A Muslim Minority in Turkey by Lejla Voloder

Author:Lejla Voloder [Voloder, Lejla]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781788311830
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Published: 2018-09-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 4

BELIEFS OF A FAITH HEALER

Questions of morality had underpinned much of the discussion at the morning tea at Arminka’s and it was deemed that once an act of transgression had been committed nothing could be done to undo the punishment. For Abla, this meant that cancer was the punishment and a punishment that could eventuate in death. The sentiment conveyed by the women was that Abla was either in part, or in its entirety, to blame for her predicament and in some way was deserving.1 Abla was not so resigned to the idea that nothing could be done to intervene in the circumstances and seek redress. She sought medical treatment. She also asked me to accompany her to visit a faith healer.

Efendinica2 was an imam’s wife. Whilst not an officially registered religious leader,3 Efendinica was regarded with esteem, for she was considered learned in matters religious. Efendinica was invited to homes to lead prayers for the deceased and she would be called upon to create amulets for purposes of healing and protection.

Our visit was for the purpose of having an amulet produced.

‘I am going to see if she can remove this curse,’ Abla told me as we sat in the back of a taxi on the way to Efendinica’s house.

‘How so?’ I asked. Abla replied:

I have not been before. I have been told that she voices prayers, special prayers from the Qur’an, and that she makes amulets. How it has been explained to me: with the prayers she removes the curse from the person. The amulets are protection so that the curse does not return. And she might give some amulets for protection of the house in case a charm is present in the house. If the charm is in the house it would be best to remove it but you never know where it can be hidden. And it could be the size of a grain of rice – they do put curses on such things as that.

‘How do you know of this faith healer?’ I asked.

Abla replied:

It was told to me from some friends. There were some cases when someone has been ill. And there are some other cases when someone has had a curse cast upon them and they have gone mad. Like that, she knows how to remove curses. She has a gift from Allah.

Faith healers can be defined as those people who are considered able to ‘operate in the plane of the supernatural’ and related terms are diviner, soothsayer, sorcerer, witch (Howells 1948:125). Those who are accepted as faith healers may be considered to have direct contact with the spirit world through entering alternative states of consciousness by using techniques of breathing exercises, dancing, drumming, fasting or through the use of hallucinogens. Faith healers may be called upon so that they can intervene between the human and supernatural world to appeal to, appease and seek answers from deities for worldly ailments. Since Abla spoke of her illness as caused by a cursing, and since

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