Year: 2016
Type: article
Abstract: During my work on Qumran magical texts I often consulted Sándor on various questions raised by the texts.Our favourite topic was demonology, especially the question of demons as obstacle to a marriage.He referred to me cases known by him from contemporary Near Eastern practice.Girls who for some reason do not want to marry refuse the marriage proposal under the cover that they are already married to a demon.In order to get married to a human the girl should first divorce from her first husband.Gerda Sengers' book portrays similar cases from modern Egypt, where mental and physical health problems of married women are interpreted as consequences of an invasion of demons called ǧinn/asyād.Women are obsessed by demons who have entered the body through "openings".The spirit resides in the body of the woman and raises obstacles in family life.Healing usually results from the zār ceremony and Koran healing (Sengers 2003).
Author: Ida Fröhlich
Language: English
Subfield: Religious studies
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4324120972