A true story
An event happened in Egypt in the year 1939 which was covered by all the newspapers, and which many people can still remember until this very day.
It took place at the beginning of the year 1939, before the outbreak of World War II. Mr. Al-Badri, the deceased – who was the manager of the Halawan secondary school – had disappeared, and nobody could find a trace of him. It was then that one of the spiritists living in Egypt circulated some strange information in the newspapers. He claimed that he had conjured up the spirit of one of the chiefs of a Native American tribe, whose name was the White Buzzard. Apparently, this chief had told him that Mr. Al-Badri was still alive in Tanta. However, a few days later, they found the corpse of Mr. Al-Badri mutilated in a hole in the deserts of Halawan.
There is a dramatist called Patricia Jowdri who has an interest in the spiritual sciences. She says that the spirit of George Bernard Shaw, the well-known dramatist, comes from the other world to write her dramas, and that Victor Hugo, the giant of French literature, was a spiritual medium (psychic). Besides this she claims that some spiritual groups receive spiritual messages from Charles Dante and Charles Dickens.
Dr. Mustafa Mahmood is one of those who gives his opinion, telling us: “I don’t believe in the truth of such news (of conjuring up the spirits of dead people), and I think that the one they invoke in such sessions is not the spirit of the dead person, but that of the jinn who accompanied him throughout his life, and consequently, he can imitate his voice and unveil his secrets.”
Dr. As-Sayed Jamili agrees with him in his opinion.
Dr-Ar-Rakhawi adds: “We do not want more submission to an unknown world, because the deficiency in creativity from which we suffer results from a lack of thinking and a want of earnestness and diligence. Conjuring up the spirits of dead creative people will not solve these problems.”
Sheikh Mahmood Shultoot disproves of such heresy because there is no proof to confirm it. Finally, some leaders of schools, depending on this old and silly idolatrous belief, pretend that they meet the spirits of those who have preceded them in passing to the other world. They then congratulate these dead spirits on the occasion of feasts, such as Al-Khedher (pth), Al-Jaylany, and Ar-Rifa’i (may God have mercy upon them), claiming also that they attend their sessions, and that they take pledges, covenants, secrets, and Godly sciences from them.
Is this not absolute craftiness, charlatanism, and falsehood?
After the ideological and ideational roots of this propaganda about conjuring up spirits have become clear to us, and in view of its wide dissemination, and because of the serious results that follow on from believing in this, we say in some detail the following, which is drawn from Al’lah’s Book which falsehood cannot reach:
This propaganda is, in fact, one of the branches of magic, for God the Almighty sent down many noble verses that definitely disprove any possibility of communication between the living and the dead, be it through talking or any other means. Describing a person’s state when they are at the hour of their death He, the Almighty, says: “Up until then if death comes to one of them, he will say: ‘My Provider! Send me back, in order that I might do good in the world which I left behind’. No! These are the very words which he will speak. There shall be life in the grave for the spirit that is left behind them, up until the day on which they will be resurrected.”
The Holy Qur’an,
Fortress 23, Al-Muminun (The Believers), verse 99-100
The world ‘No’ undoubtedly indicates a refusal of the request, because “If they were sent back, they would return to that which has been forbidden to them, for they are indeed liars.”
The Holy Qur’an,
Fortress 6, Al-An’am (Livestock), verse 28
God also describes their state in another situation: when they had been a person who had sought to enjoy their lower life, who then fully realized their yearnings – be they for buildings, cars, telephones, farms, electricity, adornment or decoration. These were people who had paid no attention to the rights of the poor and the miserable, and who then passed away into death, from where they could not come back to life again: “…Al’lah put their light out and left them in darkness: they cannot see. Deaf, dumb, and blind, they never return to this life.”
The Holy Qur’an,
Fortress 2, Al-Baqara (The Cow), verse 17-18
Accordingly, they do not see, hear, talk, or return to this life after their death.
This is the speech of Al’lah, the Almighty, so how and from where do these spiritists and conjurers bring the spirits of the dead?!
There are a lot of verses that illustrate this fact, such as the following: “Have not they seen how many generations We have destroyed before them? Never shall they return to them.”
The Holy Qur’an,
Fortress 36, Ya Sin ‘Ya-sin‘ (Safe & Pure), verse 31
“They await nothing but one call which will overtake them whilst they are disputing. They will make no will; nor shall they return to their kinsfolk.”
The Holy Qur’an,
Fortress 36, Ya Sin ‘Ya-sin‘ (Safe & Pure), verse 49-50
Thus, every spirit will remain unable to come back to this life and unable to talk with those who are living, from the hour of their death up until Doomsday. The allegation that it is possible for these magicians to bring back the spirits of the dead is, indeed, a false and baseless allegation.
God the Almighty predetermined that the dead can never come back to life again; otherwise the prophets and kings could return. The Almighty says: “No man before you have We made immortal. If you yourself are doomed to die, will they live forever?”
