Editing Demon (section)

=== Islamic world ===
A minority of Muslim scholars in the Medieval Age, often associated with the [[Muʿtazila]] and the [[Jahmi|Jahmītes]], denied that demons (jinn, devils, divs etc.) have physicality and asserted, they could only affect the mind by ''[[Waswas|waswās]]'' ({{langx|ar|وَسْوَاس}}, 'demonic whisperings in the mind').<ref name="Böttcher–2021"/>{{rp|style=ama|p= 73}}<ref>Dein, Simon, and Abdool Samad Illaiee. "Jinn and mental health: looking at jinn possession in modern psychiatric practice." The Psychiatrist 37.9 (2013): 290-293.</ref> Some scholars, like [[ibn Sina]],<ref>Rosen, L. (2008). Varieties of Muslim Experience: Encounters with Arab Political and Cultural Life. Ukraine: University of Chicago Press.</ref>{{rp|style=ama|p= 89}} rejected the reality of jinn altogether. [[Jahiz|Al-Jāḥiẓ]] and [[Mas'udi|al-Masʿūdī]], explained jinn and demons as merely psychological phenomena.

In his ''[[Kitāb al-Hayawān]]'', al-Jāḥiẓ states that jinn and demons are the product of loneliness. Such a state induces people to mind-games, causing {{Lang|ar-latn|waswās}}.<ref name="Nünlist-2015">{{cite book |last=Nünlist |first=Tobias |year=2015 |title=Dämonenglaube im Islam |trans-title=Demonic Belief in Islam |publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG |isbn=978-3-110-33168-4 |language=de}}</ref>{{rp|style=ama|p=36}} Al-Masʿūdī is similarly critical regarding the reality of demons. He states that alleged demonic encounters are the result of fear and "wrong thinking". Alleged encounters are then told to other generations in bedtime stories and poems. When they grow up, they remember such stories in a state of fear or loneliness. This encourages their imaginations, resulting in another alleged demonic encounter.<ref name="Nünlist-2015"/>{{rp|style=ama|p=37}}