Question
Is sihr (magic, witchcraft) real? Does it have any effect? What are its types?
Sihr and its types
9432
Publication : 05-11-2000
Views : 77888
EN
Question
Is sihr (magic, witchcraft) real? Does it have any effect? What are its types?
Answer
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 wealth and confuse them and do other things. When knowledge prevails and faith increases, and the Islamic authorities are powerful, the number of these evil people shrinks and they move from one land 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 kinds of sihr and the rulings on these matters.
Sihr is so called because its means are hidden or secret, and because the practitioners of sihr deal with 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., in a 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 and they 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 fear in 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 by him. This is blatant kufr as the Qur’aan states. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“They followed what the Shayaateen (devils) gave out (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]
Soma zaidi:
Sihr and its types - Islam Question & Answer
