Jinn possession and the rulings on jinn possession

 

Can jinn possess humans? And if this is possible, then how will the person be able to account for their actions, whilst they were possessed, on the Day of Judgement?.

Praise be to Allaah.

Firstly: 

Yes, it is
possible for jinn to possess humans. Allaah says in His Book (Interpretation
of the meaning): 

“Those
who eat Ribaa [usury] will not stand (on the Day of Resurrection) except
like the standing of a person beaten by Shaytaan (Satan) leading him to
insanity”

[al-Baqarah 2:275] 

See also the
answers to questions no. 11447,
42073,
39214 and
1819. 

Shaykh
al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: 

The fact
that a jinni may enter the body of a human is proven by the consensus of the
imams of Ahl al-Sunnah wa’l-Jamaa’ah. Allaah says (interpretation of the
meaning): 

“Those
who eat Ribaa [usury] will not stand (on the Day of Resurrection) except
like the standing of a person beaten by Shaytaan (Satan) leading him to
insanity”

[al-Baqarah 2:275] 

and in
al-Saheeh it is narrated from the Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) that “The shaytaan flows through the son of Adam like
blood.” End quote. 

Majmoo’
al-Fataawa (24/276, 277) 

Secondly: 

Possession
is a kind of sickness. If a person who has this sickness is rational, then
he has the choice and he will be brought to account for his words and
actions. But if this sickness has overwhelmed him to the point that he has
lost his mind and free will, then he is like one who is insane and is not
accountable. Hence in Arabic the word mass (possession) is used to
refer to junoon (insanity). See Lisaan al-‘Arab (6/217). But
if he commits an act of aggression against another when he is insane and
destroys his property, for example, then he must pay compensation for that. 

See: Zaad
al-Ma’aad (4/66-71) 

It says in
al-Mawsoo’ah al-Fiqhiyyah (16/106): 

The fuqaha’
are unanimously agreed that insanity is like unconsciousness and sleep,
rather it is more severe in the loss of free will, and it makes whatever he
says invalid. For the one who is sleeping, all his verbal statements, such
as divorce, becoming Muslim, turning apostate, selling, buying, etc, are
invalid. So it is more appropriate that such statements be invalid in the
case of insanity, because the insane person has no power of reasoning or
discernment. They quoted as evidence for that the words of the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him): “The Pen has been raised from
three: the sleeper until he awakens, the child until he reaches maturity and
the insane person until he comes back to his senses.” Narrated by the
authors of Sunan with a saheeh isnaad. The same applies to all verbal
statements because of the potential for harm. End quote. 

In (16/107)
it says: 

With regard
to the rights of people such as compensation and the like: these are not
waived, because he is not accountable for them, rather his guardian is
responsible for paying financial dues from the wealth of the insane person.
If he commits some crimes, he is accountable for them financially but not
physically. If he destroys a person’s property when he is in a state of
insanity, compensation must be paid, but if he kills someone there is no
qisaas (retaliation), but the diyah must be paid. 

And Allaah
knows best.