Jinn, witchcraft, evil eye - , Dought & clear - , How to deal with sihr (magic/witchcraft)

What is the way to deal with sihr (magic/witchcraft)?
Praise be to Allaah.
Whoever is affected by sihr should not treat it with sihr, because
evil cannot be removed by evil, and kufr cannot be removed by kufr.
Evil is removed by good. Hencewhen the Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) wasasked about al-nushrah (treating sihr with
sihr), he said: "This is the workof the Shaytaan." Nushrah means
removing sihr from a person who has been affected by it by using more
sihr. But if it is treated by means of the Qur'aan and permissible
medicines or good ruqyahs, there is nothing wrong with that, but
treating it with sihr is not permitted, as previously stated, because
sihr means worshipping the shayaateen (devils). The saahir (magician,
practitioner of witchcraft) does sihr or learns sihr only after
worshipping and serving the shayaateen, and drawing close to them by
means of the things that they like. After that, they teach him the
means of sihr. But, praise be to Allaah, there is no reason why the
person who has been affected by sihr should not be treated bymeans of
reciting Qur'aan and the prayers for refuge with Allaah that are
prescribed in sharee'ah, and permissible medicines, just as patients
with all kinds of sicknesses are treated by doctors. The patient does
not necessarily recover, because not every sick person does recover. A
sick patient might be treated and then recoverif his appointed time
(of death) has not yet arrived, or he may not recover and may die from
this sickness, even though he may be been seen by the most skilled
physicians and knowledgeable doctors. When the appointed time of death
comes, no medicine or treatment will be of any avail, because Allaah
says (interpretation of the meaning):
"And Allaah grants respite to none when hisappointed time (death) comes"
[al-Munaafiqoon 63:11]
Medical treatment is of benefit when the appointed time has not yet
come, and Allaah decrees that His slave should be healed. The same
applies in the case of one who has been affected by sihr; Allaah may
decree that he should recover, or He may not decree that, as atest and
a trial, or for other reasons which are known to Allaah. Among those
reasons may be the fact that the one who is treating him doesnot have
the right treatment for this problem. It was narratedin a saheeh
report that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
said: "For every disease there is a medicine, and if that medicine is
applied to the disease, he will recover by Allaah's Leave." And he
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "Allaah has not sent
down any disease but Hehas also sent down the cure; the one who knows
it knows it and the one who does not know it does not know it."
Among the treatments prescribed in sharee'ah is the treatment of sihr
with recitation of the Qur'aan. The greatest soorah in the Qur'aan,
which is al-Faatihah, should be recited over the person who has been
affected by sihr. This should be repeated several times. If it is
recited by a believing, righteous reader who knows that everything
issubject to the will and decree of Allaah, that Allaah is in control
of all things, that when He says to a thing 'Be!' it is, if the
reciting is based on faith, taqwa and sincerity, and is repeated
several times, then the sihr may be removed and the personmay recover
by Allaah's Leave. Some of the Sahaabah (may Allaah bepleased with
them) passed by some Bedouins whose shaykh,i.e., their leader, had
been bitten. They had done everything they could but he had not gotten
better. They said to one of the Sahaabah, "Is there any raaqi (one who
performs ruqyah) among you?" They said, "Yes." So one of them recited
Soorat al-Faatihah over him, and he immediately got up full of energy
as if nothing had happened; Allaah healed him of the ill-effects of
that snakebite. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) said: "There is nothing wrong with ruqyah so long as it does not
involve shirk." He (peaceand blessings of Allaah be upon him)
performedruqyah and had it performed for him. There is a lot of good
in ruqyah, and a great dealof benefit. Al-Faatihah, Aayat al-Kursiy,
"Qul Huwa Allaahu Ahad", al-Mi'wadhatayn and other aayahs may be
recited over the person who has been affected by sihr, as well as good
du'aa's narrated in the ahaadeeth from the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him), such as the du'aa' he said when he
performed ruqyah for a sick person and said, "Allaahumma Rabb al-naas,
adhhib il-ba's, washfi anta al-Shaafi laashifaa'a illa shifaa'uka
shifaa'an laa yughaadir saqaman (O Allaah, Lord of mankind, remove the
harm and heal him, for You are the Healer and there is no healing
except Your healing, with a healing which does not leave any disease
behind)." This may be repeated three times or more. And it was also
narrated from him (peace and blessingsof Allaah be upon him) that
Jibreel (peace be upon him) performed ruqyah for him and said three
times: "Bismillaah arqeeka min kulli shay'inyu'dheeka, wa min sharri
kulli nafsin aw 'aynin haasid Allaah yashfeek, bismillaah arqeek (In
the name of Allaah I perform ruqyah for you, from every thing that is
harming you, from the evil of every soul or envious eye may Allaah
heal you, in the name of Allaah I perform ruqyah for you)." This is a
great ruqyah which was narrated in a saheeh hadeeth from the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). It is prescribed to
perform ruqyah for the one who has been bitten or stung,and the one
who has been affected by sihr, and the one who is sick. There is
nothing wrong with performing ruqyah for one who is sick or has been
affected by sihror bitten or stung, by reciting good du'aa's, even if
they were not transmitted from the Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him), so long as they do not contain anything that is
haraam, because of the general meaning of the hadeeth of the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him): "There is nothing wrong
with ruqyah so long as it doesnot involve shirk."