The Holy Qur’an,
Fortress 21, Al-Anbiya’ (The Prophets), verse 34
Conjuring up the spirit of the dead is, in its reality, invoking the spirit of the jinn who accompanied them, who imitates the voice of the dead person and speaks instead of them, so that simple-minded people think that the dead person is the one who is talking to them. Before knowing the person who talks to these magicians during their sessions – or with whom they talk – the first important thing we should mention in this respect is that we have previously explained and made it clear that all humans are composed of a spirit, a soul, and a body, and have explained and made clear the specificity of each, according to what is mentioned in God’s Book. Let us now recognize the outcome of each component after death:
1) The body ends up in the ground in which it is buried.
2) The soul is taken back by the angel of death: “Say: ‘The angel of death who has been given charge of you will take you back (your souls); then to your Provider you shall all return.’ ”
The Holy Qur’an
Fortress 32, As-Sajda (The Prostration), verse 11
The angel of death withdraws the soul from the body as soon as life comes to an end and the term appointed to a given person has expired, according to the Will of the Almighty. Then the Godly support for this soul stops as their lower life has ended.
So, the soul is the Godly supply which keeps the person alive in this life. It is like the electric power that provides for us, and sends electricity into machines so that they can be operated and can produce goods etc.
The important thing is that the soul has no feelings, consciousness, senses, or perception, but rather supplies the body with life and power. How, then, can they pretend that they are invoking the souls of the dead so as to speak with them and allow them to utter words and so on…? For the soul is not the conscious self which expresses its feelings and speaks with others: this description applies to the spirit.
The soul is indeed a Godly light that supports the body and allows it to live. Then, when death comes, it is withdrawn from the body, which is buried in the ground when life ends.
3) The spirit is, as we have seen, the conscious feeling and perceptive self. It senses, enjoys and appreciates things. It suffers. It expresses its own ideas and thoughts.
After death, the soul is withdrawn by the angel of death, and the body becomes motionless and lifeless. It is then that God takes back the spirit, which tastes death, and after the body has died, the spirit leaves its current state in this present life, for in the grave, the spirit’s state changes. God says: “Every spirit will taste death…”
The Holy Qur’an,
Fortress 29, Al-’Ankabut (The Spider), verse 57
This is because death does not mean the non-existence of the spirit, but the separation of the spirit from the body. Before this moment, the body had been the means for the spirit to carry out its deeds.
Thus, death is the ceasing of these deeds, as the verb ‘to die’ in Arabic also means ‘to cease’, and does not indicate the non-existence of the spirit. It is the spirit (rather than the soul) that is always addressed in the Qur’an and charged to follow the straight path. It abides in heavens of bliss or in hell during the interval extending from the moment of death until Doomsday.
God says in the Holy Qur’an: “Oh, you spirit, feeling tranquil with this life! Return to your Provider satisfied and pleasing Him. Bind up with My true obedient followers and enter My paradise”
The Holy Qur’an,
Fortress 89, Al-Fajr (The Coming Appearance), verse 27-30
The spirit is the core of the human and the center of its existence, while the body and the soul are its means to achieve its inclinations and desires in this lower life, be they high or low.
The spirit is taken back by Al’lah, whereas the soul is taken back by the angel of death, and this is a clear difference between the spirit and the soul.
It is Al’lah Who takes back the spirits during their sleep; that is, He takes back the conscious self, so that a person’s senses and physical (bodily) feelings are inactivated while they are asleep. Nevertheless, their body remains alive while the soul is poured upon it, spreading life into it, making the heart beat and the chest ascend and descend, and when Al’lah wants them to wake up, He sends out their spirit again: “It is He who takes back your spirits by night, and knows what you have done by day…”
The Holy Qur’an,
Fortress 6, Al-An’am (Livestock), verse 60
When we die, Al’lah takes back the spirit entirely, and it does not then return to its body until the Day of Resurrection. This is the day on which life is breathed into the bodies again: “It is Al’lah who takes back the spirits when one is dead, and from those who have not died during their sleep. He takes back those on whom He has passed the decree of death, but sends the rest away for an appointed term. Surely, there are signs in this for thinking people.”
The Holy Qur’an,
Fortress 39, Az-Zumar (The Groups), verse 42
Thus, the spirit is in the hands of the Compassionate by night, when He directs it according to what suits its state. It is the same after death, where the spirit either becomes captive in the tomb, occupied with its pain and great loss, or else abides in one of the gardens of paradise, enjoying an elevated state that has been obtained because of its love for the Almighty, and also enjoying its entry into His Presence. This will take place according to the good deeds it has to offer: “Each spirit is the hostage of its own deeds, except the benevolent ones who offered good deeds, who are in paradises wondering.”
The Holy Qur’an,
Fortress 74, Al-Mud’dathir (All Divine Perfection he achieved), verse 38-40
The spirits of the living may meet with those of the dead through dreams, or may meet with those of the jinn who accompany them (through devilish dreams).
Such matters are in the hands of Al’lah, Who drives what is suitable and brings what is good to each spirit.
So we can see from this that the propaganda of the New Spiritism is false and baseless.
