RIYADH/MADINA: The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (the Hai'a) has said that it does not attend licensed “ruqya” sessions conducted on persons said to be under the influence of magic. “This is not part of our remit,” the General Presidency of the Hai'a said Wednesday. “We did not send anyone to attend the session in which the judge accused of corruption underwent treatment.” The Hai'a was referring to a Madina court judge being held for allegedly accepting money to ease real estate cases through his court, but who later told investigators that he was “under a spell” at the time. The judge claimed that a real estate broker who is also an accused in the case and has since fled was responsible for casting the spell, and that he was cured after undergoing ruqya Qur'anic recitation witnessed by members of the Hai'a. The Hai'a did not state categorically that none of its members was present, but said that neither the judge's case nor his ruqya treatment was part of the organization's jurisdiction. “That's for other authorities to handle. We have had no involvement in the procedures,” it said. “It's not the job of our committees involved in cases of magic to attend ruqya works or anything like it…We do not allow our staff to get involved in things like that.” The Hai'a was responding to claims by well-known ruqya practitioner Fayez Al-Qathami, who claimed that he questioned a “jinni”- or “genie”, as traditionally rendered in English – that spoke through the judge in a ruqya session conducted in the presence of Hai'a members. Al-Qathami maintained his story Wednesday, telling Okaz/Saudi Gazette that he had called members of the Hai'a's “Magic and Conjuring Committee” to the ruqya session. “Ruqya practitioners usually call Hai'a members to patient treatment sessions to attest to the patient's condition and register statements,” Al-Qathami said. “Two members of the Hai'a came to the (judge's) session and documented what the genie said through the tongue of the judge.” He said the Hai'a noted down information concerning the judge's “private and public life, and the name of the real estate broker”. “I'll be writing a report on the judge's state of health and sending it to the court to show how he was put under magic and that he required more than one session of treatment to be cured,” Al-Qathami said. Dr. Ahmad Hafidh from Madina's Psychiatric Health Hospital, said that cases such as the judge's should be looked at by specialists. “Anyone facing charges and who claims they've been possessed by a genie should be subject to what's known as a forensic psychiatric evaluation,” he said. The Madina judge was first taken into custody during Ramadan, and several businessmen and state employees along with seven engineering and planning firms are all suspected of involvement in the various cases that passed through his courtroom. Continuing investigations into the case, which involves alleged bribes to arrange through the judge's court illegal ownership of real estate, have revealed that the owner of one engineering firm has fled the country. His flight reportedly followed the discovery of SR100 million in his account. An engineer who was arrested for overseeing the execution of plans for the illegally owned land provided investigators with information on 30 more state officials and businessmen involved in the corruption case.
