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Yussef Baddawi whipped the young woman across her shoulders in another effort to drive away the evil genies who he said possessed his patient.
The woman hardly winced during the treatment to cure her fainting spells and trances. Nor did she complain when Badawi made her listen earlier to a cassette of Muslim prayers blaring into her ears through headphones.``It's the evil genie who didn't want to listen to the Koranic verses and not Hanan,'' said Badawi, who like other exorcists has adopted the Egyptian religious title of sheikh.
Although the authorities frown upon the practice, exorcists, clairvoyants and sorcerers are enjoying a growing business in a poor country where the wealth gap is widening, sociologists say. Nowhere are they so evident as in the Nile Delta village of Tannah where Badawi lives. Indeed, Badawi says, there are 300 practitioners of the occult in Tannah who do brisk business with actors, government officials, Egyptian and Gulf businessmen as well as poor people.
Neither exorcists northeir patients appear to be deterred by reports of ceremonies degenerating into violence. A woman was reported beaten to death during an exorcism ceremony in Cairo on Sunday, while a son told police last month he murdered his ``exorcist'' father for driving genies (magical spirits) from his patients into him. Nor are many customers put off by the steep prices. Consultations can cost anywhere from three to 600 dollars. A well-known exorcist, Sheikh Ibrahim, is consulted only by wealthy customers who sometimes arrive by helicopter, one villager told AFP.
``Sheikh Ibrahi receives only stars, senior officials and Gulf nationals,'' said a woman who identified herself as Karima. In Tannah, a village of 10,000 residents, exorcism is not the only occult science practiced. Clairvoyants read the future in coffee cups and offer talismans to their visitors, while sorcerers cast evil spells on behalf of customers who bring a lock of hair, clothing or photograph of the person they want to harm. Such personal items arealso used by exorcists trying to help someone who is possessed by genies or suffering from a witch's curse.Before resorting to the whip, exorcists may write higabs magic messages on a paper or advise patients to drink rose water and cover their bodies in musk oil blessed with Koranic verses.
Although police frequently arrest practitioners of the occult, the phenomenon is widespread and growing in Egypt because of a widening gap between rich and poor, according to sociologist Shahida al Baz. ``The conditions are right for charlatans to offer supernatural help to desperate people who no longer believe in science and seek miracle cures,'' said Baz, who publishes her work in government newspapers.
Meanwhile, rich people who believe in the occult are ready to consult charlatans who can earn much more than the meager 60 dollars a month they receive as civil servants, she added. Most of the exorcists and clairvoyants interviewed in Tannah worked for government ministries. The religious authorities denounce thepractice, but say there is little they can do to stop it. ``There is no proof that the Koran (holy book) cures the sick and these charlatans use religion to bless their customers,'' said Gamal Kotb, a scholar at Cairo's AL-Azhar university, Sunni Islam's top religious authority.
-- Agence Fraace Presse
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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This story was printed from Net Express located at http://www.expressindia.com. Net Express provides a portal to India, with news from The Indian Express and The Financial Express along with sites on travel and tourism, the entertainment industry, the power sector, the environment and much more.
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