How faith healers prey on the most vulnerable

Despite dire consequences, something leads hundreds to gamble their life and money on fake pirs and aamils every day

LAHORE:

Even in modern Pakistan, the inability to conceive and the frantic longing for a male child is what pushes throngs of people into the lion’s den of healers promising wellness through magic spells, divine intervention, or rituals on the furthest end of reasoning. Yet however, they seem to draw a massive audience, many of whom continue to swear by their mysterious healing capabilities despite being seemly hoodwinked or harmed in the process.

For Naeem Abbas and his wife Nusrat, who hail from Baghbanpura district of Lahore, even after six daughters and 18 years in relentless pursuits of a son, the desire is yet to be satiated. The desperate couple has now invested almost a decade of time going from one aamil to another and burned millions of rupees trying to undo an alleged curse that has kept them from begetting a son. “An elder told us that one of our relatives has bounded my wife from birthing a son by use of black magic spells, and we have since circled every pir and aamil looking for a solution, but the curse is too strong,” told Abbas with a degree of conviction.

However, for the cure to come through, it is Nusrat who has to sit through ghastly sessions in dark rooms, wear mysterious amulets, indulge in eerie practices, and consume things she finds herself better off not knowing. “I have not been harmed or physically violated, but there are things I have been told to do that I am too ashamed to mention in front of my husband, but these are things that I must do for the sake of my family,” said the woman, adding that she strongly believes that her curse will be lifted if they remain consistent and follow the unexplainable rituals.

Although Nusrat maintains that she remained unharmed during her inefficacious healing, there have been a number of cases where victims of such faith healers have had to face the most detrimental of consequences. Not too long ago, a faith healer was arrested from Lahore, after complaints of him abusing a woman and defrauding her out of rupees one million was reported to the police. Investigations later revealed that this wasn’t his only crime; the self-proclaimed aamil had sexually assaulted several women over the course of seven years.

However, putting these quack healers behind the bars is also an uphill battle itself. Per SSP Operations Lahore Mustansar Feroze, faith healing as a practice is not considered a crime, so it’s hard to arrest anyone unless there’s reason. “But even so, most of these aamils have religious backing, so it’s harder to go for them, but we still make arrests whenever there is a petition filed for fraud, deception, violence or abuse against these practitioners,” the officer asserted.

SSP Feroze is not wrong. It is often observed that such faux-healers tend to disguise themselves as god’s holy men, gifted with some kind of divine favour. Head of Jamia Naeemia in Lahore, Dr Ragheb Hussain Naeemi, who is also a member of the Islamic Ideological Council, clarifies that the Quran strictly prohibits any association with magic. “That being said, there is always the question of what exactly counts as magic and has remained contested for ages. Some people try to use this argument in a bid to make evil practices lawful in the name of Sifli and Alvi knowledge,” he commented.

Speaking in this regard, Dr Khalid Parvez assures that there is always a medical reason behind any kind of infertility, which too is medically treatable to a great extent. “There is nothing wrong with praying for divine intervention, but even the sunnat prescribes seeking medical aid as and when needed,” he told The Express Tribune.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 5^th, 2022.