STUDY OF SPECIALISED TECHNIQUES IN
CENTRAL ASIA
Jajar Hallaji*
During a sojourn in Afghanistan in the spring of 1961, I had the
opportunity of observing hypnosis among the people of an ancient
culture. I feel that the following notes on my experience may contribute
to a knowledge of the nature of hypnotheraphy in places which have been
relatively unaffected by modern developments, and hence shed some light
on the histroical use of this technique.
The community which I observed is a semi-monastic one, known as
Nakshbundi Sufis.. The culture is similar to that of the Yogis of India,
in that the training of mind and body is stressed, while supernatural
elements are rigidly excluded in practical work. Sufism has, however,
a respectable literature of transcendental character, and most of the
mystical poets of the Persian, Turkish and Urdu classical periods were
Sufi practitioners.
Training of the Sufi practitioner is done in secret, given only to
selected disciples, and it claims to be the only real "occult training".
Its purpose is the production of a "perfect man" complete in mind
and body. Disciples have to prove their fitness by undergoing tests
and training. Many Sufis are known as "Hakim" (Doctor), meaning
that they have passed through a 16-year course in their art.
A description of the activities of the Sufi doctor or practitioner
will be the main purpose of this paper.
In the community which I observed, a "clinic" is held each Thursday
night prior to the group devotions and exercises of the entire body.
This clinic is composed of 60 devoted practitioners of the Sufi methods.
The precise method of the training of practitioners for this clinic was
not available. The Sufis are opposed to any investigation of their
art because official medical science has not accepted their activities.
They were even reluctant to let me observe their methods in a clinic
because they feared that I might be associated with an official inquiry
into Sufi methods. However, after these difficulties were overcome,
the "Pir-Hakim" (Elder Physician), a man of about 60 years, accompanied
by his six senior practitioners, took me to their place of operations.
The clinic was a large, whitewashed building which contained one
large room and several smaller ones; the rooms were dimly lighted by
oil lamps which hung by chains from the roof. In the large room string-
bedsteads were arranged against the walls, each covered by a cotton
quilt. During the particular night on which I was observing, there were
18 male patients, ranging in age from approximately 18 to 50. Their
ailments included insomnia, headaches, indigestion, lack of appetite,
impotence, undefined fears, and backache. The patients consisted of
Caucasian and Semitic-type nomads, farmers and other local residents;
most of them appeared to be uneducated.
Each applicant was first seen by the Chief and his assistants in one
of the small rooms and then assigned a bed in the clinic. After the
patient had been assigned a bed, he lay on his back, with his eyes fixed
upon one of a number of octagonal moldings. Set in the ceiling, these
moldings were embellished with a nine-pointed diagram. The chief
practitioner and his assistants now visited each bed in turn. While
the rest of the group maintained a chant of the syllables, "Ya HOO,
Ya HUKK!", the chief passed his hands, held together with palms
downward, horizontally over the patient. His hands were held about
six inches over the patient's body and passed with a rhythmic movement
from the eyes to the toes. The technique thus resembled that of the
Mesmerists. An integral part of the proceedings was that the chief
practitioner rhythmically blew upon the patient at a rate of about two
breaths a second. It is this aspect of the procedure which is responsible
for its name, "Chuff" (Breathing). The hypnogenic effect of this
technique is probably facilitated by the relaxation of the body, the warmth
of the room, the patient's concentration upon the diagram, and the
occasional interruption of the light when the palms are passed across the
face.
The subjects appeared to enter a hypnotic state in about six minutes.
The induction, however, continued for an average of about 12 minutes
with younger patients; in the case of patients over about 40, up to 20
minutes was usual. Not all of the patients closed their eyes. Rather,
a sharp intake of breath and cessation of minor bodily movement generally
signalled the onset of hypnosis for these patients. However, no attempt
was made to test for the presence or depth of hypnosis.
After the long period needed to deal thus with each of the 18 patients,
the party of practitioners sat down on a- bench in the middle of the
room while more lights were brought. Tea was now served to the
operators, and for half an hour, conversation in low tones with me was
permitted. I was assured that the patients were now unconscious,
although no verbal suggestions of sleep had been given. The practitioners
also informed me that the patients had not known what the nature of
the treatment would be before coming to the clinic because all patients
who had ever been treated here were cautioned when first interviewed
that they should not repeat to anyone, on pain of a recurrence of their
malady, the form which the therapy took.
