❖ Definition of Epilepsy and Its Islamic Perspective ❖
Authored by: Dr. Raza Abdullah Pasha حفظه الله
❀ Question:
What is epilepsy (Ṣar‘)?
❀ Answer:
Ṣar‘ (Epilepsy) refers to the disruption that occurs in a person’s mental faculties. Due to this, the person is unable to remember what he has said. He cannot maintain coherence between what he has said and what he intends to say. This loss of memory leads to disturbances in the brain’s nerves, resulting in disordered movements and actions.
✿ Scholarly Explanation:
Imam Ibn Hajar رحمه الله has stated regarding ṣar‘ in ‘Ālam al-Jinn fī Ḍaw’ al-Kitāb wa al-Sunnah [p. 250] and ‘Ālam al-Jinn wa al-Malā’ikah [p. 76]:
"It is a condition that partially hinders the major organs from functioning properly. Its cause is the coarse air that gets trapped in the brain’s pathways, or impure vapors that ascend from certain organs to the brain, resulting in contraction of the limbs and inability of the person to stand properly."
❖ Evidences from the Qur’an:
Allah the Almighty says:
«الَّذِينَ يَأْكُلُونَ الرِّبَا لَا يَقُومُونَ إِلَّا كَمَا يَقُومُ الَّذِي يَتَخَبَّطُهُ الشَّيْطَانُ مِنَ الْمَسِّ...»
“Those who consume usury do not stand except as one stands who is being beaten by Satan into insanity...”
[Al-Baqarah: 275]
✿ Commentary of the Scholars:
✔ Imam al-Qurṭubī رحمه الله said:
"This verse refutes the one who denies that a jinn can touch a human and claims it is merely a natural condition. It also rejects the view of those who say that Satan cannot enter or touch a human being."
(Tafsīr al-Qurṭubī 3/355)
✔ Imam al-Ṭabarī رحمه الله stated:
"It is narrated from Qatādah that in the time of ignorance, usury was such that a person would sell with a set deadline. When the deadline came and the buyer did not have the money, the seller would extend the time and increase the amount. Allah said about these usurers:
«لَا يَقُومُونَ» – meaning: they will rise from their graves on the Day of Judgment like the one whom Satan has made insane by touch.
This implies that Satan can make a person insane by touching him in this world."
(Tafsīr al-Ṭabarī 3/101)
✔ Hāfiẓ Ibn Kathīr رحمه الله said:
"They will not stand except like a person who has fallen and is in a state of collapse, having been rendered senseless by Satan. This means that they will rise on the Day of Judgment in a very dreadful state."
(Tafsīr Ibn Kathīr 1/326)
