Healing by Islam : the adoption of a prophetic rite – roqya- by salafists in France and in Belgium

The roqya, a method for extracting djinns and evils linked to sorcery by the evil eye, is becoming part of the salafist religious offer. The therapists – called “raqis”- recommend returning to a purified exorcism, centred on Koranic psalmodies and treatment by Koranized water. How can the raqi compete with other actors in the market of Islamic healing to the point of setting out to correct them? What forms of self-legitimization does he implement? Are there substantial differences between the roqya and other practices associating therapy and religion (like maraboutism)? Lastly, does exposure to the roqya produce a salafization of the patients (with a return to the religion for sociological Muslims and a conversion for the others)? This article is the occasion to deepen our awareness of a practice that social science research on Salafism has barely touched on