‘JENGLOT’ JUST A SUPERSTITION
Ustaz: Muslims must not be swayed by deviant beliefs
ADIE SURI ZULKEFLI
ALOR STAR adie.zulkefli@nst.com.my
JENGLOT, a deformed humanoid creature popular in Indonesian culture and mythology, is nothing more than a man-made toy, which has no supernatural power. In the neighbouring country, it is made of standard materials used in any other doll and is sold everywhere.
“On its own, jenglot has no power and is nothing more than a typical toy which cannot move on its own. It is only when black magic is used, by performing a certain ritual on the jenglot, the myth has it, a jenglot can serve its master either for many purposes, including for protection, to make one look beautiful or dashing, as a good luck charm as well as taking revenge on an enemy.
“For Muslims, it is extremely forbidden as it could compromise one’s faith by believing in powers other than the Almighty Allah.”
That was how Islamic medical practitioner Muhammad Syakir Muhammad Azmi from As-syakirin Islamic Treatment Centre in Sungai Petani described jenglot.
The jenglot normally stands several inches tall and has long hair, a pair of fangs akin to a vampire and long claws on its fingers and toes. It usually comes in a small, black gift box.
According to the ustaz, a typical jenglot made from ordinary materials was sold at bargain prices, depending on how real they look like ghostly creatures, but those made from animal foetuses could fetch thousands of ringgit each.
“Those made from animal foetuses are said to have greater effect on the owner, but in reality, it is nothing but a deviant act of worshiping demons and genies.”
Syakir was commenting on Perlis Mufti Datuk Dr Asri Zainul Abidin’s Facebook post in which he said that he had surrendered a jenglot to Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMap) on Thursday for research purposes.
On the report that a Pos Malaysia staff claimed that one of the boxes, which was later found to contain a jenglot, had moved by itself, he said in most cases, humans tend to be deceived by the superstitions that developed around mythical stories.
In his DrMAZA.com Facebook page, Asri said he received the jenglot as a gift several days ago.
“I have surrendered the jenglot to UniMap to carry out a scientific study. We hope they will uncover the truth behind the all these claims. Before this, Universiti Sains Malaysia carried out a study on it. I hope UniMap will come up with a more comprehensive report,” he said in the post.
Asri urged Muslims not to be easily swayed by superstitions and should only seek protection from Allah.
In response on Thursday, UniMap ViceChancellor Professor Datuk Dr Zul Azhar Zahid Jamal confirmed that they had received the specimen from Asri for research. He said Asri had contacted him asking for the specimen to be studied.
“We will analyse it using available expertise and technology at the university.
“The scientific study will focus on its origin ,” he said.