The belief in Jinns is a part of some religions, as are many other things but what happens when you are faced with a situation where possession becomes an explanation for everything? And what happens when other cultural beliefs begin to get confused with one’s religon?

Alia (not her real name) told us about her harrowing experience in Pakistan when a family holiday became consumed by a Jinn.

“Like most British born Asians, I was brought up to believe categorically in many things.

“The belief in Jinns was one of them. I am not denying the existence of Jinns but being possessed by a Jinn has become a twisted scapegoat used by people in my family.

“Only last year I was in Pakistan for our annual visit. Our trip coincided with Eid.

“That night as fireworks were lit, we were all watching them from the rooftop of the house.

“All of a sudden, my 13-year-old cousin started shaking violently, like a seizure. She fell to the ground as saliva started dripping from the side of her mouth.

“I tried to say that it looked like she was having an epileptic fit but the family quickly shut me up.

“As my cousin started making strange, random sounds, my family said that my cousin had been possessed by a Jinn again. It was, apparently, a frequent occurrence. The local imam was quickly called to the house.

“We were all told to leave as the imam did his work. All we heard was a lot of shouting and thumping.

“The whole episode was very scary and frenetic. My cousin can’t remember that episode, or any other episodes for that matter.”

Alia said the family did not believe the fits may have been due to a medical problem.

She said: “The reason for my cousin’s fits is because someone put nazar on her because she is an attractive girl, leading her to be possessed by a Jinn.”

Whilst many are very quick to dismiss this, it is very often culture and a lack of knowledge that keeps such dangerous concepts flourishing.

Nusrat, another British-born Pakistani woman, spoke to us about how superstitions affected her life.

She said: “My mum would wave chillis around my head to get rid of nazar on my way out to college.

“I was never allowed to drink milk from a glass when I was a child in case someone put nazar on me.

“The idea was that someone would see how much milk I was drinking and that would lead to them being envious that I had a healthy appetite.

“Therefore, I was only ever allowed to drink milk from a mug.”

Whilst she maintains that these sorts of actions were the norm growing up, she revealed how these traditions manifested in a detrimental way after her marriage.

She added: “My mother-in-law is even worse than my mum.

“It was bad enough that when I was pregnant, she told me that I can cure my stretch marks if I rub my husband’s used underwear across my stomach after every shower.

“That was, according to my mother-in-law, a better solution than oils or creams.

“When my daughter was eventually born, she arrived with a digit missing from one of her fingers.

“The doctors told my husband and I that it is something called Amniotic Band Syndrome.

“This means that part of her finger was trapped in fibrous amniotic bands whilst I was pregnant.

“Imagine if a rubber band was tightly wound around the tip of your finger.”

Her mother-in-law, however, had a whole other explanation which she still believes to this day.

Nusrat said: “I was told that the abnormality in my daughter’s finger was because on the night of a full moon, I must have been chopping something in the kitchen.

“She said I should have known better than to be chopping anything on a full moon, particularly when I was pregnant.

“When someone has such a weak minded and unsubstantiated belief, there is no point arguing with them.

“This is the same woman who believes my husband is dark skinned because she drank coke during her pregnancy.

“Science or logic has no place in such people’s lives.”