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From: tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com (haramullah)
Newsgroups: alt.magick.tyagi,alt.satanism,alt.islam,alt.islam.sufism,alt.sufi
Subject: Satanism and Delusion (was Sufism and Satanism)
Date: 6 Sep 1997 11:57:08 -0700
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49970822 aa12 

assalam alaykum, my kin.
re an 'expose' on Satanism by an apparently deluded Muslim Sheikh:

Jamaal AbdulWahid al-Hanafi <abdulwahid@geocities.com>:
# Before you place it in the archives of satanism, I suggest you read
# it first, because it is an exposure of forms of Satanism (and sorcery)
# here in America.

I've seen many such "expose's" before.   typically they are based in
fantasy and condemnation-schemes which leave everyone the worse for
the encounter.  I think they may be outgrowths of real fear and the
extensiveness to which fanatic dualists have become common in the world.
certainly it speaks to the greater voice we may all have as the channels
of communication are less controlled, less directed by central authorities.


I will place it in the archive in its appropriate class.  of these:

		Satanist Theory/Practice: written *by* Satanists, who
		        I contend are the only reliable sources on the
			subject of Satanism other than deception and
		        projection.

	        Propaganda about 'Satanism': written by the deceived,
			usually other neuvoreligious or those who have
			been called 'Satanists' by the fundamentalist
		        Christian or Muslim (e.g. Neopagans), often
			perpetuating some old part of the blood libel.

	        Delusional material about 'Satanism': written by 
			misguided religious who imagine a dualistic
			and Manichaean religious cosmology and set
			about condemning their chosen rivals for 
		        practices they call 'Satanism' which is 
		        almost wholly a product of their texts
			and imaginations.  sometimes it is done for
			the purpose of confidence games and flim-flam.

I contend that your essay qualifies as a part of the *last* category,
probably very well-intended on your part.  thus I will be placing it in
the /Delusion directory of http://www.abyss.com/tokus accordingly with 
the others whom I contend are best characterized as 'unfortunate and 
misguided hate-mongerers'.

here is my refutation of the essay:

# [from http://www.geocities.com/~abdulwahid/satanism.html ]
# 
#                            Satanism
#                 Taken from Qur'anic Psychiatry
#          by Shaykh Syed Mubarik 'Ali Jilani Al-Hashmi

my review follows.  I'd like to know more about this sheikh, of what tariqa
he is a part, and what other materials may be available by him.


# The Satan has followers among human and non-human beings. 

by your use of 'the Satan' here, it is obvious that you:

		1) presume a very restrictive cosmology
		2) are content to make statements from
		   this without identifying it as such.


# The human followers are human satans while the non-human followers 
# are jinn satans. According to Holy Qur'an, human Satans are tougher 
# and more dangerous than jinn Satans. Jews are an example of human 
# Satans. 

by your usage here it is probably best to take 'satan' to mean your
literal 'adversary' and that you are merely drawing out your battle
lines, identifying points of strength and weakness for your jihad.
apparently you are anti-semite in the sense of being anti-Jewish.


# This is why Jews are the founders of Satan worship 

this is very unlikely.  not only are there antagonistic strains of
repulsion within the Jewish religious themselves to avoid such things
(since I gather some see Satan as an adversary of sorts), typically
those who worship Satan appear to have been strongly influenced by
*fundamentalism* which runs countrary to Satan and everything that
Satan stands for within that religious tradition.

that is, typically the Satan-worshipper (per se) is attempting to
engage a revolution against hir society because she feels that it
is overly oppressive, and, perhaps misguidedly, has inferred within
the (usually) limited paradigm of the fundamentalist that if she is
not going to fit into that presented by her parents/church/etc.,
then she must be on the side of 'Satan', and is deserving of hir
worship.  more often the Satanist does not engage in worship at all.

historically Jews have been the target of the condemnatory
propaganda (blood libel) of 'Satanism', that biggotted delusion,
political antagonism and projected elitism of such travesty and
violence that has appeared in many periods of history (including
the times of the European Inquisitions as well as in the US and
Europe during the period between 1975 and 1990.  almost without
exception this biggotry comes from institutional Western religion.


# and Masonic lodges, 

I'm unsure who was behind the establishment of the variety of forms of
Masonry, but it is very interesting to say the least that writers like 
Idries Shah identify sufism as behind its establishment, rather than 
the nefarious plot of some Zionic Elders.


# and are now trying to take over the entire globe 

this is an old ploy, of course.  it is doubly hilarious when one begins
to ask the fervently religious what is the objective of their sect.
typically it is the globalization of their own religion to the detriment
of anything they may refer to as 'Satanism' (despite the fact that they
cannot usually find any overtly Satanic character about it -- more on
that below).


