Is sleep paralysis caused by jinn?

Sleep paralysis is waking while the body is still in the muscular paralysis that accompanies dreaming sleep. The person is conscious, cannot move or speak, often feels pressure on the chest, and frequently senses a presence in the room. Many report seeing a figure.

It is medically well understood and it is harmless. It affects a large share of the population at least once, and it is much more common with irregular sleep, sleeping on the back, stress, exhaustion and disrupted schedules.

It is also genuinely terrifying, and it maps almost exactly onto descriptions of spiritual attack, which is why it is so widely interpreted that way across every culture and religion.

What to do

• Improve sleep regularity, and avoid sleeping on your back
• Follow the prophetic sleep routine: wudu, Ayat al-Kursi, the three surahs blown into the hands and wiped over the body, sleeping on the right side
• When it happens, remember what it is, and know it will pass within a minute or two
• Make dhikr, which will calm you regardless of the cause

If it happens frequently and leaves you exhausted, see a doctor. It can indicate an underlying sleep disorder.