I Am Being Menaced By A Jinn, What Do I Do?

Answered by Shaykh Gibril F Haddad

Question: Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and I see the silhouette of a human standing beside my bed. I don’t see a face or hands or anything of that sort. The other night, I woke up to find this figure beside my sister’s bed . I didn’t think anything of it and started to recite my surahs until I fell asleep. The next morning my sister told me that someone was standing next to her and pushing her down into her bed as if to suffocate her and when she woke up she was paralyzed and could not speak to ask for help.

I wonder if for all these years what I thought to be simple black shadows of the night could actually be something else. I have not told my sister or anyone about these shadows before, but I am now truly worried. I know that my mind is not playing tricks on me when I wake at night, as I tend to wake up fully and feel refreshed. If I am worrying over nothing, then great, but if what I see is what I suspect, then how can I help myself? I have very strong beliefs in Islam and in Allah Almighty, but I cannot help being scared.

Answer: In the name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful,

Turn to Allah Most High by Whose permission alone everything can be done and undone; and invoke abundant blessings on the Prophet and his Family. Make sure you and your sister retire at night always with tahara whenever possible and in the daytime as well. Recite before sleep the last three ayats of Surat al-Baqara and the Mu`awwidhat for protection (last three Suras). Observe your prayers scrupulously and all your obligations. Let your quarters be spic and span, use a little incense from time to time, and let them resound with Qur’anic recitation and dhikr. Keep the du’a against the undesirable jinn presence; this du`a is in Imam al-Nawawi’s Adhkar under ruqya and/or ta’widh and is: A`udhu billahi wa-bikalimaatihi al-taammaat….

If these detestable visits continue, slaughter a sheep and distribute it entirely to the poor to the intention that Allah lifts away that illness from your persons. Do not keep connections with evil people and activities but only with holy people. The above occurrences are the reason why it is advisable for parents to have their children wear ta’widh on their persons at all times as they are especially vulnerable.

Hajj Gibril