He went to a practitioner of witchcraft to undo a spell – can he repent?

Pain squeezes my heart and I am becoming insane. I do not know what is
right and what iswrong anymore. I have done things I always avoided
doing. I moreover did things which I fear are shirk. I fear that all
my deeds are in vain. I feel that mysalaah, fasting, hajj and every
deed that might be good is fruitless. Whenever I read this ayah "If
you join others in worship with Allah, (then) surely, (all) your deeds
will be in vain" it breaks my heart by Allah.What I am saying now is
not of riyaa', it is really what I feel.
Going to pray has become heavy on me. I cannot open the Quran; Ifeel
that the Quran is cursing me because I didnot implement what I have
memorized. Even when I start reading I feel unable to continue, so I
just close it. I ask myself how I will be ableto stand in front of
Allah and say (Wa Eyyaka nasta'een) "You (Alone) we ask for help (for
eachand everything)." Wherehas this "seeking help" gone? I used before
to depend only on Allah and ask His help. I used to make du'a and
persistin it; I always felt I am close to Allah, even after this spell
matter I used tomake much du'a but I did not have patience. I feel
that Allah has tested me and I failed this test due to lack of
patience.
I feel that all my deeds are not accepted. I almost hear a sound
saying to me: "why do anything when it will not be accepted? After
what you have done all your deeds are not, nor will be accepted, all
yourdeeds are in vain".
What I have done in brief is that I went to a magician to counteract
aspell that was put on me after marriage. For morethan one month he
has been giving me things that are not understandable while I feel
hatred to be with him. I hatefully took them while I was like
heedless. Is not this a type of shirk that makes all deeds in vain and
nullifies his Islam? Did not the prophet (PBUH) say: "Incantations,
amulets and being attached to tangible things are shirk."? And said
also: "Whoever goesto a fortune-teller and believes what he says, is
kaafir of what has been revealed on Muhammad"?
Please help me; I am in pain by Allah. I have no luck in this life,
nothing of my wishes has become true, and I fear Ihave a bad end so I
lose everything in life and hereafter.
Praise be to Allaah.
Firstly:
Your feeling that you have sinned, and the pain that you feel in your
heart because of that, indicate that your faith is sound and that your
heart is pure. This isa blessing that Allaah hasbestowed upon you, for
those whose hearts are truly alive are those whoare affected by sin
and who flee to Allaah in repentance and seeking forgiveness. As for
those whose hearts are deadened, they are not affected by commission
of sins, as it is said: The dead feel no pain.
Allaah says concerning the people of faith (interpretation of the meaning):
"Verily, those who are Al-Muttaqoon (the pious), when an evil thought
comes to them from Shaytaan (Satan), they remember (Allaah), and
(indeed) they then see (aright)"
[al-A'raaf 7:201]
What is meant is that they commit sins, then they remember the
punishment of Allaah and His great reward, and His promises and
warnings, so they repentand turn to Him, and they seek refuge with
Allaah, and come straight back to Him. "and (indeed) they then see
(aright)" i.e., they realize the error of their ways and set
themselves straight. End quote from Tafseer Ibn Katheer.
All you have to do is repent and seek forgiveness, and remember that
you are turning to a Lord Who is Most Merciful, Who rejoices over the
repentance of His slave and accepts it from him, and turns his bad
deeds into good deeds, no matter what these bad deeds were.
It is as if you do not realize that Allaah acceptthe repentance of
kaafirs, atheists, evildoers and sinners if they repent and turn back
to Him, so how can He not accept the repentance of believers if they
fall into sin, whenthey are the ones who love Him and turn to Him, who
bow and prostrate, who do wudoo' and purify themselves, and know that
no one can forgive their sins except Him, and no one can help them to
mend their waysexcept Him; so they hasten to regret (their sin) and
seek His forgiveness, and say: OurLord, we have wronged ourselves, and
if You do not forgive us and have mercy on us, we will be among the
losers. The Most Merciful says to His angels: My slave knew that no
one forgives sinsexcept Me. I bear witnessto you that I have forgiven
him. Then his sorrow and worry disperse, and contact with Allaah is
re-established and he feels comforted. By Allaah, how sweet is the joy
of the penitents and how beautiful is the return of the sinners.
The Most Merciful Lord says (interpretation of the meaning):
"Know they not that Allaah accepts repentance from His slaves and
takes the Sadaqaat (alms, charity), and that Allaah Alone is the One
Who forgives and accepts repentance, Most Merciful?"
[al-Tawbah 9:104]
"And those who invoke not any other ilaah (god) along with Allaah, nor
kill such person as Allaah has forbidden, except for just cause,
norcommit illegal sexual intercourse __ and whoever does this shall
receive the punishment.
