says "I don't believe in magic" because "this is just an illusion"?.
Praise be to Allaah.
Sihr (witchcraft or magic) is a word referring to something hidden. It
is real and there are kinds of witchcraft that may affect people
psychologically and physically, so that they become sick and die, or
husbands and wives are separated. Its effects happen by the will of
Allaah. It is a devilish action, most of which is only achieved by
means of shirk and drawing close to the jinn and shayaateen (devils)
by means of that which they love, and it is basedon associating others
with Allaah (shirk).
There are doctors who are also practitioners of witchcraft, who treat
people by means of seeking the help of the jinn. They claim to have
knowledge of the sickness with no need toidentify it, and they
prescribe for the patient foods and drinks that bring him closer to
his allies among the devils. He may tell them to slaughter a pig
whilst saying "Bismillaah" over it, or to slaughter a permissible
animal without saying "Bismillaah", or when saying the name of one of
the devils.
This is kufr or disbelief in Allaah, and it is not permissible under
any circumstances to go to people like these. The hadd punishment for
these people is execution. It has been proven from three of
theSahaabah (may Allaah bepleased with them) that the practitioners of
witchcraft are to be put to death.
The Standing Committee was asked a question about this matter, in
which it was said:
Please note that in Zambia there is a Muslimman who claims that he has
with him a jinn, and the people come to him and ask him to treat their
sicknesses, and thisjinn states what their treatment should be. Is
that permissible?
They replied:
It is not permissible for that man to use the jinn, and it is not
permissible for the people to go to him seeking treatment for sickness
through his using the jinn, or to meet any other need by this means.
Seeking treatment through human medical doctors and using permissible
medicines is sufficient and means that there is no need for that, and
it keeps peoplesafe from the sorcery of the magicians.
It was narrated in a saheeh report that the Messenger of Allaah (peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "Whoever goes to
afortune-teller and asks him about something, his prayer will not be
accepted for forty days." Narrated by Muslim.
And it was narrated by the authors of al-Sunan and by al-Haakim, who
classed it as saheeh, that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah
be upon him) said: "Whoever goes to a soothsayer and believes what he
says has disbelieved in that which was revealed to Muhammad."
This man and his companions from among the jinn are regarded as being
among the fortune-tellers and soothsayers, so it is not permissible
toask them anything or to believe them.
Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa'imah, 1/408, 409
Shaykh 'Abd al-'Azeez ibn Baaz said:
Given that there are so many charlatans lately, who claim to be
doctors and to treat people by means of magic and witchcraft, and they
have become widespread in some countries and they exploit the naïveté
of the ignorant, I thought that in the spirit of sincerity towards
Allaah and His slaves, that I should explain the gravedanger that this
poses toIslam and the Muslims, because it involves dependence on
something other than Allaah and going againstHis command and the
command of His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him),
so I say, seeking the help of Allaah:
It is permissible to seek treatment according to scholarly consensus.
The Muslim may go to a doctor to seek treatmentfor internal diseases,
injuries, nervous complaints, etc, so that he can identify the disease
and treat it in anappropriate manner, using medicines that
arepermissible according tosharee'ah, based on his knowledge of
medicine, because this comes under the heading of using the ordinary
means, and it is not contrary to the idea of putting one's trust in
Allaah. Allaah has sent down the disease but Hehas also sent down with
it the cure; those who know it know it and those who do not do not.
But Allaah has not created the healing for His slaves in that which He
has forbidden to them, so it is not permissible for the sick person to
go to a soothsayer who claims to know the unseen, in order to find out
from them what is wrong with him. And it is not permissible for him to
believe what they tell him, because they speak of the unseen without
knowledge, or they summon the jinn and seek their help in doing what
they want. The ruling on these people isthat they are kaafirs
andmisguided, because theyclaim to have knowledge of the unseen.
Muslim narratedin his Saheeh that 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."
And it was narrated fromAbu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him)
that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:
"Whoever goes to asoothsayer and believes what he says has disbelieved
in that which was revealed to Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah
be upon him)." Narrated by Abu Dawood and by the four authors of
al-Sunan;classed as saheeh by al-Haakim who narrated that the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "Whoever goes to a
fortune-teller or soothsayer and believes what he says has disbelieved
in that which was revealed to Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah
be upon him)." And it was narrated that 'Imraan ibn Husayn (may Allaah
be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "He doesnot belong to us who
observes bird omens or has that done for him, orwho seeks divination
or who has that done for him, or who practices witchcraft or has that
done for him. Whoever goes to a soothsayer andbelieves what he says
has disbelieved in that which was revealed to Muhammad (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him)." Narrated by al-Bazzaar with a
jayyid isnaad.
These ahaadeeth demonstrate that it is forbidden to go to soothsayers,
fortune-tellers, witches and the like, and ask them questions and
believe them, and a warning is issued to those who do that. Community
leaders and those in positions ofpower and authority must forbid going
to fortune-tellers, soothsayers and the like,and not allow anyone who
deals in such thingsto operate in the marketplaces or elsewhere. They
should denounce them emphatically, and denounce those who go to them.