# in which the global religion is to be Satanism.

I doubt that Jews or any other religion wants the global religion to be
Satanist except in the limited and libellous sense you may mean it.  the
religion of Satanism is one of individuals, opposers of authority such as
is may at times appear within the Jewish religion (often any organized sort).


# ...all who worship Satan engage the spiritual followers of Satan and 
# develop the following capacities, though they can only harm
# those who have stopped following the Lord:

it is significant that you make these 'capacities'.  it sounds as if you
are saying that those who *do* follow 'the Lord' do *not* have them.  by
a redundant and/or circular logic you may be able to make this case (as
if you were to say that 'those who commit them obviously don't follow the
Lord'!), but in general you have only to look at the daily newspapers to
be proven wrong, and that it is far more often the fervently religious
who engage violence, often for 'virtuous' motive.


# 1. Forcing others to do things against their will. That is mind
# control.
# 2. Completely taking over a person and through him committing murder
# and other anti-social acts.
# 3. Causing miscarriages, stillbirths, bleeding [from nose and other
# parts of the body], stabbing red hot pins and nails in the body,
# insomnia, impotency.

1 - this may be done by herds of varying persuasion.  it requires that
    a single truth be believed by the group, such as is promoted by the
    essay which I am here reviewing.  it also requires a great deal of
    social influence, unless you are supposing magical hypnotism.

2 - this is the stuff of legends or anomalies (the 'zombies' of Haiti,
    who are stricken and/or controlled via intoxication), and, while
    it may make a great Dennis Wheatley novel (see _The Satanist_ for
    a whole lot of the gothic novel elements), it is not based on fact
    as regards Satanism or most cultures, constituting a supersitious libel.

3 - this has been part of the blood libel tradition for centuries.  it
    is typically associated with 'witches', 'sorcerers' and any who
    supposedly practice 'black magic'.  it is mostly delusional, though
    there are individuals who occasionally exploit the social situation
    so as to benefit in prestige or finance.


# The most dangerous thing, which I myself have witnessed, is that they
# can interfere in all electronic devices, and they can carry human
# beings, for example in whirlwinds, and I have even treated people
# subjected to sexual abuses by them. They can also appear in physical
# form. 

it is you here who make the unusual claim (interference in electronic
devices, carrying humans in whirlwinds), and thus are called upon to
offer evidence of the feat.  that you claim to have witnessed it is
of little consequence given that you are also the one voicing the libel.


# If they possess somebody, that person can eat extraordinarily
# large amounts of food, such as dozens of eggs, etc. Under the
# influence of a jinn, a person can sing and dance for hours without
# tiring, and can demonstrate a great amount of paranormal activities
# like Uri Geller. 

Mr. Geller and many like him have been all but demonstrated to be fakes.
responsible (if at times fanatic) debunkers have even formed up standards
and communication channels whereby the madness will end.  cf. 'The
Skeptical Inquirer', the Skeptic Society, Martin Gardiner, the Amazing
Randi, and others.  these people are studied in the ways of stage magic,
flim-flam, and deception.  they have the ability to catch frauds where
the average individual is merely fooled.  I refer you to them before you
go on believing the superstitions of those who would truly use you.


# Evil agencies can be used to steal secrets [files,
# papers] from enemies, cause temporary blindness, deafness, and
# dumbness. Unconsciousness can be induced by these agencies.

this sounds like a role-playing game or something from fantasy and
science fiction stories.  since these are again unusual claims where
I sit, could you please support the claim with some citation of your
authorities?  is all of this information to be found in _Qur'an_,
for example?  if so, please cite their exact location so that we
may be assured of your reliability.


# In a Qur'anic Psychiatry clinic, a therapist carries out certain tests
# to determine the main cause of mental disorders. He or she is trained
# to use a thread of a particular length. This is given to the patient
# who holds it for some time. It is then measured very carefully. The
# Qur'anic therapist reads certain prayers, blows on the thread, and
# measures the thread again. The thread will either increase, decrease,
# or stay the same in length. If no change is registered, or course this
# means the disorder has a physical cause. 

this reminds me of a great many confidence games, however sincere their
participants, in which some presumed 'ill' are 'measured' in a bogus
fashion so as to condition or inspire the paranoia.  the Scientologists
have their resistance galvanometer (they call it an 'E-meter' and seem
to charge exorbitant prices for them), the Christians during the times
of the Inquisition used a variety of silly means like tying up their
victims to see if they drowned when cast into standing water, or
poking all the points of the body with needles to see which one of
them was 'insensitive to pain' (dreamed up by the Marquis de Sade?).

where is this method of assessing individuals prescribed and by whom?
why do you think it is represents more than just superstition and
simple ways of keeping people in line through environments of
suspicion and oppressive 'spiritual authorities'?


