Fake faith healers prey on gullible Uruzgan residents

TIRINKOT (Pajhwok): Residents of central Uruzgan province are concerned about the activities of fake faith healers who not only take money from people under various pretexts but also create disputes within families.

Most of Uruzgan people are illiterate and can be easily tricked into believing in wrong beliefs and myths. Colloquially known as mullah, pir and kodgar, these healers secretly operate.

Zainul Abidin, a resident of Tirinkot, the provincial capital, told Pajhwok Afghan News that residents of Tirinkot and districts, especially women, used to visit faith healers to resolve their problems.

He added the faith healers (Kodgar) were responsible for problems between families and relatives.

“Some people, especially women, visit these fake faith healers to solve their problems. The healers tell some signs at the beginning to gain confidence of his visitors and then tell them that someone has done kodi on you and thus rob them off their money.”

He said people visiting healers were compelled to find money in every manner and give it to the pirs to get rid of their problems.

The resident asked the authorities concerned, particularly the Department of Hajj and Religious Affairs, to protect people from fake healers.

Gul Sekai, a resident of Uruzgan, also told Pajhwok Afghan News that many women who face problems at home from their husbands, mothers-in-law or others, visited faith healers to get rid of them. .

She added the healers wrote amulets and ‘sakht’ for women in exchange for money and the women were forced to steal valuables from their house and sell them to get money.

She said women visiting faith healers wanted to have a better life and get rid of problems, but the practice often led to more problems and violence between families and relatives.

She said there were kodgers in many areas of Uruzgan, including Tirinkot, and they operated secretly in their homes.

Sher Ali, a resident of Tirinkot, said mostly women visit such healers to resolve their problems with men in the family.

He narrated the story of a mother-in-law who wanted her son-in-law to separate from his father. Her daughter was married to Kandahar province.

He said the woman wanted to separate her son-in-law from his father and shift to Uruzgan. So she visited a faith healer to fulfill her wish.

He said he had heard many stories of women who visited healers to win the heart of their husbands.

“This is done in families where there are more than one wife, each of them tries to win the heart of her husband and spends money on this”.

Besides women, men also often visit kodgars for getting rid of loan, marrying the girl of their choice and for other purposes.

A young man from Tirinkot, who did not want to be named, told Pajhwok that a few years ago, he sought the hand of a girl of his choice, who was his aunt’s daughter but her family refused.

He added then he visited an amulet writer in Tirinkot city and told him his problem.

He hung the amulet on a mulberry tree in front of his father-in-law’s house and a day later he again sent suitors to the girl’s house and got engaged to her.

Religious scholars consider such practices a great sin according to the teachings of the holy religion of Islam and ask people to refrain from these practices.

Religious scholar Maulvi Abdul Rahman told Pajhwok that such people not only commit acts against the Islamic Sharia, but also create problems between families and deepen people’s despair.

He said it was responsibility of the Hajj and Religious Affairs Department and the Vice and Virtue department to prevent fraudsters from conning people.

Maulvi Abdul Karim Mazhari, acting Hajj and Religious Affairs Department head of Uruzgan, told Pajhwok that the ‘Islamic Emirate’ was committed to preventing corruption, forgery, deception and actions that harm the society and cause problems among the people.

He added that the relevant department was trying to arrest all those people who call themselves faith healers and amulet writers.

He called on the people not to visit such people and to protect themselves from actions against the religion of Islam.

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