At the end of this half-hour period, the practitioners again visited
each case in turn. A small gong was beaten once near the patient's head.
If he did not stir, the chief, reading the symptoms from a piece of paper,
informed him that the curative powers of "Baraka" were entering him,
would continue to work in him, were curing him, in every possible way,
and would complete the cure before he woke up. This was repeated
five times. During this phase of the procedure, the chief made two
occult references. The first was that the clinic was "Haykal-i-Khaab"
(The Temple of Sleep), and the other was that the healing took place
by virtue of curative power transmitted through the santity of the founder
of the Order of Sufis, Sheikh Bahauddin Nakshband.(1)
If, however, the patient did stir or move when the gong sounded,
he was told that at the end of the proceedings he should rouse himself
and return the following Thursday evening for further treatment; he was
instructed to lie still meanwhile until the proceedings were finished.
Of the total, two patients were evidently not in hypnosis.
All were eventually awakened by being shaken by the shoulder and
by being told to arouse themselves. They then kissed the hand of the
chief and were sent to another building where they were fed and allowed
to stay until morning.
The mandate to teach the technique is still held by the Hashemite
family (of which Mohammed was a member), and the present chiefs who
maintain this mandate are the three senior male members of the family:
the Princes Ikbal Ali Shah, Idries Shah, and Omar Ali Shah. Their
hypnotic knowledge and power thus can be seen as deriving from three
sources: that they are Sufi practitioners which gives them the curative
power of Bahauddin, that they are tribal chiefs, and that they are Sayeds,
descendants of Mohammed.
The following day the patients were again examined for symptoms,
and 15 claimed that they were cured. The 16th, the case of impotence,
withheld judgement as to his state of health until his return to his village.
According to an informant, the two unsuccessful cases were subsequently
hypnotized. It is stated that their maladies-insomnia and
migraine-were at that time banished.
The Sufi method of treatment seems to differ from most other
religious healing methods in certain respects. Despite the fact that the
practitioners are viewed as holy men, I observed no Sufi propaganda
being offered to the patients. The practitioners themselves maintained
that their method of cure differs from techniques of faith-healing, such
as the orthodox Islamic, in the sense that the patients are not expected
to have faith that they will be cured by the treatment. Further, although
one might expect that the practitioners would receive some kind of
payment for their services, they accepted no gifts beyond the amount
of food which could be held in the palm of one hand.(2)
According to the chief practitioner, cases of cancer, tuberculosis
and poisoning had been successfully treated by Sufi methods, though it
was sometimes necessary to hypnotize a patient as many as 300 times
before effecting a cure. It was also claimed that numerous referrals
to the Sufi method had been cases which defied treatment by physicians
trained in the West.
As far as could be ascertained, there was no knowledge of hypnosis
as used in the West and no member of the community had any knowledge
of any foreign language other than Persian. The books in their library
were exclusively classical ones or poetry. The chief practitioner claimed
that the Sufi method of treatment originated in the 12th century but
had been used for many centuries prior to that by certain Sufi "masters".
This hypnotic technique of treatment is claimed to have been brought
to Afghanistan by a family of descendants of the prophet Mohammed.(3)
This claim may be somewhat substantiated by the historical incident in
620 A.D., in which Mohammed placed his son-in-law and companion,
AH (subsequently the Fourth Caliph), into a trance and was able to
withdraw without pain a fragment of a lance which was embedded in
his thigh.
1: lt may be mentioned here (a) that the idea of the Sleep Temple
could have been transmitted through the Greek culture which once had
a strong-hold in Afghanistan, and (b) that Bahauddin is a historical
figure who is widely reputed to have had curative powers.
2: The community's economy centres around agriculture, sheep-raising,
and some cropping of fruit and nuts.
3: The tribal chiefs of this area of Afghanistan are descendants of this
family, and the right to the title of tribal chief is hereditary.
*Copyright © 1961, 1962
See: Shor, R.E., and Orne, M.T.,
The Nature of Hypnosis (Basic Readings), New York 1965, 475ff.
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