# If it has increased by a good
# length, this is due to the influence of a non-human agent. If it has
# decreased in length, this is due to sorcery. If it has increased
# length but not very much, this the effect of the evil eye. For each
# change, a special prescription is applied. One may also use the
# footprint test in the same manner as above.

note the ambiguities of "a good length" and there is no mention of
whether the individual who comes to be so measured really wants it,
or whether this indeed matters.
 

# People in the West know about all of these things, but have no power
# against them. Only a qualified Qur'anic psychiatrist can treat and
# save mankind. 

there do appear to be a number of 'miracle cures' floating about.
typically these are supported by Western individuals who have found no
recourse in traditional medicine/psychiatry.  there are many more fakes
and frauds than there are real cures.  why we should accept this material
as more from the latter than the former is as yet unclear.


# In the US there are now thousands of temples where Satan is
# worshipped. 

actually there are very few.  most in the US are antaganistic toward
anything to do with 'Satan' or 'Satan-worship' -- even Satanists who
identify as such (note the difference!) are unlikely to worship Satan
on account of their repugnance at worshipping *anything*.  many of
these are atheists.


# This Satanism has now become the ultimate tool in the hands of Zionists. 

it is unlikely that the Satanism of which I am speaking (really the only
legitimate type of Satanism -- that which is associated with people who
call themselves by such a name, rather than that which we identify in our
delusion as 'Satanists') could become the 'ultimate tool' of Jews.  

due to the heavy restrictions placed on anything resembling "nazism", a
few Satanists have undertaken to engage this political stance, but it is
controversial even within the Satanist community itself.  given this I
doubt Satanism really can be said to be anyone's 'ultimate tool'.  it is
simply too diverse.
 

# I advise Muslims not to become lax in their religious obligations. 
# Also Christians should believe and practice the
# Ten Commandments and give special attention to the injunction: "Hear O
# Israel, the Lord thy God, the Lord is One." They should get read of
# that piece of wood and reject the interpolations injected into the
# belief by Saul, the Zionist.

why is this anything more than another slam against anything which
does not conform to conservative Western religious standards?


# All should keep away from the TV and radio when such programs are
# being broadcast. 

I think staying away from these media sources is generally a good idea
unless one has a real reason to consult them for something of value.
too often they are used to spread consumerist-advertisement and
propaganda insulting to the intelligence.


# Note: The Satan inspires his followers in dreams and visions, voices,
# smells, ideas, schemes, and thoughts. Persons possessed by him or his
# followers hear his voice very clearly. He can make them see exactly
# what he wants them to see. Satan also raises false prophets and
# saints, mediums through whom he can talk to people in order to confuse
# and misguide them.

somewhat like Santa Claus.  making 'the Satan' out to be so powerful,
one must come to wonder why the Almighty allows it to continue.


# the Qur'anic psychiatrist ...put(s) an end to this by
# subjecting the patient to Divine influence. He fills the spirit of the
# patient with Noor and Satan becomes helpless. 

this is reminiscent of the 'prayer warfare' engaged by some Evangelicals
of the Christian faith.  one posits the world as a giant zone of war
betwixt the Good God and the Evil Demon (shades of Mazdaism, cf. therein).


# ...aspiring Qur'anic psychiatrists.

I was not aware there were any, though this doesn't surprise me much.
there is a huge hole in the midst of modern Science which many faiths,
such as that of Mary Baker Eddy (Christian Science), a variety of
psychologists (Freud, Jung among them), and several Hermetics (from
Spiritualists to modern magicians) have attempted to fill with their
own brand of cosmology and remedy.

while you may well have some valuable spiritual process you have to
offer for the world, placing it in a dualistic package and attempting
to market based on fear of compromise is becoming more and more
difficult as the history of blood libel and charlatanry comes 
into the public memory and consciousness.

I advise you to consult better references on Satanism, stop making
your condemnatory claims in public without source citations, offer 
more convincing testimony than your own, and honestly consider the 
superstitious and deceptive quality of the material you are purporting 
to be substantive.

from my study of Satanism it does not conform to your claims, and
this undermines your entire rhetoric.  if you speak in condemnatory
tones from a bleak fundamentalism which offers 'God' or 'Satan' to
the masses, then please understand that those of your religion will
tend find your message insulting, many may be misled into a "knowledge"
you seem to be promoting with insufficient familiarity, and the bulk
will dismiss you as a kook whose hate-mongering will end in sorrow.

peace be where you like it,

haramullah
 tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com
-- 
(emailed replies may be posted);join the AMT syncretism!!;call: 408/2-666-SLUG!
see http://www.abyss.com/tokus; "Clement of Rome taught that God rules the world
with a right and a left hand, the right being Christ, the left Satan." - CGJung