PETALING JAYA, Dec 25 — Agreeing with former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s recent blog post on the obsession Malays have with ghosts and the supernatural, a local “bomoh” (witch doctor) and traditional healer from Padang Serai, Kedah, said certain rituals performed by unscrupulous “healers” to protect from the unseen were misguided.
The former premier had on Monday pointed out that many resort to the practice of splashing water and reciting prayers at premises, as well as government hospitals, to protect the area from the unseen.
The bomoh, who identified himself as Datuk Setia Raja Prof Dr Khalifah Hasim – or commonly known as “Pawang Raja” or “Tok Ayah” – said it is a must for Muslims to believe in the unseen, as God and angels also belong to the unseen category.
“However, it was never mentioned, or made known as to the names of the ghosts that we have in our culture.
“Therefore, it is not necessary to specifically believe in certain ghosts, especially those popular in the Malay culture,” he said yesterday.
“Tok Ayah”, who specialises in healing all sorts of illness, said ghosts exist to lead human beings astray and that Muslims should not be dependent or obsessed with it.
“When we face any difficulty or fall sick, we seek help from Allah.
“To ask for help from a bomoh who then calls upon jin or satan is forbidden in Islam as we are relying on something other than God.”
Tok Ayah — who is also the president of 1 Malaysia Muhibbah Association — said the services he provides are those that use Quranic verses, which is not against Islam.
“I do not use objects or other mediums, all I have is the Quran that was sent down also for protection against ailments and the supernatural.
“As long as we follow the Quran and hadith, we are doing it right,” he said.
“Tok Ayah” said if the approach used any dirty tactics, then it would fall under black magic, which is forbidden in Islam.
In the same blog post, Dr Mahathir asked if ghosts were real and wanted to know where they came from. He also wrote that he was more afraid of the evil that men commit than ghosts.
“In the holy Quran, there is no mention of ghosts. What is mentioned are satan and jin who will attempt to divert mankind from worshipping Allah,” Dr Mahathir wrote.
Meanwhile, responding to the statement made by Dr Mahathir, former Perlis mufti Datuk Dr Asri Zainul Abidin said the practice of according different names to ghosts was merely a form of the Malay culture, adding that ghosts were essentially jin.
