Is There Any Relation Between Sleep Paralysis and Jinn?

Answered by Ustadh Salman Younas

Question: Is there any mention of sleep paralysis relating to jinns in the Quran or Sunna?

Answer: assalamu alaykum

I have not been able to find anything in the Qur’an or sunna connecting sleep paralysis with the Jinn. There are certain later scholars that mention it as one of the potential causes for sleep paralysis. However, if this is true, it would certainly be considered the exception.

Sleep paralysis is in fact quite common. As with other health issues, if one is worried about something a doctor should be consulted. I should also point out that some of the causes linked to sleep paralysis could be tackled by fulfilling the prophetic guidelines of giving one’s body its due rights: healthy diet, proper rest, improved sleep hygiene, and so forth. Stress is also cited as a possible cause and here having a healthy spiritual component is important through prayer, supplication, and reciting Qur’an.

You should continue to ask Allah to grant you health and well being. One of the supplications related by Bukhari and Muslim from the Prophet (God bless him) relating to well-being is :

اللَّهُمَّ رَبَّ النَّاسِ أَذْهِبْ البَأْسَ ، وَاشْفِ أَنْتَ الشَّافِي ، لَا شِفَاءَ إِلَّا شِفَاؤُكَ شِفَاءً لَا يُغَادِرُ سَقَمًا

Finally, try to sleep on a state of purity, recite the four “Quls”, and the following before sleeping:

أَعُوذُ بِكلِمَاتِ الله التّامّاتِ مِن شَرّ مَا خَلَقَ

May we all be granted health and well-being inwardly and outwardly.

Salman

Checked & Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani