What is epilepsy? According to the medical perspective, epilepsy is a nervous case which causes a temporal disorder in the normal electro-activity of the cerebrum to occur from time to time. It is known that the regular electric activity of the cerebrum results from the passing of millions of simple electric charges along the neurons in the cerebrum, which spread throughout all parts of the body. This natural electric activity may become chaotic as a result of the emergence of intermittent irregular electric charges whose electric effect is stronger than that of the normal charges. These irregular electric charges may then spread throughout the body.
These abnormal charges can affect our consciousness, motion, and senses for a short while, and these physical charges are called epileptic spasms. Epilepsy, therefore, is sometimes referred to as ‘spasmodic disorder’. Spells of abnormal electro-activity may occur in a particular area of the cerebrum, whereupon the spasm is known as a specific or partial epileptic spell, whereas an electric disorder may sometimes affect all the cells of the cerebrum and cause what is known as the greater or the general epileptic spell. The natural activity of the cerebrum does not reestablish itself until the electric activity stabilizes and returns to normal.
The condition that causes epilepsy may exist since birth, or it may surface later as a result of accidents, or the existence of abnormal compounds in the cerebrum, or after somebody is subjected to a toxic substance, or for other reasons which are now medically unknown. There are many diseases and severe cases that affect the cerebrum to the extent that they cause a single spasmodic spell. But when the fits of spasm reoccur, and where there is no obvious organic cause to be found, or when the effect of the disease which has caused the spasm cannot be treated, such a case is called epilepsy.
Epilepsy affects people of all ages, sexes, races and nationalities. Convulsion is considered to be one of the symptoms of epilepsy, but epilepsy itself is the predisposition of the cerebrum to produce sudden charges of electric power which upset its other functions. It is a permanent disease that affects the critical areas and systems of the cerebrum that regulate its functions and the passage of electric energy through the different regions of the cerebrum, and it causes disorder in these electric flows, leading to recurrent spells of spasm.
When a person is affected by one fit of spasm, it does not mean that they certainly suffer from epilepsy, because there are many other factors that could cause a single convulsive spasm, such as a high temperature, the loss of oxygen, severe head trauma, and others.
The cause of this disease is not known by doctors in the case of about 70% of sufferers; as for the rest, the cause of this disease may be one of the agents affecting the functioning of the cerebrum. Examples include various head accidents, or when a newborn baby suffers from loss of oxygen during their birth, thus affecting the control system of electric activity in the cerebrum. There are other reasons as well, such as tumors of the cerebrum, hereditary diseases, lead poisoning, meningitis, and encephalitis.
Epilepsy is always considered to be a childhood disease, although it may affect people of different ages. It was noticed that about 30% of new cases have been afflicted with this disease in childhood (and especially early childhood), or in adolescence. Besides this, there is another stage of life during which epilepsy affects people considerably, which is from the age of sixty-five years upwards.
As for hereditary agents: epilepsy rarely results from hereditary causes, and there are few cases that are considered to be hereditary, wherein we find that special types of electric waves in the cerebrum correlate with specific forms of epileptic spells. If one of a child’s parents is afflicted with such hereditary epilepsy, the possibility that this disease will befall their children is about 10% (the amount of children who are affected by epilepsy, although their parents are not afflicted with it, is 1-2% of cases).
But when both parents suffer from hereditary epilepsy, the possibility that the disease will affect their children increases to about 20%. The conclusion is that epilepsy is of two types:
1) A type of organic origin, which results from the above-mentioned agents such as: severe head accidents, the existence of abnormal compounds in the cerebrum, exposure to toxic substances, tumors of the cerebrum, meningitis, etc.
2) A type of spiritual origin. We have already mentioned that the cause of this disease is not medically known in 70% of cases.
Simply, we say that these unknown reasons are indeed spiritual, and relate to spiritual deviation and aberrant tendencies, or more clearly, spiritual diseases and maladies of the heart. These allow the spirit be under the command of its vehement enemy,[60] the devil, who enters into it through these deviant entrances after he smells wickedness from it, when the spirit desires fornication, and spreads forth to achieve the object of its yearning. It is a dark way, far from the Godly manifestation and the Godly light, where the devil revels in his lusts and lurks in wait for such a spirit. As soon as the spirit spreads in this way, Satan hurries to it, using the ray of the spirit as a mount to reach the spirit’s core. The devil in himself is dark, spiteful, far from Al’lah, and full of evil and darkness; he is burning in the tormenting fire of sin, and he is a fire that flares through the commission of guilty actions and turning away from Al’lah. So, the cause is not a case of electricity, as the doctors think. In the same way that electricity spreads through wires that are invisible to the eyes, in a similar way, the fiery spirits spread invisibly into the spirits of the ill-hearted ones. Therefore, the doctors cannot recognize the reality and think the cause of this disease is related to electricity.
The devil who enters into the spirit of the epileptic is originally created from fire, and it is he who causes such trembling and pains for that person. Once he reaches the human spirit, penetrates it, and touches it with his darkness and fire, he destroys it through his grudge, hostility, and evil, thereby causing pain for such a person.
