Egyptian Cleric Wagdi Ghneim Demonstrates Proper Spitting in Fending Off Khunzub, the Devil Responsible for Spoiling Muslim Prayers

Following are excerpts from a speech delivered by Egyptian cleric Wagdi Ghneim, which aired on Al-Nas TV on November 9, 2008.

Wagdi Ghneim: One should be aware of the hostility of the devil of prayer. This devil is called Khunzub, Allah’s curses upon him. This Khunzub – may Allah bring ruin upon him – cares about nothing but ruining one’s prayers. He specializes in prayers. How? He begins to whisper in your ear: What’s up? Let’s say you can’t find your watch, but he knows that your watch is on the chest of drawers. Let’s say you are standing during the midday prayer. You pray with true intent – not like all those people in the front row, who pray with exaggerated movements... What’s that all about? Allah knows that you are praying. If you have true intent while praying – that is enough. You say: “Allah Akbar,” and leave the whole world behind you. Along comes Khunzub and says: “Your watch is on the chest of drawers.” There goes your prayer. You might be sitting with your cell phone next to you, and nobody calls. The second you say “Allah...” - trrrrrrrr, the phone begins to ring. You begin to wonder who’s calling, and the prayer is gone. That’s Khunzub.

So what can we do? Before prayer, you go like this: “Allah protect me from the accursed Satan” [spits], “Allah protect me from the accursed Satan” [spits], “Allah protect me from the accursed Satan” [spits]. This is tafl - spitting without saliva. When I spit, it’s with saliva, but the tafl... This is spitting without saliva. You should spit on him three times. If he shows up and destroys your prayer, you can spit on him in mid-prayer: “Allah protect me from the accursed Satan” [spits], and then you complete your prayer, so it doesn’t go to waste. You should spit to the left three times.

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Let’s say you have a bad dream at night. When you wake up, you spit three times to the left, saying: “Allah protect me from the accursed Satan.” Then you must change your sleeping position, and you mustn’t tell anybody. Of course, when you spit three times to your left, make sure nobody is lying next to you. If your wife is next to you, make sure you don’t spit on her. You don’t want to look like an idiot. Just spit the other way, brother. Turn away from her and spit three times.

How does the spitting go? Before you go to bed, you hold your hands like this, and pray... When it’s nighttime, before you go to bed, you hold your palms like this, and pray... When you’re done... You spit without saliva, and then you spread it like this, all over your eyes, nose, mouth, ears, head, arms, body, and legs. Then – repeat a second and a third time. Don’t just say “repeat” – recite the whole prayer again. When you finish reciting, you spread it a second time, and a third time all over your body. That way you protect yourself, and you should tell your wife and children to do the same.

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As the Prophet Muhammad said, everybody is born Muslim, and their parents convert them to Judaism, to Christianity, or to Zoroastrianism. That’s why the Christians have something called baptism. They put the child in water, and he becomes a Christian. So what was he originally? A Muslim.

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I heard that some woman did a Ph.D. in ballet. You go about naked, showing your body, moving the legs, and walking on tiptoe... and you call it a Ph.D. in ballet?! What kind of Ph.D. is this? It’s like people who have a Ph.D. in theology, and say God is a trinity. Saying that God is a trinity merits a Ph.D. in polytheism...