Taming the nafs

Unbounded spirits and mental illness in militarized Pakistan

Bibliographic Data

ID2263958
AuthorsSanaullah Khan (0000-0002-9809-0301, Department of Anthropology Brandeis University Waltham Massachusetts USA, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume51
Issue4
Pages401-415
Publication date2023-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEthos (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0091-2131 • E-ISSN: 1548-1352
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/etho.12407
OpenAlexW4386804811
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited47

In Pakistan, jinn afflictions reveal the maddening effects of displacement, economic inequality, and household conflicts. In this article, I consider how healers treat conditions of the nafs (soul), specifically its impurity and corruption through material desires, as enhancing the susceptibility of clients to jinn affliction where healers prescribe engagement in pietistic activities and active remembrance of God (ẕikr) as a means of keeping the effects of spirits and the symptoms caused by them at bay. Healing also involves domesticating spirits and making them habitable with their human counterparts, as antagonistic relations between the two are seen as causes of acute symptoms (dauray). This process requires a range of negotiations with jinns, including efforts to convert them to Islam. The condition of the nafs and its continual purification are seen as necessary to ensure a peaceful relation between the jinn and the client, which is possible mainly by drawing upon the authority of Sufi lineages. Nafs and its relationship with spirits provide an opportunity to think about illness through relations between mind and the heart as well as the self and the other

Criminology · Epistemology · Islam · Language change · Negotiation · Political science · Relation (database) · Sociology · Soul · Theology · Islamic Studies and History · Law · Philosophy · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East · Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence

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