Question:
What's a 'Holy Ghost'?
Or is it 'Holy Spirit'?

Question -

My friend changed from being a Hindu to being Pentecostal Christian. He says some missionaries took a 12 year old, deaf and dumb boy and made him speak in front of a crowd. They claim it was the "Holy Spirit" who gets inside of people and do miracles - If they believe Jesus as a savior. 

I am wondering how to explain this story of the deaf and dumb boy and the "Holy Spirit."  

 ANSWER:

The story of the "holy spirit" is not a new one.

Consider the story of the Hindus concerning a young boy who is suddenly telling everyone he is the "incarnation" of a former personality who died some years before.

Then they take him to a house that he describes and he tells the people there he is the same person they used to know years ago that died and now he is in this young boy's body.

He even tells them things no one else could know about except the man he claims to have been. He might even tell someone of a secret hiding place where they will find an article left by him in his former life, and when they go to check it out, they find the article just where he said it would be.

How do you think Christianity can explain this?

OK - You said the "dumb boy" was suddenly able to speak, right?

Obviously, this was nothing more or less than one of two things:

1. The boy was possessed by a jinn and the jinn did the talking.
2. The boy was not really "dumb" as people thought and was inspired or motivated to speak.

The answer for both the "reincarnation" story and the "holy ghost" story is one and the same: The Jinn.

The jinn live in a parallel world to us and they were created by Allah before us.

They, like us, have free choice to do with their lives as they see fit.

They can be atheists, pagans, Jews, Christians or Muslims, or whatever they like, just as we can. But they are not made of earth as we are.

They are made of a "smokeless fire" (according to the Quran). Some of them are kafar (disbelievers in Allah) and they play tricks on people, trying to get them into the wrong beliefs.

They pretend to be "spirits" from the "other side"; or "aliens" from outer space; or "ghosts" haunting houses and buildigns; or "fairies"; or "angels" and so on.

They whisper to people and cause them to think they are getting some kind of prophecies or hidden knowledge. Sometimes they even enter into people and make them think they have another personality inside of them.

All of the above are clearly explained in Islam in both the Quran and the sunnah of the prophet, peace be upon him. It would be beneficial to explain to those who are not familiar with this phenomenon that none of this is new and many people have been misguided by these jinn throughout the centuries.

The Bible has discussed this in both the old and the new Testaments, with a special focus on the "demons" cast out of a man in a cemetery by Jesus, peace be upon him, himself. 

There is always some small amount of truth that comes along with the 100s of lies these jinn spread. So, it is important to be careful and stay away from the whole matter. Some scholars of Islam know quite a lot about this and could be of help if you find out which ones are not working with the jinn (believe or not, there are some Muslims who do work with the jinn to deceive people). 

References for all of this can be found in the Holy Quran:

 Surah Baqarah, 2:102; Surah An-Aam, 6:71 & verse 112, Surah Al Araf, 27 & 20; Surah Mariam, verse 83; Surah Al Anbiyah, verse 82; Surah Al Mu'minun, verse 97; Surah Ash-Shurah, verse 210 & 221; Surah Al Mulk, verse 5; Surah Al Jinn, verses 1,4,5,6,7,19; Surah An Naas, verse 6 - and other places as well.

The narrations of our prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, (hadeeth) are full of stories of the jinn.

One famous story, we find the teachings of our beloved prophet, peace be upon him, instructing us to read ayatul kursi (Baqarah 2:255) to keep them away all day long; and calling the adhan and iqamah to make them leave (temporarily).

Books by Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips on this topic include: Ibn Taimiyah's "Essay on the Jinn" and his own thesis named "Exorcism in Islam". 

This is very real and not something to be taken lightly. I suggest you familiarize the person with the fact, Islam provides us answers for everything. We do not subscribe to mysticism or witchcraft or any other such nonsense.

We have proof for what we believe and we have faith in what has been proven to us by Allah. 6,327 "proofs" (ayahs) in the Quran are enough for us to know: "There is only One God (Allah) and Muhammad, peace be upon him, is His messenger." 

Pray for the person to be rightly guided and be sure to pray to Allah to protect you from any of the jinn as well. 

Also Read . . . "God Told me to tell you..."

More articles - www.SearchForIslam.com (type in the word 'jinn')

More Questions? www.JustAskIslam.com

Let us know how it all goes and stay in touch through emails, inshallah.

Thank you and may Almighty Allah protect us from the jinn and guide us to all truth, ameen.

Yusuf Estes 

Note: Follow up story for "God Told me.."