Abdo Khal

Okaz

Members of the Commission of the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Haia) have recently been reported to have broken an evil black-magic spell that has caused the members of a family to suffer from health and psychological problems for quite a time. The wife, the story goes, could not get pregnant because of the spell and she had various problems with her husband as a result. The alleged evil piece of the so-called black magic was reportedly hidden inside the head of sheep which was found by the Haia members buried in the area outside the family’s house.



What is strange about this news story was the photo showing the sheep that was dug out intact with blood dripping from the head. How could this be? The story said the family members suffered immensely from the spell for a long time. How could the head not decompose into bones? It was lying there underground for a long time and did not rot?



If the story was aimed at promoting the Haia members and their alleged abilities to remove evil black-magic spells, it should have been written differently or at least the story should not have been published with a photo. The story ended up with the Tabuk Haia branch director urging the general public to report similar incidents.



What worries me about this kind of news is that it reinforces negative social values and undermine people’s trust in themselves. This also makes some people turn impostors and claim they can break evil spells.



I think we are the only society in the world whose members claim they are victims of evil black magic. Some use this an excuse to shrink from their responsibilities. Maybe that is why the majority of us are searching for people who can break such spells.



We should get rid of these delusions which have prompted the Haia to open branches all over the country to cast out evil spells. If the Haia had used the money allocated for opening these branches to gain people’s trust in its members, it should have done the right thing and not reinforce people’s paranoia about evil black magic.



If we can’t rid our thoughts with this so-called black magic, we can protect ourselves against its spell by reading certain chapters of the Holy Qur’an. If we continue to be obsessed with such things, we could not move ahead and make achievements for our society.