Khan can attest to that. The 45-year-old farmer says he spent a huge amount of money visiting talisman writers in the hope that he and his wife could have a child.

He was told that someone had cast a spell against him, but the talismans had no effect. After 20 years of marriage, he grew tired of paying for magic charms and sought proper medical attention.

“After a year of treatment, my wife became pregnant and my 20 years of misery ended,” he said.

Ali Khan now takes a dim view of amulet sellers.

“They took my whole life and all my belongings,” he said. “They are religious thieves. The government should arrest and punish them for cheating people while using the words of God.”

Abdol Wahed Faramarz is an IWPR-trained reporter in Kabul.