These severe pains that descend upon such a spirit result from the entry of the devil into it, and his touching it with the extreme evil that is invested in his dirty spirit. The afflicted spirit of this ill-hearted one writhes with great pain, as if it had been shocked with violent electricity. The spirit is the conscious self that flows through the nerves and controls the brain. When they head for the spirit and spread into it through its rays, the fires of the penetrating devils cause spiritual disorder and acute pain. This disorder and pain are reflected on the body – which is a mount for the spirit – and their effect on the body causes the production of abnormal electric charges. These charges arise and spread into the other parts of the body, causing very severe trembling and strong muscular convulsions.
Deviation from the straight path of righteousness and aberrancy of the spirit are the causes of this type of epilepsy, which is of spiritual origin only. The ill-hearted one who is afflicted with this disease has the capability to do good, but instead they repeatedly spread – through their spirit – into the darkness of gratifying their yearnings by committing adultery covertly, or by perpetrating sin and wrongdoing openly. This enables the devil to enter into them and control them. The devil is blind, and he cannot witness the truth, but he smells the wickedness that is folded in the spirit of the person who turns away from their Provider’s light. Thus, he hurries to and hunts it, whereby this person falls under the oppression of this humiliating and painful distress, so that they may give up this dark way and withdraw from satisfying their spirit’s low whims or allowing it to be absorbed in its horrible dark thoughts.
Owing to the dangerous results of such terrible spreading of the devil, the noble law of Islam has given serious warnings about it and closed the doors to all motives and ways that could lead to this destructive situation. For this reason it has imposed the comprehensive veil upon the woman and warned her of unveiling any of her temptations to men, even her voice, vitality, and perfume. It has obliged her to hide all her beauties and all that could fascinate the male heart and tarnish it with forbidden lusts, so that she must be serious in her choice of words and strict and earnest in her speech, without speaking softly, or using gentle phrases, or turning aside from speaking about anything other than essential subjects. It also has enjoined her to stay at home in order to perform her fruitful and valuable function, which is bringing up her children correctly, and preparing a healthy-bodied and sound-minded generation for the future. If she is compelled to leave her home, she must walk slowly and not strike the ground heavily with her feet lest her body should shake, and the indications of her youth should appear, which would irritate the sexual instinct and awaken the dormant yearnings in men. God’s envoy (cpth) warned of such temptation and revealed that women should veil themselves and their charms completely. This is clear in his sayings: “Temptation is asleep; God will be angry with him who awakes it”,[61] and “We are not satisfied with seduction.”
The responsibility in relation to women does not only fall upon her own shoulder, but it is also the duty of her keeper (her husband, father, brother, or son), for each one of them is a custodian who is responsible for his dependents. God the Almighty has ordered the believers through the tongue of His Envoy (cpth): “Say to the believing men that they should lower their gaze…”: i.e. they should turn their eyes away from all that could lead them to commit adultery, such as images, cinematic films, and magazines.
The Holy Qur’an,
Fortress 24, An-Nur (Light), verse 30
God’s envoy (cpth) says: “The eye commits adultery when it looks at women (save the unmarriageable ones).”[62] The women have also been ordered to lower their gazes and preserve their chastity.
Since the case of humanity has not yet been terminated by death, the gate of repentance remains wide open before us. We should turn to God in repentance and retreat from the dark way before we die and lose the gifts of Al’lah and His envoy (cpth), and access to paradises. If the epileptic one returns to his Provider, repenting and seeking what is right, the Almighty will not allow the devil to approach the spirit of such a person, or to touch it with any harm or evil. When the afflicted one communicates with his Provider – whereby their spirit becomes pure and cleansed of its wickedness – then they walk the chalk line. Satan will find no way to reach their spirit, or even approach it, and at that time the man or woman in question will recover completely from their disease.
Children may be afflicted with spells of epilepsy as the result of a reflection of what is folded in the spirit of one or both of their parents, whereupon these parents should search for the reason for what has happened and change their spirits’ hidden contents. They should then repent to God, asking Him to dispel the affliction from their beloved child. God the Almighty has clarified the spiritual cause of epilepsy, which medicine does not yet know, instead ascribing that type of epilepsy to unknown reasons (as we have mentioned before). Let us now scrutinize the noble verse wherein God says: “Those who live on usury will rise up (before Al’lah) like he whom Satan has caused to welter, distracted by his touch, for they claim that usury is like trading...”
The Holy Qur’an,
Fortress 2, Al-Baqara (The Cow), verse 275
God the Almighty describes the state of those who live on usury on Doomsday, and represents it as the state of a distracted spasmodic in a fit of epilepsy, and He reveals the cause of this patient’s situation. This cause is having been touched by the devil, who has entered into the spirit of this ill-hearted one and has started tormenting it, burning it with the pain and evil that are folded in their spirit. He is an extremely wicked and spiteful enemy who has caught and controlled his opponent, so what will he do to his victim, and cause to happen to them?
Thus, epilepsy is of two types: one type that is caused by physical bodily agents which have been mentioned before, and another with reasons that are unknown according to medicine. In fact, however, the truth is clear for those who have hearts by which they apprehend, or for those who lend an ear to what is right and witness it. The spiritual cause of epilepsy has been proved in the above-mentioned wording of the Holy Qur’an.
Many plain tales have been reported in the Gospel telling us that our master Jesus, the Christ (pth), drove the devil away from epileptic people, defeating and dispraising him through his prophetic luminance, which destroys and burns the devils.
Here is, dear reader, a true tale involving the venerable scholar Mohammad Amin Sheikho, which shows us that believing in God and straightening according to His orders protect humanity from being approached or affected by the devil, who flees instead, vanquished and beaten.