Allaah may heal the sick person and the person affected by sihr, and
others, without any ruqyah and without any action on the part of other
people, because He is Able to do all things, and He is Wise in all
that He does. Allaah says in His Holy Book:
"Verily, His Command, when He intends a thing,is only that He says to
it, 'Be!' and it is!"[Yaa-Seen 36:82]
To Him be praise and thanks for all that He wills and decrees, for He
is wise in all that He does.
The sick person may not be healed if his appointed time has come and
it is decreed that he should die from this disease. Among the things
that may be used in ruqyah are the verses which speak of sihr, which
may be recited into water. These are theverses about sihr in Soorat
al-A'raaf, where Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
"And We revealed to Moosa (saying): 'Throw your stick,' and behold! It
swallowed up straight away all the falsehood which they showed.
Thus truth was confirmed, and all that they did was made of noeffect.
So they were defeated there and returned disgraced
[al-A'raaf 7:117-119]
And in Soorat Yoonus (interpretation of the meaning):
"And Pharaoh said: 'Bring me every well-versed sorcerer.'
And when the sorcerers came, Moosa said to them: 'Cast down what you
want to cast!'
Then when they had castdown, Moosa said: 'Whatyou have brought is
sorcery, Allaah will surelymake it of no effect. Verily, Allaah does
not set right the work of Al-Mufsidoon.
And Allaah will establish and make apparent the truth by His Words,
however much the Mujrimoon may hate (it).'"
[Yoonus 10:79-82]
And in Soorat Ta-Ha (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]
These aayahs are amongthe things by which Allaah causes the
ruqyahagainst sihr to be beneficial. If the qaari' (reader) recites
these verses into water, and also reads Soorat al-Faatiha, Aayat
al-Kursiy, "Qul Huwa Allaahu Ahad", and al-Mi'wadhatayn into the
water, then pours it over the person who he thinks has been affected
by sihr or is being prevented by magic from having intercourse with
his wife, then he will be healed by Allaah'sLeave. If seven lotus
leaves are ground up and added to the water as well, this is
appropriate, as was mentioned by Shaykh 'Abd al-Rahmaan ibn Hasan (may
Allaah have mercy on him) in Fath al-Majeed, quoting from some of the
scholars in the chapter entitled Ma jaa'a fi'l-Nushrah. It is
mustahabb to recite the three soorahs, namely Qul Huwa Allaahu Ahad,
Qul A'oodhu bi Rabb il Falaq and Qul A'oodhu biRabb il-Naas. The point
isthat these and similar treatments which are used to treat this
problem of sihr, may also be used to treat the one who is prevented
bymagic from having intercourse with his wife. This has been tried a
great deal and Allaah caused it to yield results. A person may be
treated with al-Faatihah alone and be healed, or with Qul Huwa Allaahu
Ahad and al-Mi'wadhatayn on their own, and be healed. It is very
important that the person performing this treatment and the person who
is being treated should both have sincere faith and trust in Allaah;
they should know that He is control of all things and that when He
wills a thing it happens, and when He does not will a thing it does
not happen. The matter is in His hand, whatever He wills happens and
whatever He does not will does not happen. When both the reader and
the one who is read over have faith and are sincere towards Allaah,
the sickness will disappear quickly by Allaah's Leave, and both
physical and spiritual medicine will be beneficial. We ask Allaahto
help us all to please Him, for He is All-Hearingand is ever Near.
Majmoo' Fataawa wa Maqaalaat Mutanawwi'ah li Samaahat al-Shaykh
al-'Allaamah 'Abd al-'Azeez ibn Baaz (may Allaah have mercy on him),
p. 70