Could you please give us information about "Sorcery"? Is it permitted in Islam?

Mon, 11/01/2010 - 11:23 | Hussein

YazdirSend to friend
A Brief Description of the Question:
Could you please give us information about "Sorcery"? Is it permitted in Islam?
What does scholars say about this subject?
The Answer:
It is described as affecting people in a negative way with prayers and acts which
are not related to the religion. It is also called sihr (witchcraft) in Arabic.
It is a secret power which makes people do things someone wants them to do and
brings into existence effects which are naturally abnormal. People who cast spells
are called sorcerers/spellbinders. It is possible to describe spell as follows:
unlawful acts of deceiving people such as magic and trickery in order to harm
someone for an interest, by using some secret powers. A person who deceives people
by magic and trickery is called a sorcerer/spellbinder, the job performed by
those people is called spell and doing this job as an occupation is called
sorcery. Sorcery was widespread amongst pre-Islamic Arabs, Romans, Indians and
Egyptians. Sorcery was a respected occupation especially in the time of Prophet
Moses. It was also widespread in the time of Prophet Solomon. Sorcery can be
divided into groups according to its features.

Black Art: It is the real sorcery. People who do it claim that they can do some
things with the help of evil powers, especially with the help of demons.

Sorcery in metaphor: something unperceivable, out of logic.

White (or natural) Art: Job of doing things which are realized with natural
reasons, yet which look unnatural in appearance. Such as magic done for show
business.

Sorcery used to exist in some communities. Chaldean sorcery in Chaldeans community

was based on the belief that spirits wandering everywhere enabled natural events to
occur. Some creatures were endowed with evil powers. However, women had this power
rather than men. Witches and demons had the power of getting into fleshes of
people.

Egyptians before Moses used to accept a kind of sorcery legal in Egypt. However,
they equally knew all ways of performing the illegal sorcery, too. They used to
believe that witches/spellbinders could affect life and death that they had the
power of calling good or evil powers to help and that they could use natural forces
however they wanted.

As for sorcery in the Far East, the Chinese were deeply indulged in all kinds of
sorcery. A witch/spellbinder called Wu in the times before Confucius had an
important official position in governments social structure. There were kinds of
sorcery which people used to predict future and send demons away.

As for Greek-Roman sorcery, the art of taking secret forces under human beings
control was not less popular in Greek-Roman civilization than it was in the East.
Greek spellbinders generally appealed to foreign gods hoping that they could serve
them. Theselia region was famous for training the most renowned men who owned the
knowledge of secret arts. Sorcery gained great importance in the time of Emperor
Augustus.

Sorcery was so wide spread in Judaism. Inviting fairies, taking demons under human
beings control, all kinds of wonders, all of beliefs which were well-known in
certain civilizations were applied in Judaism. Jews used names of demons and
fairies coming from ancient traditions or from foreign religions in their spell-
making formulas.
Sorcery in Islamic Communities: some Muslims took lessons on sorcery from Jews,
Syrians, Iranians, Chaldeans and Greeks. Incense sticks, talismans, amulets,
witchcraft, telling fortunes all come from those communities. As Muslims believed
in jinn (demons), this belief also paved the way to believing in sorcery. The
Messenger of Allah (pbuh) considered it permissible to use ruqya (prayers) against
the evil eye, snake bites and illnesses. However, there is no slightest relation
between our Prophets prayers and sorcery. There are some books of fortune-telling
which use words and letters to predict future.

Sorcery in Western Civilization: when the archives of all nations are searched,
beliefs related to sorcery are encountered. Celtics, Teutons, Scandinavians, Finns
have many similarities with eastern civilizations in terms of sorcery. It would be
too daring to state that sorcery disappeared with the advance of wit and reason
(i.e. science and knowledge) today.

Casting spells and sorcery is prohibited in Islam. It is indicated in the Quran

that sorcerers/spellbinders will not ever find true faith (Taha, 20/69). Infidels
blamed Allahs messengers with sorcery and witchcraft in order to prove themselves
right. Prophet Jesus (as-Saf, 61/6), Prophet Moses (az-Zukhruf, 43/49); (az-
Zariyat, 51/39), Prophet Solomon (al-Baqarah, 2/102) and Prophet Mohammad (al-Hijr,
15/6) are mentioned amongst the ones who were blamed with sorcery. In another
verse, it is seen that unbelievers blamed all prophets with sorcery (az-Zariyat,
51/51). Prophet Muhammad mentioned casting spells as the second of the seven
things which should be avoided in one of his hadiths (Bukhari, Wasaya, 23; Muslim,
Faith, 144). It is indicated in another hadith (Nasai, Tahrim, 19) that whoever
casts spells becomes an infidel and that it is attributing partners to Allah to put
any kind of spells on someone in order to increase love. It is also indicated that
whoever believes in sorcery will not enter Heaven (Ahmad ibn Hanbal, II, 83; IV,
399).

It is indicated in another hadith (Abu Dawud, Tib, 21) that whoever believes in
spellbinders, fortune-tellers or anyone giving the news of unknown is considered to
deny the Quran.
Samil IA