Q93 :1. After a family dispute, a relative of ours
threatened to place a charm to prevent the marriage of my younger
sister. Several years have passed since then and she is still not
married. What is worse, my mother has been going to an astrologer to
try to break the spell she claims to have been placed on my sister. My
brother and I have tried hard to persuade my mother that this is not
acceptable in Islam, but she would not listen to our advice. This has
delayed our own marriages. We have tried to take some action and
threatened to stop writing home, but our mother is still continuing to
see the astrologer and says that she will not stop until our sister
gets married. What advice do you have for us? How should we deal with
our relative?
2. A few months back, some members of my family died in a car
accident. Investigation of the accident has proven that there was no
mechanical fault, nor was there any carelessness or negligence on the
part of the driver. It seemed that the driver could not turn the
steering wheel and the gear box was jammed and the brakes failed,
leading to the accident. A later check up on the vehicle showed none of
these faults. Some people suggest that this is the work of evil spirits
or black magic. How does this explanation fit in the Islamic teachings?
If it is true that such an event could be caused by such a spell or
evil spirit, how can these be countered?
A93 : Allah has mentioned black magic in the
Qur’an more than once. He mentions that two angels were sent down at
the time of Prophet Suleman and taught black magic to some people who
asked to learn it. The angels warned them that such learning will lead
them to disbelieving in Allah. What they taught those people could
achieve the results of bringing about an estrangement between a man and
his wife. But Allah says in the Qur’an that those who learned black
magic could not harm anyone with it “unless Allah so wills.” Allah
also mentions black magic in the story of Prophet Moses and his
encounter with Pharaoh. When Prophet Moses called on Pharaoh to
relinquish his claim to being the lord of mankind and to believe in
Allah as the only God in the universe, Pharaoh challenged him with his
magicians. Moses accepted the challenge and people were gathered to see
the netbat; Moses invited them to demonstrate their powers and they
threw their ropes and staffs which appeared by magic as if they were
snakes. Moses told them that all that they could master was magic which
had no reality. He threw his staff and by Allah’s will it was
transformed into a real giant snake which swallowed what the magicians
had produced. At that moment, the magicians realized that Moses had the
backing of much superior power than theirs. They declared their belief
in the Oneness of Allah, prostrating themselves in submission to His
will. Some people suggest that black magic could be brought about by
charms, spells and certain invocations using hair or old bones and the
like. I very much doubt that this is so. If a charm of any sort could
bring about such bad effects as black magic is said to produce, then it
should be possible to counter one charm with another. It would have
been permissible in Islam to resort to wearing some charms in order to
dispel the effect of others. But the Prophet has categorically
forbidden wearing any charm of any sort and for any purpose. I am,
therefore, more inclined to say that black magic does not operate with
anything that has real substance. This is not a mere personal opinion.
I am guided by the Qur’anic statement describing what Pharaoh’s
magicians produced. When Moses invited them to produce their trick,
their ropes and staffs, as Allah says: “So appeared to him as if they
were moving.” In other words, it was all a mental trick. The staffs and
ropes did not move, but Moses and all those gathered to witness the
challenge thought so. Similarly, the magic taught by the two angels in
the story of Solomon produced estrangement between man and his wife.
This could easily be the result of a mental trick. In his well-known
book “In the Shade of the Qur’an”, the late Sayyid Qutb writes: “Magic
is the production of illusions, subject to a magician’s desires. It
does not offer any kind of new facts or alter the nature of things…
Through it, one is capable of influencing other people’s minds, causing
them to think and act according to one’s suggestions.” He then states
clearly that he is not prepared to go further than that in explaining
what black magic is. In the light of the foregoing, I do not think
that the marriage of a woman can be delayed through black magic,
especially when the magician does not even know who would propose to
her. It is more likely that prospective suitors would think twice
before making a proposal to this young woman, if it is rumored in her
locality that she is under the spell of black magic. Nor could the car
accident mentioned by the second reader be caused by black magic, since
magic may affect the mind of a human being but could not jam the brakes
of a car or its steering wheel. I wonder whether the investigations of
the car accident had looked into the possibility of the driver dying a
natural death before the accident occurred. It may be that he lost the
ability to move his hands and legs as he was in the throes of death,
and thus lost control of the car and the accident happened. Whatever
the case may be in these two incidents, I am extremely reluctant to
accept that they are the result of magic. Perhaps I should add that
magic can be countered only by reading the Qur’an and seeking Allah’s
help and protection. Nothing else need or could be done to counter the
effects of magic, if it happens at all. Most probably magic has
disappeared. Pharaoh’s magicians gave it up and submitted themselves to
Allah and taught it to no one else. Had it been practiced on a wide
scale, anyone who had a grudge against another would have gone to a
magician to place a spell on his enemy, or kill him in an accident or
in some other way which will ensure that he himself would escape
punishment. The fact is that criminals find it necessary to netmit
crimes themselves, risking being caught and punished. If you look
around you, you will find that no one is possessed by an evil spirit
and no one falls victim to magic. Those who are said to be possessed
may be suffering a mental illness which can be treated by
psychiatrists. As for the Islamic view on magic, it is very clear-cut.
It is forbidden for a Muslim to learn or practice magic. Indeed, when a
person has learned magic, he is deemed to disbelieve in Allah. It is
also forbidden to wear a charm in order to protect oneself against
magic. Similarly, it is forbidden to go to an astrologer or
fortune-teller or indeed anyone who claims to be able to talk to the
jinn or influence their actions or put a magic spell on someone else or
break a spell to release a person from its effects. The Prophet is
quoted to have said: “A person who goes to an astrologer or a
fortune-teller disbelieves in what has been revealed to Muhammad (peace
be upon him).” On the basis of the above, my advice to the brothers
who have written the first letter, is that they must make it clear to
their mother and sister that they cannot in any way sanction or approve
the mother’s trips to the astrologer. She must stop and trust Allah to
bring about what is best for her daughter. Most probably, the mother
will not listen to words of sense. Therefore, they should exert
whatever pressure they can without offending their mother. For example,
if they contribute to the finances of the family, they should obtain a
promise by the mother not to go to the astrologer again if she wants
their contributions to be continued. If that is taken very badly by the
mother, then at least she should promise not to spend a single unit of
what they pay into the family budget in order to pay the astrologer.
Moreover, they should practically demonstrate that they do not believe
that it is magic that has caused their sister not to get married. I
strongly advise them to go ahead and marry themselves, without waiting
for their sister. Why should they, when the Prophet encourages young
people to get married? If this will create a problem within the family,
then they should make it clear to their parents that their sister will
not be the first girl to remain single and that they believe that the
publicity that has surrounded her case is preventing her marriage. They
should not suffer as a result. As for the writer of the second letter,
I strongly advise him not to pay any attention to hearsay. He should
accept the accident as something that has happened by Allah’s will. No
one dies before his time. Let him remove from his mind any thought of
magic being the cause of the accident.
Our Dialogue ( Source : Arab News – Jeddah )