Jinn, witchcraft and the evil eye - , Sihr and its types

Is sihr (magic, witchcraft) real? Does it have any effect? What are its types?
Praise be to Allaah.
Praise be to Allaah and blessings and peace be upon the Messenger of
Allaah, and his family and companions and those who follow his
guidance.
Sihr is a serious crime and is one of the kinds of kufr. It is one of
things with which people have been tested, in the past and currently,
among the nations of the past, during the Jaahiliyyah and in this
ummah. The more ignorance increases, the less there is knowledge and
awareness of faith, the less attention the authorities pay to this
matter - the more the practitioners of sihr and trickery increase and
spread in the land, to take the people's wealthand confuse them and do
other things. When knowledge prevails and faith increases, and the
Islamic authorities are powerful, the number ofthese evil people
shrinksand they move from oneland to another, seeking a place where
their falsehood will be accepted and they will be able to engage in
their trickery and corruption.
The Qur'aan and Sunnah have described the kindsof sihr and the rulings
on these matters.
Sihr is so called because its means are hidden or secret, and because
the practitioners of sihr dealwith things in secret which enable them
to perform illusions to confuse the people and deceive their eyes, and
to cause them harm or steal their money, etc., ina secretive manner so
that in most cases nobody realizes what is happening. Hence the last
part of the night is called sahar, because at the end of the night
people are unaware andthey do not move about much. And the lungs are
also called sahr, because they are hidden inside the body.
According to sharee'ah, the meaning of sihr is what the magicians do
to delude and confuse people, so that the one who is watching thinks
that it is real when in fact it is not. As Allaah said concerning the
magicians of Pharaoh (interpretation of the meaning):
"They said: 'O Moosa! Either you throw first or we be the first to throw?'
Moosa said: 'Nay, throw you (first)!' Then behold!their ropes and
their sticks, by their magic, appeared to him as though they moved
fast.
So Moosa conceived fearin himself.
We (Allaah) said: 'Fear not! Surely, you will have the upper hand.
And throw that which is in your right hand! It will swallow up that
which they have made. That which they have made is only a magician's
trick, and the magician will never be successful, to whatever amount
(of skill) he may attain.'"
[Ta-Ha 20:65-69]
Sihr may involve things that the magician does when tying knots on
which he blows, as is referred to in the Qur'aan (interpretation of
the meaning):
"And from the evil of those who practise witchcraft when they blow in
the knots"[al-Falaq 113:4]
And it may involve other things which they manage to do through the
shayaateen (devils), so they do things that may affect a man's reason
or make him sick;they may cause division between a man and his wife,
resulting in her looking ugly to him, or by making her hate her
husband or be put off byhim. This is blatant kufr as the Qur'aan
states. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
"They followed what theShayaateen (devils) gaveout (falsely of the
magic)in the lifetime of Sulaymaan (Solomon). Sulaymaan did not
disbelieve, but the Shayaateen (devils) disbelieved, teaching men
magic"
[al-Baqarah 2:102]
Allaah informs us that they (the shayaateen) committed kufr by
teaching men magic. Then He says (interpretation of the meaning):
"and such 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 from us).'"[al-Baqarah 2:102]
Then Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
"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"[al-Baqarah 2:102]
i.e., this magic and any harm that results from it is subject to the
prior decree and will of Allaah, for our Lord cannot be overwhelmed
and nothing can happenin His Dominion against His Will. Nothing
happens in this world or in the hereafter except by His prior decree
and His great wisdom, as He wills. So some people may be tested by
sihr, and others may be tested by sickness, or by being killed...etc.
Allaah is All-Wise in all that He wills and decrees, and inall that He
prescribes for His slaves. Hence Allaah says (interpretation of the
meaning):
"but they could not thus harm anyone except by Allaah's Leave"
[al-Baqarah 2:102]
i.e., by His universal (kawni) will and decree, not by His legislative
(shar'i) will [i.e., He wills that it should happen but He does not
enjoin itand He is not pleased by such actions]. For sharee'ah does
not allowsuch things, indeed it forbids them, but by His universal
leave He already knows and has already decreed that So and so will do
sihr, and that So and so will be affected by sihr, just as He already
knows and has already decreed thatSo and so will be killed, or
afflicted with a certain sickness, or will die in a certain land,
andwill receive such and such provision, or will berich or poor. All
of that happens by the will and decree of Allaah, as He says
(interpretation of the meaning):
"Verily, We have created all things with Qadar (Divine Preordainments
of all things before their creation as written in the Book of Decrees
Al-Lawh Al-Mahfooz)[al-Qamar 54:49]
"No calamity befalls on the earth or in yourselves but it is
inscribed in the Book of Decrees (Al-Lawh Al-Mahfooz) before We bring
it into existence. Verily, that is easy for Allaah"
[al-Hadeed 57:22]
The evils that come at the hands of the magicians or others do not
happen because our Lord is ignorant, for He knows all things and
nothing at all is hidden from Him, as He says (interpretation of the
meaning):
"Verily, Allaah is the All-Knower of everything"[al-Anfaal 8:75]
"that you may know that Allaah has power over all things, and that
Allâh surrounds all things in (His) Knowledge"[al-Talaaq 65:12]
So Allaah knows all things, and nothing happens in His Dominionthat
He does not will, butHe has perfect wisdom and good aims in whatever
He decrees should happen to peopleof honour or humiliation, losing or
gaining power, sickness or health, magic and other things.
Everything that happens to people happens by the will of Allaah and in
accordance with His prior decree. These magicians may perform their
illusions, as stated in the aayah quoted above (interpretation of the
meaning):
"They said: 'O Moosa! Either you throw first or we be the first to throw?'
Moosa said: 'Nay, throw you (first)!' Then behold!their ropes and
their sticks, by their magic, appeared to him as though they moved
fast. [Ta-Ha 20:65-66]
It appeared to the onlooker as if these sticks and ropes were snakes,
moving fast in the valley. They were only sticks and ropes, but the
magicians, through what they had learned, made what theydemonstrated
before the people look different in their eyes to what it really was.
Allaah says (interpretation if the meaning):
"by their magic, appeared to him as though they moved fast"
[Ta-Ha 20:66]
And in Soorat al-A'raaf Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
"He [Moosa] said: 'Throw you (first).' So when they threw, they
bewitched the eyes of the people, and struck terror into them, and
they displayed a great magic" [al-A'raaf 7:116]
But in fact their sticks and ropes did not change; it was the
people's sight which changed because of the sihr, so they thought they
were snakes, because of the illusion brought about by the magicians.
Some people call this taqmeer, which is when the magician does things
to make a person not sense reality as it really is, so his eyes do not
see what is really there and things may be taken from his shop or his
home without him realizing it, i.e., he does not know what is really
happening. So he may see a rock as a chicken or as an egg, and so on,
because reality has beenchanged in his eyes because of the
confusionwrought by the magician, and because his eyes have been
bewitched. There are things that the magicians do with certain
substances to make people's eyes not see what is really happening.
This is the kind of magic which Allaah describes as "great" [i.e.
serious, powerful] in Soorat al-A'raaf (interpretation of the
meaning):
"... So when they threw, they bewitched the eyes of the people, and
struckterror into them, and they displayed a great magic" [al-A'raaf
7:116]
From Majmoo' Fataawaa wa Maqaalaat Mutanawwi'ah li Samaahat al-Shaykh
al-'Allaamah 'Abd al-'Azeez ibn Baaz (may Allaah have mercy on him),
p. 65