Seminar for Integrationsnet (Danish Refugee Council) on "Sundhed og trivsel i eksil - sundhedsfaglige og socialfaglige perspektiver i arbejdet med udsatte flygtninge og indvandrere", Copenhagen, Denmark 

Veranstalter Prof. Dr. Annabelle Böttcher (SDU), Prof. Dr. Angela Kaindl (Charité Universitätsmedizin), Ahmad Tarakji, MD (SAMS), Henriette Raddatz (Charité Universitätsmedizin), Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin , Berlin, 13 Okt. 2018

Concepts and perceptions related to body, physical and mental health differ substantially between and within cultures. The widespread Islamic belief in spirits, iinn, affects physical and mental wellbeing. Jinn are not only part of local folklore but are acknowledged by the so-called holy sources of Islam.

Jinn are part of a practicing Muslim's daily life. Opinions about the influence of jinn vary greatly. They are usually invisible, with a tendency of interfering in humans' lives. Occasionally they are said to even take over a human Muslim body, frequent-ly a female. Dealing with the risk of interference by jinn can cause stress and other health issues. This is aggravated by the fact that jinn are connected to an invisible world filled with demons, black magic, witchcraft and the evil eye. Muslims are belie-ved to protect themselves, through keeping their obligations to Islam, such as prayer, fasting, and reading Quran. Hence prevention against jinn encourages a return to the textualized model of Islam. To heal affliction attributed to jinn, Islamic religious scholars or healers are consulted for support, occasionally involving considerable financial investments and travels.  

Migration, communication with affordable portable devices through social media have brought the world closer together. These processes facilitate the transfer of belief in jinn into European health landscapes, like England, Denmark, or Germany. Various Muslim healing strategies and "Western" (mental) health care system compete, collide, overlap and sometimes com-plement each other. In order to be efficient, Western health care may be well-advised to reflect about these powerful concepts and perceptions that may impede its efficiency. 

In this workshop, clinical physicians, psychologists, anthropologists, Muslim scholars and scholars of Middle Eastern culture and Islamic Studies discuss through case studies, clinical practice and research, how concepts and perceptions of jinn influence physical and mental health adapt to global processes of change. And how are traditional healing strategies contextualized in "Western" health care systems?  

Keywords

Jinn, الجن‎, Islam, Muslim, healthcare, health system, Denmark, England, Scandinavia, angels, black magic, witchcraft, sihr, ruqya, ifrit, afarit, Islamic healing, body, mind, mental health, physical health, transcultural psychiatry, مسلم، الإسلام، الرعاية الصحية، الدنمارك، أوروبا، إسكندنافيا، الملائكة، السحر، شيطان، الشياطين

https://www.sdu.dk/en/om_sdu/institutter_centre/c_mellemoest/arrangementer

https://www.sdu.dk/en/om_sdu/institutter_centre/ih/arrangement_links