A Muslim exorcist, who was recently stabbed to death, may have been killed because of the nature of his work, said one of his colleagues on September 15.

Only 45-years old, Zakariyya Islam, who has three children, specialized in expelling demons –also known as jinns– from possessed individuals by reading out Koranic verses. After 20 years of exorcising demons, he was killed earlier this month at his voodoo healing center, Ruqya Therapy, located near East London Mosque in Whitechapel.

“The speculation is that one of his patients was possessed by a demon and they got in and attacked him. Lots of demons possess people and it's a crisis. It's very possible that a demon wanted to attack him. These demons hold a grudge. It's possible one of them used a body to attack him. There was blood all over the floor in the street right in front of my office. It's scary and shocking that something like this could happen just next door. He is very well known in the community, his brother in law is a very good friend of mine,” said one of Islam’s neighbors.

Even though police and paramedics rushed to the spot as soon as they were informed of Islam’s critical condition, they were unable to revive him and eventually pronounced him dead at the scene. Within a few hours, a 43-year-old man was arrested and held for interrogation since he too had suffered similar injuries on his hand. Investigators confirmed that they are not looking for any other suspects.

Islam’s colleague, 51-year-old Tasawer, said he was informed about the incident by a late
night phone call.

“It was the last thing I expected to hear. I am lost for words that something like this could happen to him. We do have enemies in this field because there are a lot of people who don't like our work. They don't like us assisting people. There are people causing problems and we give advice. This is what we do to keep people safe and when we perform those actions, the persons who are attacking - their powers are weakened. Even I get threatening messages when I help people who ask for advice. There are certainly people out there. In my opinion that's what has led to this. I don't believe he had any personal issues that could have caused this. The only person that I can think would have something against him is someone to do with his work. It will be someone who controls these powers 'Jinns'. They have to go through a lot of effort to attack someone with Jinns and if he has exorcised someone then they have to go through all the trouble again. They appear ordinary on the street but in the darkness of night that's what they do,” he said.

Police and paramedics sealed off the center, which is part of a larger office space on Greatorex Street, for forensic searches. Other centers in the same office space are known to offer advice and help on subjects like witchcraft, sorcery, black magic and evil eye.

Describing the businesses in a gist, Tasawer, who offers similar services over Skype, said they are legitimate practices that aim to improve the lives of believers.

“It's something similar to what you would call clairvoyance. We recite directly from the Koran and it's the words that are very soothing. Everything that is damaging around you gets destroyed but lots of people don't believe or they don't understand. People with mental health issues - all we have to do is speak to them - not even physical contact - we just say the words. It's like yoga - we do the recitations from the Koran for about 30-40 minutes and people feel better. You can be inhabited or possessed by these powers - everything around you feels bad. You feel miserable and you want to sleep all the time. A doctor will just tell you that you need to sleep it off but by listening to the Koran you can get rid of it all. It is using the Koran to exorcise those spirits,” he said.

Islam was born in Bangladesh but brought up in the United Kingdom. Last year, he organized a conference titled ‘The World of Jinns’ at East London Mosque, where he also demonstrated the ancient healing practice of cupping, commonly referred to as hijama, by Muslims. 

Paying tribute to his friend, Tasawer said, “He was a very gentle and charitable person who would help anybody. He was in the business of helping people who were a bit unstable in their lives. He was the sort of person who would go around and out of his way to help people. It's a huge shock for me. The community will definitely be worse off without him.”

Photo Credits: Huffington Post