A woman who says black magic ruined her marriage says more needs to be done to combat those who take advantage of people.

The woman described how she only managed to find out the truth after she eventually approached a bonafide religious teacher.

She told of how her in-laws led her to believe she was ill so she would leave her husband.

Hena (not her real name) claims ‘kala jadoo’ (black magic) is what ultimately broke up her marriage.

“My mother-in-law never wanted me to marry her son. She had made that clear from the moment he introduced me to her.

“We had been dating in university, all whilst he was engaged to his cousin in America. The engagement had been agreed years ago between the two families.

“So when he told his mum about me, it caused a huge feud in the family.”

Her mother-in-law then vowed to make her life miserable. She even told her so herself.

“After we eventually got married, any time we were at my parent’s house for dinner, my mother-in-law would ring up my husband on his mobile and feign some sort of sickness.

“Whether it was palpitations or dizziness. He would, of course, drop everything to return to be by her side.

“My parents and I never said anything. There was no point. She desperately needed attention from her only son, and that was her way of doing it.”

Having lived with her mother-in-law for a few months, Hena and her husband moved out into their own home. However, she reveals their life took an unprecedented and dark turn following the move.

“My mother-in-law only visited us once. But after that one visit, all I can say is that something felt wrong.

“I felt like all my energy was constantly drained.

“I do my prayers, but I felt that my duas were hitting the walls. I can’t explain.

“I started feeling depressed for no reason whatsoever, crying for no reason at all. My husband couldn’t understand it.

“I wasn’t able to perform at work properly and had to take some time off.”

Her mum spoke to a local Imam to ask him what he could do who then asked to come to the house.

“When he arrived he asked me who had visited the house since we moved in. I said apart from my parents, my mother-in-law had come round.

“The Imam asked me about my relationship with her.”

After Hena admitted the contentious nature of the relationship with her mother-in-law, the Imam advised her to check her house for anything that was unusual or that didn’t belong to her.

“I didn’t understand what the Imam was trying to imply, but I was in such a confused and weak frame of mind then, I just followed suit.

“What followed shocked us all. When I searched through my kitchen drawers, there is a drawer that I store extra bits and bobs in.

“It’s a drawer I barely ever use. In that I found a tiny little pouch.

“I asked the Imam to open the pouch for me. What he found inside silenced him. He became so pale. He then poured the contents onto the table.

“There was some hair tangled into a knot. And then there was a piece of paper folded into tiny pieces.

“The Imam said the hair must have been mine.

“He said they could have collected over a period of time whilst we were living with my mother-in-law.

“When he unfolded the paper, it revealed a verse of the Quran written backwards surrounded by five stars, with my name at the bottom of the paper.

“He said that this was kala jadoo, and that was what was draining all my energy.

“He told me to look through the house for more pouches like that.

“I found three more hidden away in obscure places in the house with the exact same contents.

“As if that wasn’t traumatic enough, we had to show my husband what we had found.

“When he confronted his mum, she said that I had planted them there myself just to frame her.”

Hena and her husband divorced shortly after these revelations.

“I had heard stories like this from relatives abroad but had always written them off as folk stories. I’m still not sure I believe it.

“I did see a doctor who said my weakness was caused by extreme anaemia.

“I don’t know if any invisible force, kala jadoo or black magic is powerful enough to challenge God’s will.

“But I do believe my mother-in-law was on a mission to break us up one way or the other.”