69. The torment will be doubled to him on the Day of Resurrection, and
he will abide therein in disgrace;
70. Except those who repent and believe (in Islamic Monotheism), and
do righteous deeds; for those, Allaah will change their sins into good
deeds, and Allaah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful"
[al-Furqaan 25:68-70]
al-Bukhaari (7507) and Muslim (2758) narrated that Abu Hurayrah (may
Allaah be pleased with him) said: I heard the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) say: "A man committed a sin and said:
'O Lord, forgive me.' His Lord said: 'Does My slave realize that he
has a Lord Who forgives sin, and calls people to account for sin? I
have forgiven My slave.' Then as much time passed as Allaah willed,
then he sinned again and said: 'My Lord, I have sinned again, please
forgive it.' [Allaah] said: 'Does My slave realize that he has a Lord
Who forgives sin, and calls people to account for sin? I have forgiven
My slave.' Then as much time passed as Allaah willed, then he sinned
again and said: 'My Lord, I have sinned again, please forgive it.'
[Allaah] said: 'Does My slave realize that he has a Lord Who forgives
sin, and calls people to account for sin? I have forgiven My slave.'"
And Muslim (2749) narrated that Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased
with him) said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah
be upon him) said: "By the One in Whose hand is my soul, if you did
not commit sin, Allaah would dispense with you and create people who
would commit sins then ask Allaah for forgiveness, then he would
forgive them."
So hasten to repent, regret your sin and seek forgiveness, and do a
lotof righteous deeds, and receive glad tidings of goodness and
success.
Secondly:
One of the tricks of the shaytaan is to make sin appear attractive to
a person, so as to make him fall into it, then make him despair of
repenting; he gives him false advice: How can you return to Allaah
when you have done what you did? Do you not feel ashamed before Him?
Do you think He will accept it from you? Aperson's sin may be major,
such as zina, thenhe leads him through that into something that
constitutes kufr, such as not praying. So think about how the shaytaan
toys with this man.
As for the believer, the shaytaan has no way to reach him in this
manner, because he knows what we have stated above, about repentance
being essential and about his Lord rejoicing over it, and how He
honours those who repent and turns their bad deeds into good deeds.
Thirdly:
It is not permissible to go to practitioners of witchcraft,
soothsayers or fortune-tellers, even ifthat is in order to undo
aspell, which is called nushrah. Rather spells are to be treated with
Qur'aanic verses and Prophetic du'aa's, and by turning to the
Creatorof mankind, may He be glorified and exalted. See the answer to
question no. 11290 and 48967 .
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "Whoever
goes to a fortune-teller and asks him about something, his prayer will
not be accepted for forty days." Narrated by Muslim (2230).
And he said: "Whoever has intercourse with a menstruating woman or
with a woman in her back passage, or goes to a fortune-teller and
believes what he says, has disbelieved in that which Allaah revealed
toMuhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)."
Narrated by Ahmad (9779), Abu Dawood (3904), al-Tirmidhi (135) and Ibn
Majaah (936); classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh Ibn Majaah.
This is to be understood as referring to minor kufr, according to many
scholars, unless he believes that the practitioner of witchcraft or
fortune-teller has knowledge of the unseen.
Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: "...and
askshim about something, his prayer will not be accepted for forty
days" - the apparent meaning of the hadeeth is that just asking him
something means that his prayer will not be accepted for forty days,
but this is not absolute. Asking a fortune-teller and the like falls
into several categories:
1 - Asking him a question. This is haraam because the Prophet (peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "Whoever goes to
afortune-teller ..." The fact that punishment is confirmed when asking
him indicates that it is haraam, because there isno punishment except
for doing a haraam action.
2 - Asking him and believing him, and paying attention to what he
says. This is kufrbecause believing that he has knowledge of theunseen
is disbelieving the Qur'aan, as Allaah says (interpretation of the
meaning):
"Say: None in the heavens and the earth knows the Ghayb (Unseen) except Allaah"
[al-Naml 27:65].
3 - Asking him in order to test him and find out whether he is telling
the truth or lying, not in order to follow what he says. There is
nothing wrong with this and it is not included in the hadeeth. The
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) asked Ibn Sayyaad:
"What am I hiding from you?" He said: Al-dukh (referring to Soorat
al-Dukhaan).
He said: "Be off with you! You will never go beyond your rank." The
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was asking about
something that hewas concealing from him in order to test him, and he
told him of it.
4 - Asking him in order to show up his inability and lies, so he tests
him with things. This may be obligatory or essential.
Undoubtedly, disprovingthe sorcerer's statementsis something
essential, and it may be obligatory. So asking questions of the
fortune-teller is not haraam in allcases, rather it depends on what is
indicated by the shar'i evidence. End quote from al-Qawl al-Mufeed
(2/49).
Based on this, if you did not believe that this practitioner of
witchcraft had knowledge of the unseen, then you are safe from major
kufr, praise be to Allaah.
Some scholars are of the view that it is permissible to undo
witchcraft with witchcraft, but this is a weak view, that opens the
door to evil and encourages practitionersof witchcraft to carry on
with their falsehood andencourages others to learn witchcraft on the
grounds that they will benefit people.
Wearing an amulet in the belief that it can bring benefit or cause
harm is major shirk. Believing that it has some effect is minor shirk.
See question no. 34817 .
We ask Allaah to accept your repentance and to erase your sins, and to
give you well being in your religious and worldly affairs.
And Allaah knows best.