By Lubna Abdel-Aziz Do you believe in the devil? Do you believe he walks amongst us, tempting and tormenting us? Is he one entity or several? Could you identify him if you saw him? If you are not a believer in the existence of the devil, you are not a believer in religion. The devil exists in every religion. The struggle between good and evil, the benevolent and malevolent spirits is the groundstone of every religion. In the three great religions Islam, Christianity and Judaism, the devil occupies a prominent place, especially in Christianity. One major characteristic of the New Testament is the many deliverances of people possessed by the devil. In this day and age can the devil, or an evil spirit, possess one of us, inflicting pain, unleashing venom? To what purpose? Is not the Prince of Darkness capable of wreaking havoc all on his own? The subject of intense interest for thousands of years, the devil has assumed many faces and invaded many bodies. Christians speak long and loud about the devil. They have also defined the means of driving out the evil one from persons, places, or things. They call it 'Exorcism.' The Gospel sites the numerous deliverances of possessed people by Jesus Christ. In fact amongst the powers which Jesus confirmed on his disciples was the power to drive out the evil spirits. The number of possessed persons in the Gospel is endless. The exorcisms performed by Jesus were completed instantaneously by simply commanding the evil spirit to depart. Devil possession began at the start of Christ's teachings. He himself, was tempted three times by the devil. Fascination of the devil and his surrogates is more popular now than ever. A deluge of images and ideas keep us preoccupied with the devil in our media. Books, movies, and TVs are inundated with stories of the forces of good and evil. From the Da Vinci Code to Harry Potter, we revel in the world of angels and demons, ghosts and vampires, Satan and witchcraft. Millions of us have spent millions sucking it up gladly. They quell our fears and quench our thirst for detailed information and stories about the dreaded one. The concept of the devil is perplexing. The Bible calls him the "god of the world." The purpose of his existence is to deceive, to lie, destroy, and to kill. Why does the devil do what he does? Surely God did not willingly create such evil. In fact, the devil was once an angel. God created three archangels, Lucifer, Michael, and Gabriel. Each ruled one third of hundreds of millions of angels. Lucifer rebelled against the rule of his creator and fell from grace. He became known as Satan, and now leads his fallen angels or demons on the wrong path. It was Satan who tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden and had since tried to destroy God's perfect world. This once perfect being, who originally brought brilliant light (Lucifer means the angel of light), has turned the light into darkness. Exorcism is the practice of evicting demons form a person or place possessed. The term, derived from the Greek Exorkizein, to bind by oath. It became prominent in early Christianity. The practice however is quite ancient and part of the belief system of many cultures and religions. In Christian practice the exorcist is often a priest with special powers or skills for his arduous task. He recites prayers and set formulas, gestures, symbols, icons, holy water, the cross, and other amulets. He invokes God and Jesus and several different angels and archangels to intervene. It is a cure and not a punishment, since the person possessed is an innocent victim. If there is potential for violence, the possessed one is tied down. In Islam exorcism repairs the damage cause by evil spells or "sehr" by reading specific Koran versus glorifying God. The Holy prophet Mohamed taught his followers to read particular versus, or Surat, such as the Throne Verse (Ayat Al Kursi), the purity of faith (Surat Al Ikhlass), Dawn (Surate al Fallak), and Mankind (Surat Al Nass). What a rich subject for filmmakers. They landed on an immense treasure, filled with blood and gore, and all else that is horrific and blood-curdling. They explored the subject in a million ways. There is hardly a film that does not set the forces of good against the forces of evil. Man is forever fighting his demons, some more forcefully than others. We still remember the spooky thriller of The Omen (1976), and the Exorcist (1973). We quivered in delight at the terrifying devil possession of that young girl. Written by William Peter Blatty, it was inspired by the true story of a young boy Robby Manneheim. The Exorcism of Emily Rose is also based on a true story. Does the devil possess people at random, or are they carefully selected? It is said that Salvador Dali was one possessed, and was exorcised by Italian Friar Gabriele Marie Berarbi in 1947. Shameless and defiant, the devil is said to have possessed the Saint of the 20th century Mother Teresa, who allegedly underwent an exorcism late in life under the direction of the Archbishop of Calcutta, Henry D'Souza. He feared she might be under the attack of the evil one, because she seemed to be agitated in her sleep. Evil knows no bounds. Scientists do not believe in exorcism, but the clash between science and religion has never ceased. Psychiatrists have other names for demon possession, such as hysteria, mania, psychosis, epilepsy, Tourette Syndrome, schizophrenia, Dissociated Identity Disorder, once known as Multiple Personality Disorder. There is also a form of monomania, or demonomania, in which the patient believes that he is possessed by a demon. Exorcism therefore does not exist in medical or scientific books. Disregarding science, the film world firmly believes in devil possession and its box-office profits. One of the many films in vogue this season is The Last Exorcism, directed by Daniel Stamm, and written by Andrew Garland and Huck Botko. It tells the story of a troubled Evangelist minister, who agrees to allow his last exorcism to be documented by a film crew. So where is the devil? And what does he look like? Is he walking beside you, staring at you? Is it your neighbor, your cousin, your best friend? Is it you-is it me? We must all beware lest the prince of darkness comes calling. He takes on many shapes, speaks many languages and performs many atrocities. As long as this world exists, there is evil hovering over us, and there will always be a need for exorcism and exorcists. The evil that men do, lives after them, The good is oft interred with their bones -- William Shakespeare (1564 -- 1616)
