Belief that sudden death is because of magic/witchcraft .

married to an arab man and in his town, people seem to believe that
when someone dies, especially if they suddenly got sick and passed
away, it is because some evil"sahar" or magician placed a spell on
that person in order to make every-one believe that he/she died, and
then this magician takes the"dead" person and imprisons him/her to
become a slave. what is the ruling in islam concerning such beliefs?
has this been heard of before? could it really happen? as a foreigner
and convert to islam, i don't know what to believe in this aspect and
i am real confused. please clear this up for me. thank you
Praise be to Allaah.
What is mentioned in the question is completely wrong. The person who
dies suddenly is just like anyone else who dies, for whatever reason:
his soul leaves his body, andthe soul is a matter of the unseen which
is known only to Allaah. Some groups of innovators (followers of
bid'ah) believe that when a person dies, his soul moves to another
body. This is known as tanaasukh (transmigration of souls), and this
belief is something which is known to be essentially false according
to the religion of Islam.
Shaykh 'Abd al-Kareem al-Khudayri.
This is appalling kufr and falsehood, and is one of the results of
denying the torment of the grave. We ask Allaah to keep us safe and
sound.
Islam Q&A
Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid

The evil eye may be given by the kaafirs .

Can the disbelievers giveyou evil eye?
Praise be to Allaah.
Yes, the evil eye may be given by a kaafir. The evidence for that is
the aayah (interpretation of the meaning):
"And verily, those who disbelieve would almost make you slip with
their eyes (through hatred) when they hear the Reminder (the
Qur'aan)…"
[al-Qalam 68:51]
Al-Saddi said: "[This means] they would harmyou with their eyes (evil
eye)." Tafseer al-Baghawi, 8/202.
This is also indicated by the general meaning of the words of the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him): "The (evil) eye
is real." Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 5740; Muslim, 2187.
Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid

witchcraft, jinn, the evil eye,- A person who tells people who are present about private and secret matters.

One of the liars claims to know the Unseen. He recites Qur'aan over
people who suffer from epilepsy and tells them to use papers on which
he has written as incense, and he gives them amulets to wear. If a
person who comes to him for treatment is a wine-drinker, he tells him
that he drank wine the day before and that the rest of the wine is to
be found in such and such a place, and says that he will not treat
himfor epilepsy until he gives up drinking wine. Then the person
admits it. Please give us a fatwaa (ruling) on this matter. Is it
permissible to sit and eat with this person and to greet him with
salaam and pray behind him – as he sometimes leads the people in
prayer? We have tried to advise him but he did not accept our advice,
and says thathe is doing the right thing. Please give us a fatwaa, may
Allaah reward you.
Praise be to Allaah.
Undoubtedly this person is a fortune-teller who uses the shayaateen
and gets close to them by doing things that they like so that they
will tell him some concealed things. He may be offering sacrifices to
them, calling them by name, obeying them by disobeying Allaah and
eating haraam or impure things, etc. Of course this is kufr and shirk.
He must be asked to repent, and if he repents, all well and good –
otherwise he must be executed. It is not permissible to pray behind
him or to greet him with salaam until and unless he repents. And
Allaah knows best.
al-Lu'lu' al-Makeen min Fataawaa Ibn Jibreen, p. 20

Islamic Stories,- The Carpenter

A highly skilled carpenter who had grown old was ready to retire. He
told his employer-contractor of his plans to leave the house building
business and live a more leisurely life with his family. He would miss
the paycheck, but he neededto retire.
The employer was sorry to see his good worker go and asked if he could
build just one more house as a personal favor. The carpenter agreed to
this proposal but made sure that this will be his last project. Being
in a mood to retire, the carpenter wasnot paying much attention to
building this house. His heart wasnot in his work. He resorted to poor
workmanship and used inferior materials. It was an unfortunate way to
end his career.
When the job was done, the carpenter called his employer and showed
him the house. The employer handed over some papers and the front door
key to the carpenter and said "This is your house, my gift to you."
The carpenter was in a shock! What a shame! If he had only known that
he was building his own house, he would have made it better than any
other house that he everbuilt!
Our situation can be compared to this carpenter. Allah Ta'la hassent
us to this world to build our homes in paradise by obeying His
commands. Now, we have to decide how well we wish to build the homes
where we will live forever.