We should not be deceived by the fact that they may get things right
sometimes, or by the fact that many people go to them, because they
are ignorant and the people should not be deceived by them. The
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) forbade going to
them, asking them questions and believing them, because that is a
great evil, a serious danger and leads to bad consequences, and
because they are immoral liars. These ahaadeeth also indicate that
soothsayers and witches are also kaafirs, because they claim to have
knowledge of the unseen, which is kufr, and because they only reach
their goals by serving the jinn and worshipping them instead of
Allaah, which is kufr or disbelief in Himand associating others with
Him (shirk). The one who believes them and their claims to have
knowledge of the unseen is like them. Everyone who goes to these
people and deals with them, is disowned by the Messenger of Allaah
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). It is not permissible for
the Muslim to accept what they claim is a kind of treatment, such as
their muttering mumbo-jumbo or pouring lead and other kinds of
nonsense that they do. This is a kind of sorcery and deception of the
people. Whoever acceptsthat is helping them in their falsehood and
kufr.
Majmoo' Fataawa al-Shaykh Ibn Baaz, 3/274-281.
Secondly:
With regard to witchcraft (sihr), it is realand is not an illusion,
and it may have an effect by Allaah's leave.
Al-Quraafi said: Sihr is real, and the person against whom it is done
may die, or his nature orhabits may be changed, even if he does not
deal with it himself. This was the view of al-Shaafa'i and Ibn Hanbal…
Al-Furooq, 4/149.
The Mu'tazalis, Qadaris and some of the scholarsheld a different view,
but no attention should be paid to that. Al-Quraafi and others
mentioned that the Sahaabah were unanimously agreed that it is real
before there appeared those who denied that.
The evidence of Ahl al-Sunnah concerning that is as follows:
1. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
"but the Shayaateen (devils) disbelieved, teaching men magic andsuch
things that came down at Babylon to the two angels, Haaroot and
Maaroot, but neither of these two (angels) taught anyone (such things)
till they had said,"We are for trial, so disbelieve not (by learning
this magic fromus)." And from these (angels) people learn that by
which they causeseparation between man and his wife, but they could
not thus harmanyone except by Allaah's Leave. And they learn that
which harms them and profits them not"
[al-Baqarah 2:102]
This verse clearly indicates what we are trying to say, which is that
sihr (witchcraft) is real, and that the practitioner of witchcraft may
create a division between a man and his wife thereby, and that he may
harm people by means of his witchcraft, but he cannot do any harm
except by Allaah's leave.
2. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
"And from the evil of those who practise witchcraft when they blow in the knots"
[al-Falaq 113:4]
"those who practise witchcraft when they blow in the knots" refersto
female witches whosewitchcraft involved tyingknots then blowing into
them. If witchcraft were not something real, Allaah would not have
commanded us to seek refuge from it.
3. Further evidence is provided by the fact thatthe Prophet (peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was bewitched by the Jew Labeed
ibn al-A'sam. Thisis a saheeh hadeeth that was narrated by al-Bukhaari
and Muslim.
Ibn al-Qayyim said: The witchcraft which can cause sickness, lethargy,
mental sickness, love, hatred and delusions is something that does
exist and is known by the masses. Many peopleknow it from experience.
Al-Tafseer al-Qayyim, p. 571
Thirdly:
There are many kinds of witchcraft, including illusions and deceiving
the eyes. But not all sihr is like that. Some of the scholars listed
different kinds of witchcraft, and counted eight kinds, the most well
known of which are:
1. Knots and incantations
i.e., reciting words and mumbo-jumbo by meansof which the witch is
able to use the devils to do what he wants of harming the person being
bewitched. But Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
"… but they could not thus harm anyone except by Allaah's Leave"
[al-Baqarah 2:102]
2. Sleight of hand.
They become skilled in this by means of practiceand training to do
things quickly, and bringout something hidden.
For example, the magician may bring a dove and strange it in front of
the audience, then he hits it with his hand and it gets up and flies.
But in fact there was a kind of anaesthetic in his hand and he made it
smell it and made the audience think that he had strangled it and
killed it, then when he hits it, he wakes it up from that stupor.
3. Bewitching the eyes.
This is very common among the liars; the magician does not really put
a sword in his body, rather he bewitches the eyes of the audience, and
puts the sword by his side, but the bewitched people think that he
puts it through his middle.
These tricksters have become well known among us, because among the
audience there are those who protected themselves with Qur'aan and
dhikr, and remembered Allaah a great deal whilst sitting in the
gathering watching the magician, so they saw what really happened,
unlike what those who were bewitched saw.
4. Using chemicals
This is done well by those who know how substances react with one
another, thus producing a substance that is not affected by some other
substances, such as the Sufi Rifaa'iyyah who make people think that
they are not affected by fire, when in fact they coat themselves with
some fireproof substances. Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allaah
have mercy on him) challenged them to wash with hot water before
entering the fire and they refused because this would haveexposed
their deceit.
And there are many other things that the practitioners of witchcraft
do, which could not happen unless Allaah decreed it.
See Tafseer Ibn Katheer, 1/146; Majmoo' Fataawa al-Shaykh Ibn
'Uthaymeen, 2/178; al-Sihr by Shaykh 'Umar al-Ashqar.
And Allaah knows best.
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