It was reported that on the day of the Battle of Badr, twenty-four valiant people of Quraysh who had been killed were brought before God’s messenger (cpth), and then thrown into one of the wells of Badr. Then it is said that God’s messenger (cpth) stood at the edge of the well and started calling them by their names and those of their fathers, saying: “ ‘You, so and so, and you, so and so! Have you found the promise of your Provider to be true? For I have found what my Provider promised to be true.’ Our master Omar said to Mohammad (cpth): ‘O, God’s messenger! Do you talk to people who have become carrion?!’ He (cpth) answered: ‘You do not hear what I say any better than they do, but they cannot answer’.”[50]
This is God’s messenger (cpth) who hears them by means of Al’lah, so how can these conjurers get answers and knowledge from the dead when they cannot answer?!
Verily, what these spiritists pretend about conjuring up the spirits of the dead is, in its reality, conjuring up the spirits of the devilish companions of those who have passed away. These are the ones with whom the magicians seek refuge, and they are the enemies of humanity. And like all sorts of magic, they invoke the spirits of these devilish companions so that they will impersonate the sought-after dead people. They adopt their characters and their names, and in this way they affect the nerves of the bewitched people, so allowing them to imagine that the spirit in attendance is that of the dead person in question. As God the Almighty says: “Thus We have assigned for every prophet an enemy: the devils of humankind and jinn-kind, who inspire one another with vain and varnished falsehoods. If thy Lord had willed it, they would not have done so. Therefore leave them and their inventions alone. Let the hearts of those who have no faith in the hereafter incline to such (deceit): let them delight in it, and let them learn from it what they may.”
The Holy Qur’an,
Fortress 6, Al-An’am (Livestock), verse 112-3
A person may have gone and witnessed this supposed conjuring of spirits, and may have believed what they saw. Had this person been pure and had they been seeking refuge in their Provider, they would not have seen any of these imaginary things, nor would they have been affected by a nervous spiritual influence. As a result, they would have avoided these sessions and disbelieved any falsehoods that were encountered during them. This is the correct behavior, which has the power to save us from the claws of the devil.
Let’s listen to what was said by Mr. Hassan Abdul- Wahab, the former secretary of the Spiritual Institution of Al-Ahram, who declared his repentance and resigned from this institution. Afterwards, he distributed a publication in which he expressed his opinion about what he had learned from his experiment in this field, announcing this information to all people.
This was published in the newspaper Al-Jumhooriyah (meaning the republic) on the 23rd of Ramadan in the year 1379 after the Hijra, and here are some excerpts from it:
“God has dispelled the veil of aberration from my heart in Ramadan, and finally it has been definitely proved to me that the characters which are conjured up and supposed to be the spirits of dead relatives and dear ones are nothing but the spirits of their devilish companions, who deceive people by letting them imagine false things. Now, after I have put an end to this wretched period of my life, I restore my Islam, regain my faith, and leave my dear fellows, for whom I find that I have great sympathy, pity, and commiseration in my heart, asking God importunately to illuminate their hearts and save them from the mud of this false belief.”
The methods used to conjure up the evil spirits of these devils vary. However, they are all poured in a single stream in terms of their effect on people and their control over their spirits, deluding people and making them think that they hear voices: “And rouse whomever you are able with your voice, and muster against them all your imaginary actions…”
The Holy Qur’an,
Fortress 17, Al-Isra’ (The Night Journey), verse 64
Hypnotism may be one of the methods relied on by these conjurers, which resembles and converges very much with the conjuring up of spirits.
Hence, the propaganda of the New Spiritism is another type of recent magic practiced under the pretense of foretelling that which is unseen, or treating people spiritually.
In this respect, the former secretary of the Spiritual Institution in Egypt (who resigned from his post) says:
“As for the spiritual therapy which the Spiritual Institution of Al-Ahram propagandizes from time to time, it is, in fact, nothing more than false suggestion, for I myself have spent half of my age in the practice of this activity, and throughout this period, I was continually suffering from many diseases which continued to affect me until this very day, though it would have made more sense for me to be treated, myself, since I was the founder of the institution, and the owner of one of the largest spiritual libraries, but I regrettably say that nothing like this happened.”
Dr. Mohammad Hussein practiced this heresy. He started with the way of the cup and the table, which did not persuade him. He then reached the stage of being a spiritual medium, and tried to witness the embodiment or the voice of the spirit that they claim to be able to conjure up. According to their own accounts, this proves the truth of their contentions. However, neither he nor the others involved succeeded, as such claims indeed have no reality. They are only false deceptions which have no relationship with the truth. Rather, they aim to spoil people, deceive them, and destroy the divine religions. Since he was not convinced of the truth of such unsound thoughts, and instead unveiled the truth about them, he withdrew from this practice and determined to clear up the reality for people:
“These errant ones keep practicing their trickery on people until they pull out the faith and belief that had settled in their spirits, and then deliver a confused mixture of fancies and doubts to them. Then, when they fail to conjure up the spirits of the dead, they say that the medium is not fortunate, or he is exhausted, or the attendees of the session are not accordant with one another, or there is one among them who has come to the meeting to doubt or challenge the veracity of their practice.”
One of their false pretenses is that Gabriel (peace is through him) attends and blesses their sessions!! May God make them loathed and despised!!