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Diseases,Medicines,Treatment |
Back to Diseases,Medicines,Treatment |
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| Fatwa By : |
Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid |
| Language |
English |
| Reference By |
Islam Q&A |
| Addition Date |
07/09/2013 |
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Is witchcraft
real? Is it permissible to seek treatment from practitioners of witchcraft
Is there anything such as witch doctors? What should we do if someone says
"I don't believe in magic" because "this is just an
illusion"?.
Praise be to Allah.
Sihr (witchcraft or magic) is a word referring to something hidden. It is real
and there are kinds of witchcraft that may affect people psychologically and
physically, so that they become sick and die, or husbands and wives are separated.
Its effects happen by the will of Allah. It is a devilish action, most of
which is only achieved by means of shirk and drawing close to the jinn and
shayateen (devils) by means of that which they love, and it is based on
associating others with Allah (shirk).
There are doctors who are also practitioners of witchcraft, who treat people by
means of seeking the help of the jinn. They claim to have knowledge of the
sickness with no need to identify it, and they prescribe for the patient foods
and drinks that bring him closer to his allies among the devils. He may tell
them to slaughter a pig whilst saying “Bismillaah” over it, or to slaughter a
permissible animal without saying “Bismillaah”, or when saying the name of one
of the devils.
This is kufr or disbelief in Allah, and it is not permissible under any
circumstances to go to people like these. The hadd punishment for these people
is execution. It has been proven from three of the Sahabah (may Allah be
pleased with them) that the practitioners of witchcraft are to be put to death.
The Standing Committee was asked a question about this matter, in which it was
said:
Please note that in Zambia
there is a Muslim man who claims that he has with him a jinn, and the people
come to him and ask him to treat their sicknesses, and this jinn states what
their treatment should be. Is that permissible?
They replied:
It is not permissible for that man to use the jinn, and it is not permissible
for the people to go to him seeking treatment for sickness through his using
the jinn, or to meet any other need by this means.
Seeking treatment through human medical doctors and using permissible medicines
is sufficient and means that there is no need for that, and it keeps people
safe from the sorcery of the magicians.
It was narrated in a sahih report that the Messenger of Allah (peace and
blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever goes to a fortune-teller and
asks him about something, his prayer will not be accepted for forty days.”
Narrated by Muslim.
And it was narrated by the authors of As-Sunan and by al-Hakim, who classed it
as sahih, that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said:
“Whoever goes to a soothsayer and believes what he says has disbelieved in that
which was revealed to Muhammad.”
This man and his companions from among the jinn are regarded as being among the
fortune-tellers and soothsayers, so it is not permissible to ask them anything
or to believe them.
Fatawa Al-Lajnah Ad-Da’imah, 1/408, 409
Shaykh ‘Abdul-‘Aziz ibn Baz said:
Given that there are so many charlatans lately, who claim to be doctors and to
treat people by means of magic and witchcraft, and they have become widespread
in some countries and they exploit the naivete of the ignorant, I thought that
in the spirit of sincerity towards Allah and His slaves, that I should explain
the grave danger that this poses to Islam and the Muslims, because it involves
dependence on something other than Allah and going against His command and the
command of His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), so I say,
seeking the help of Allah:
It is permissible to seek treatment according to scholarly consensus. The
Muslim may go to a doctor to seek treatment for internal diseases, injuries,
nervous complaints, etc, so that he can identify the disease and treat it in an
appropriate manner, using medicines that are permissible according to
shariah, based on his knowledge of medicine, because this comes under the
heading of using the ordinary means, and it is not contrary to the idea of
putting one\'s trust in Allah. Allah has sent down the disease but He has
also sent down with it the cure; those who know it know it and those who do not
do not. But Allah has not created the healing for His slaves in that which He
has forbidden to them, so it is not permissible for the sick person to go to a
soothsayer who claims to know the unseen, in order to find out from them what
is wrong with him. And it is not permissible for him to believe what they tell
him, because they speak of the unseen without knowledge, or they summon the
jinn and seek their help in doing what they want. The ruling on these people is
that they are kafirs and misguided, because they claim to have knowledge of
the unseen. Muslim narrated in his Sahih that the Prophet (peace and blessings
of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever goes to a fortune-teller and asks him
about something, his prayer will not be accepted for forty days.” And it was
narrated from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever goes to a soothsayer
and believes what he says has disbelieved in that which was revealed to
Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).” Narrated by Abu Dawood and
by the four authors of al-Sunan; classed as sahih by al-Hakim who narrated
that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever
goes to a fortune-teller or soothsayer and believes what he says has
disbelieved in that which was revealed to Muhammad (peace and blessings of
Allah be upon him).” And it was narrated that ‘Imran ibn Husayn (may Allah
be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of
Allah be upon him) said: “He does not belong to us who observes bird omens or
has that done for him, or who seeks divination or who has that done for him, or
who practices witchcraft or has that done for him. Whoever goes to a soothsayer
and believes what he says has disbelieved in that which was revealed to Muhammad
(peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).” Narrated by al-Bazzar with a
jayyid isnad.
