Religion and the Internet: Prophetic Medicine in the Age of Modern Technology

Abstract

This paper discusses the distribution of the Prophet's medicine using mobile applications and social networks “Vkontakte” and “Telegram”. When you enter the words “medicine of the Prophet”, “sihr”, “evil eye”, “witchcraft”, “exorcism of genies”, etc., into the social network search bar, more than a hundred open groups come out, which can be divided into several categories: groups providing hij ama services; groups that sell medicines and oils allowed by Islam; groups in which various herbal remedies (black cumin, garlic, ginger, etc.) are recommended for improving health and prevention; groups dedicated to ruqya. Special attention was paid to the community “Treatment and expulsion of genies” in VKontakte. The community is interesting by fact that you can fi nd specialists in expelling genies, as well as you can off er the services relevant to the group by yourself. The search bar in the Play Market gives out an impressive amount of applications dedicated to the medicine of the Prophet. The author of the article focuses on the application “Anti Sihr: a cure for witchcraft”, where the users are invited to use three tests to independently determine whether a person is under the infl uence of the evil eye or witchcraft, or whether he is a subject to obsession.