It can be taken as a joke but at the same time, it shows a dark face of our society that how much we have suppressed rationality, open thinking and some other features that qualify us to be ‘the best of creatures’ and make us distinct to animals, otherwise, they are also living and in most cases, stronger than the human beings.

In our remote villages and towns, people have no option except to live and suffer with poor medical facilities. There are not present well-equipped hospitals, well-qualified and experienced doctors and quality medicine. There are present some under-qualified doctors who do more harm than the healing and their prime objective is to make good money from the illiterate and ignorant people. Similarly, there are present some ‘Hakims’, the traditional healers who use herbs to treat the patients. Parallel to them, there are also present some religious scholars or ‘Mullahs’ who are contacted in cases of ghosts and other complexities which are considered to be related to such scholars only and are thought to be out of the control of doctors and other experts.

If you ever had a chance of visiting any such place, you come along a number of serious and strange cases. There are patients (both male and female) who may be snatching their hair, some may be shouting wildly, and there may be other painful scenes. There are also present some diseases that can only be cured by these experts but lack of medical facilities and absence of any option and extreme respect and importance of these scholars has turned people so much blind that they sometimes contact them to cure the diseases which are clearly related to a qualified doctor. Usually, they don’t give any kind of medicine to the patients. They just read some words or spells and blow it on the patient. In most cases, the patients are given with some papers which are to be burnt near the patient and some of them are put in the water of the patient to be drunk within specific time period.

This joke is often told that a person fell down from the roof and broke down his leg. The person started shouting with pain and it was needed that he should have been immediately carried to an orthopedic doctor or an expert of bones and joints who should have cured the bones but instead of this, his relatives took him to a scholar who read few spells and asked the patient to be brought after some days. Days passed by but there was no improvement in the condition of the patient. The infection in his wounds got worse and cries of patient intensified due to increasing pain. After some days, he was taken again to the same person who checked the wounds and having a look at the worsening conditions, advised them to take the patient immediately to a doctor. When the doctor checked the wounds, he was both angry and irritated as the wound had become too bad and it could have resulted in the amputation of the effected leg.

It also happens due to a number of reasons. In old times, there were no qualified doctors; instead there were experienced specialists that cured the patients with herbs and similar natural treatments. In the same way, people went to them for the cure of some other mental or emotional diseases and they managed this branch as well; either good or bad. But the time kept passing. There came experienced doctors who understood the reasons of diseases and gave medicine made to nicely tackle the disease. Similarly, there came a lot well-qualified psychologists who were there to set people free of their emotional or psychological disorders. The in-depth study of human feelings and emotions revealed that there were many mental disorders that are considered to be due to ghosts or other mythical things.

In a village, girls developed strange mental or emotional disorders in their early twenties. They developed acute headache, had emotional strokes in which they started crying or shouting and in some worst cases, they started pulling their hair. It was supposed that they were attacked by ‘genies’ or ghosts as they were young and beautiful and these ‘genies’ adored them and enjoyed teasing them. So these girls were taken to these experts of ‘genies’ or ghosts who used to beat them badly, saying that, he was not beating the girls, in fact beating the ghost that had forcefully entered the body and soul of the girls and it was way of treatment to take the genie out of their body. Some of the girls died during the treatment while many suffered permanent mental or physical disorders after passing through this treatment. In some worst cases, the expert asked the parents to leave the girl alone with him so that he should do some strong spells in isolation where he looted the honor of the girl and the poor girl could not tell this to anyone. The expert also looted the parents by taking huge sums of money from them on the name of his fee.

A doctor went to the village and discovered that there were some other reasons responsible for these problems and there was no role of any ‘genie’ or ghost. He found out that, after the girls reached to the adolescence, they were kept limited to the boundaries of the house which badly affected the feelings of these girls. While living in the same congested boundary for many years with strict orders, they also developed some physical problems like lack of blood and others. In the same way, when their due wishes were demolished, they developed a number of emotional and psychological disorders and all these circumstances came together when the girl developed a number of problems and they were taken to the ‘ghost’ experts.

It is also true that in our societies, there are also present some experts of ‘black magic’ who can do dangerous magic on others but it is a very rare case and the effects of this black magic can be averted by another similar expert or a very educated and pious religious scholar. In most cases, it has been found that our illiteracy, suppression of open thinking and rationality has resulted in these circumstances.

I have no doubt that there are truly present some pious, honest and highly educated religious scholars who use their knowledge for serving the people and they do all these without expectation of any reward. In the same way, there are present some cases that cannot be handled by doctors or traditional healers and these scholars have surprised all by controlling them but it only happens when it is diagnosed that the case belongs to them only and secondly, the scholar is so honest and educated person that he does this with an aim of public service and not with any other objective like making money or acquiring fame because sincerity is the utmost requirement in this profession.

The light of education has helped almost all the citizens to see the true shape of their problems and as this light would keep expanding, this general ability to see the true picture of things would also improve.