Algeria from within

by R. V. C. Bodley

A few words have already been said on this subject, but it is felt that, in order really to understand the Arab, the question must be further developed.

The belief in spells and witchcraft seems a contradiction in a people wrapped up in religion, but it will never enter their heads that bringing supernatural powers to bear on the matters of this world, be it for good or for bad, is placing oneself on the same footing with the Almighty.

They maintain that, as angels exist, djinns and other creatures of the underworld are just as comprehensible, and can be invoked in the same way to carry out requests. Again and again one will meet people who will tell you that dragons live, and that there are people who have seen them and have spoken to them! All sorts of animals are supposed to bring good or evil luck, and amulets with the feet of lizards, the feathers of the hoopoe, the tooth of a jackal, can be seen attached round the necks of babies.

The Koran is always placed in the cradle of the newly born, and there are people who keep pages of the Holy Book to hire out to those who can not afford to buy one.

It would take far too long to go into all the details of these superstitions which are held in reverence all over North Africa, and, though at first sight they may seem to be much the same as those told in more civilized countries, they are not really believed elsewhere to the same extent as in North Africa. I will give an example of a case of witchcraft which occurred only the other day in a family which I knew intimately, a family educated and acquainted with the way of the modern world.

A man tiring of his wife and wishing to marry some one else who refused to share the home, divorced his first wife, who was devoted to him. She made no protest, but, with the aid of certain learned talebs, set about weaving spells about her ex-husband. The night of his wedding the taleb said to the woman:

“Prepare a great feast for all your friends, with music and dancing, and at midnight your husband will return to you.”

She complied with his instructions, and at the midnight hour there was a banging on the door, and the husband in a dazed state appeared, imploring his wife’s forgiveness. She at first refused to see him, and it was not until he had returned a third time that she allowed him in.

I made an investigation of the case, and I talked to those involved, who all corroborated the story. The husband told me that, just as he was about to see his new bride, he felt himself impelled toward his first wife. He struggled against the feeling, but in vain, and before he knew where he was he had left his wedding and was before the door of his late parents-in-law’s house. All this was explained, of course, by the working of the spell, and any contradiction of this was considered as the disbelief of an infidel; the facts were there, and there was nothing further to be said.

I have known cases where some one has desired to spread discord in a household, and in a short space of time the discord has arisen without the mischief-maker speaking a word to the parties concerned. I have seen men commit the greatest follies and trace them to the intention of some other person who has invoked the aid of a djinn.