jamesrf

Hello all.

I have been a Baha'i for several months - trying hard to get down the prayers, practices, and beliefs. This concern may sound strange, but I am wondering if anyone else experiences interruptions during prayers - mainly yawning. After I perform ablution and begin the prayer (and only while performing prayers) I yawn constantly.
A few months ago I visited a Masjid for school, and a Muslim spoke of Jinn to me (spiritual entities living around us). I will not go into detail about all of this, but I have studied Islam for a couple of years and found prayers to rid of Jinn presence. There is a Jinn (or ghost) that lives upstairs in my apartment, and I set up my prayer room downstairs and it is covered with prayers and Baha'u'llah's scriptures to dispell its presence while I pray.
I know this sounds odd. Does anyone else experience interruptions in prayer? What do you do about it?

Thank you all,
James

cire perdue

It is my understanding that Baha'is do NOT believe in ghosts which is what you are essentially saying. It is mentioned in a mildl manner in SOME ANSWERED QUESTIONS and other Baha'is have confirmed this to me. I yawn during prayers as well. I have been with people who believed in ghosts who could convince me that I could perceive ghosts as well. I have known generations of a family who passed down this belief. I also know that they were not successful in ways that did not make sense either! I am relieved to know this very subjective, sensational, and attention seeking practice is not given reality in this Faith. I think blaming anything on an external non corporeal being is going backwards in a major, major way.

I found Moslem men to be so friendly and kind I "was ready to up and join", however the reality of what is done to women by these "lovely" men was a wake up call.

InvestigateTruth

There was also a disscussion about Jinns and evil spirits in this forum:

Baha'i Library Forum - View topic - Jinn

Which they quoted some from Baha'i Writings:

"Regarding your question as to the meaning of Jin or Genii referred to in the Qur'an, these are not beings or creatures that are actually living, but are symbolic references to the power of men of evil and may be likened to evil spirits. But the point to bear in mind is that these have no positive existence of any kind."

(From a letter written on behalf of the Guardian to an individual believer, June 26, 1936: Bahá'í News, No. 105, p. 1, February 1937)



"As to the question of evil spirits, demons and monsters, any references made to them in the Holy Books have symbolic meaning. What is currently known among the public is but sheer superstition."

(From a Tablet of Abdu'l-Bahá: Spiritualism and Psychic Phenomena, p. 3)



"You have asked regarding the influence of evil spirits. Evil spirits are deprived of eternal life. How then can they exercise any influence? But as eternal life is ordained for holy spirits, therefore their influence exists in all the divine worlds."

(From a Tablet of Abdu'l-Bahá to Mrs. Ella Goodall Cooper: Daily Lessons Received at Akka, p. 78, 1979 ed.)



"The reality underlying this question is that the evil spirit, Satan or whatever is interpreted as evil, refers to the lower nature in man. This baser nature is symbolized in various ways. In man there are two expressions: One is the expression of nature; the other the expression of the spiritual realm. The world of nature is defective. Look at it clearly, casting aside all superstition and imagination... God has never created an evil spirit; all such ideas and nomenclature are symbols expressing the mere human or earthly nature of man. It is an essential condition of the soil of earth that thorns, weeds and fruitless trees may grow from it. Relatively speaking, this is evil; it is simply the lower state and baser product of nature."

(Abdu'l-Bahá: Promulgation of Universal Peace, pp. 294-295, 1982 ed.)

Fadl

Actually, not only would I not worry about evil spirits and yawning, but I would actually encourage you to yawn frequently. It is especially good to yawn before prayer or meditation because it helps relax you and brings you into a heightened state of cognitive awareness. In How God Changes Your Brain, neurologist Andrew Newberg listed yawning as the Fifth best way to exercise your brain, and recommends it as part of a spiritual routine.

As for Jinn, we understand this to mean evil spirits. But when evil spirits are understood for what they really are, one realizes that they are not something to fear, for they are actually very weak in the sense that evil is a phenomenon of negative existence as opposed to good, which is positive existence. For example, knowledge is a good and positive quality, ignorance is its opposite. Ignorance is not a strength or a power, but a weakness. Therefore, evil spirits are those that lack in the positivistic qualities and attributes which logically makes them weak and impotent. An evil spirit can only be dangerous when that evil spirit is your own, or when that evil spirit is associated with someone else. For example, an evil person (one who possesses evil qualities) might attack you or steal from you or do dangerous things capable of real harm.

BUt we don't believe in ghosts in the Baha'i faith or in disembodied evil spirits floating about. Even if we did, for the sake of argument, such disembodied evil spirits would be incapable of harm for they are nothing more than impotent, ignorant and weak, and it would be difficult for them to do anything at all in such a state especially without a body.

arthra

I like "My Favorite Genie"...

EternalStudent

Many times, what we consider to be evil is in fact good for nature. Look at the thorn: It hurts us, so we consider it to be bad (thorns are considered a part of the Curse by Christians), but they are actually used for defense by the plant. Look at the rose, which is covered in thorns. Nobody would call the rose a curse, yet they say that thorns, which helps to protect the rose, are. This is just one example of us calling good evil. What does this have to do with 'evil' spirits? I'm getting there.
See, everything is made up of energy. Matter is simply another form of energy. So it's not that hard to imagine a life form with an 'energy body' instead of a 'matter body.' Some human beings are born with the ability to sense the energies around them. They would be able to 'see' these energy creatures. In ancient times these energy creatures were called... Spirits. These creatures, just like 'physical' creatures, will do whatever they must do to survive. They must feed, just like 'physical' creatures do. If they are made up of non-physical energies, what would they feed on? Energy. Some would feed on life energy. This would make anything living their prey. Including us. So, when people noticed that energy creatures were feeding off of them, they called them evil, even though they were just doing what they had to to survive. The stories about these creatures eventually become myth, and combined with the metaphores we used for our own lower nature, and these myths became what we call Demons, Jinn, Devils, Imps, etc.
Now, I'm not saying that this is TRUE. But it is a theory. A theory which would be able to explain why seemingly sane people do have experiences with 'evil' spirits.

I don't think a Jinn's making you yawn though.