Shaykh Uthaymin (rahimuLLAH) was asked:
“Do the Jinn have any influence on people? How can one protect oneself from this?”
He replied, “Undoubtedly, the Jinn can harm people. This can even come to murder and it is also possible for them to throw stones at you and frighten you in various ways, which has been authentically transmitted in the Sunnah and points to the reality.
The Prophet (SallAllahu alaihi wa Sallam) has said in an authentic tradition that he allowed some Sahaba to return to their families during a battle, I think the battle of the trench. There was one of them who was still a youth who had only married before. When he arrived at his house, he saw his wife standing at the door, which he did not like. She said to him, “Enter (the house)!”. He entered and saw a snake (entwined) on the bed. He took his spear and pierced it until it died. The moment the snake died, the man died too and it was not known who died first. The Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wa Sallam came to know about this and thereupon forbade the killing of snakes that were in the houses except in the case of 2 kinds of snakes.
This is proof that the Jinn can truly harm people, which can be seen in reality. There are many reports of people coming to deserted places and being pelted with stones and not being able to see anyone in these deserted places, or hearing the rustling of the leaves of the trees or even other things that frighten them. It is also possible for a Jinn to enter a person’s body. For good or evil reasons, as Allah says in the Qur’an:
2:275 “Those who devour interest shall not stand other than as one seized by Satan and driven to madness.”
In this way, the Jinn can speak from within man and also to those who read the Qur’an to him. The reader of the Qur’an (Raqi) sometimes then takes a promise from him that he will never do this again, which is well-known among people.
To protect oneself from the evil and harm of the Jinn is the reading of what has been transmitted in the Sunnah, such as Ayatul Kursyy (2:255), for whoever reads this in a night, Allah sends a protective guard to one and no Shaytan can approach that person until he wakes up. And Allah is the true protector!
Source: Fatawa of the honourable scholar Muhammad Ibn Salih al-Uthaymin
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