These ahadith demonstrate that it is forbidden to go to soothsayers,
fortune-tellers, witches and the like, and ask them questions and believe them,
and a warning is issued to those who do that. Community leaders and those in
positions of power and authority must forbid going to fortune-tellers,
soothsayers and the like, and not allow anyone who deals in such things to
operate in the marketplaces or elsewhere. They should denounce them
emphatically, and denounce those who go to them. We should not be deceived by
the fact that they may get things right sometimes, or by the fact that many
people go to them, because they are ignorant and the people should not be deceived
by them. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) forbade going
to them, asking them questions and believing them, because that is a great
evil, a serious danger and leads to bad consequences, and because they are
immoral liars. These ahadith also indicate that soothsayers and witches are
also kafirs, because they claim to have knowledge of the unseen, which is
kufr, and because they only reach their goals by serving the jinn and worshiping them instead of Allah, which is kufr or disbelief in Him and
associating others with Him (shirk). The one who believes them and their claims
to have knowledge of the unseen is like them. Everyone who goes to these people
and deals with them, is disowned by the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings
of Allah be upon him). It is not permissible for the Muslim to accept what
they claim is a kind of treatment, such as their muttering mumbo-jumbo or
pouring lead and other kinds of nonsense that they do. This is a kind of
sorcery and deception of the people. Whoever accepts that is helping them in
their falsehood and kufr.
Majmoo’ Fatawa al-Shaykh Ibn Baz, 3/274-281.
Secondly:
With regard to witchcraft (sihr), it is real and is not an illusion, and it may
have an effect by Allah’s leave.
Al-Qurafi said: Sihr is real, and the person against whom it is done may die,
or his nature or habits may be changed, even if he does not deal with it
himself. This was the view of al-Shafa’i and Ibn Hanbal… Al-Furooq, 4/149.
The Mu’tazalis, Qadaris and some of the scholars held a different view, but no
attention should be paid to that. Al-Qurafi and others mentioned that the
Sahabah were unanimously agreed that it is real before there appeared those
who denied that.
The evidence of Ahl-us-Sunnah concerning that is as follows:
1. Allah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“but the Shayateen (devils) disbelieved, teaching men magic and such things
that came down at Babylon to the two angels, Haroot and Maroot, 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).” And from these
(angels) people learn that by which they cause separation between man and his
wife, but they could not thus harm anyone except by Allah’s Leave. And they
learn that which harms them and profits them not” [Al-Baqarah 2:102]
This verse clearly indicates what we are trying to say, which is that sihr
(witchcraft) is real, and that the practitioner of witchcraft may create a
division between a man and his wife thereby, and that he may harm people by
means of his witchcraft, but he cannot do any harm except by Allah’s leave.
2. Allah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“And from the evil of those who practice witchcraft when they blow in the
knots” [Al-Falaq 113:4]
“those who practice witchcraft when they blow in the knots” refers to female
witches whose witchcraft involved tying knots then blowing into them. If
witchcraft were not something real, Allah would not have commanded us to seek
refuge from it.
3. Further evidence is provided by the fact that the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allah be upon him) was bewitched by the Jew Labid ibn al-A’sam.
This is a sahih hadith that was narrated by Al-Bukhari and Muslim.
Ibn al-Qayyim said: The witchcraft which can cause sickness, lethargy, mental
sickness, love, hatred and delusions is something that does exist and is known
by the masses. Many people know it from experience. At-Tafsir al-Qayyim, p. 571
Thirdly:
There are many kinds of witchcraft, including illusions and deceiving the eyes.
But not all sihr is like that. Some of the scholars listed different kinds of
witchcraft, and counted eight kinds, the most well known of which are:
1. Knots and incantations
i.e., reciting words and mumbo-jumbo by means of which the witch is able to use
the devils to do what he wants of harming the person being bewitched. But
Allah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“… but they could not thus harm anyone except by Allah’s Leave” [Al-Baqarah 2:102]
2. Sleight of hand.
They become skilled in this by means of practice and training to do things
quickly, and bring out something hidden.
For example, the magician may bring a dove and strange it in front of the
audience, then he hits it with his hand and it gets up and flies.
But in fact there was a kind of anesthetic in his hand and he made it smell it
and made the audience think that he had strangled it and killed it, then when
he hits it, he wakes it up from that stupor.
3. Bewitching the eyes.
This is very common among the liars; the magician does not really put a sword
in his body, rather he bewitches the eyes of the audience, and puts the sword
by his side, but the bewitched people think that he puts it through his middle.
These tricksters have become well known among us, because among the audience
there are those who protected themselves with Quran and dhikr, and remembered
Allah a great deal whilst sitting in the gathering watching the magician, so
they saw what really happened, unlike what those who were bewitched saw.
4. Using chemicals
This is done well by those who know how substances react with one another, thus
producing a substance that is not affected by some other substances, such as
the Sufi Rifa’iyyah who make people think that they are not affected by fire,
when in fact they coat themselves with some fireproof substances. Shaykh-ul-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) challenged them to wash
with hot water before entering the fire and they refused because this would
have exposed their deceit.
And there are many other things that the practitioners of witchcraft do, which
could not happen unless Allah decreed it.
See Tafsir Ibn Kathir, 1/146; Majmoo’ Fatawa Ash-Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen,
2/178; al-Sihr by Shaykh ‘Umar al-Ashqar.
And Allah knows best.
Islam Q&A
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