Many years ago, people would watch those who wandered through the streets and markets performing their trickery in front of people, to see how they could take eggs, golden coins, birds, and razor blades from their mouths.
But we wonder: after ending their tricks, why do these magicians, who pretend to create something from nothing and to know unseen things, ask people to give them money for their show so as to allay their hunger?!
We see that magic never attains money; otherwise the magicians would create enough money to fulfill their needs, so that they would be prevented from begging.
These people are similar to the magicians for whom Pharaoh sent, in order that they use their great magic to frustrate the miracle of the staff that was carried by our master Moses (pth). Describing their poverty and begging, God says: “And when the magicians came to Pharaoh, they said: ‘Shall we be rewarded if we win?’ ”: shall you give us a reward if we win?
The Holy Qur’an,
Fortress 26, Ash-Shu’ara’ (The Poets), verse 41
So, although they were masters at creating wonders, they asked for money, though each of them was a skilled magician!! And yet they could not provide themselves with that which might have saved them from begging!!
This is how magicians are, in every place and time.
There are also those people who pretend to be strictly obedient to Al’lah, or to be blessed, although in fact, they are not so.
They stab themselves with sharp tools like spears or knives in front of a crowd of people, or they conjure up spirits, or practice necromancy to uncover hidden matters.
There are also those who spend days and weeks in a lake without breathing air who make people believe them by using devilish companions, and those who tread barefoot on firebrands or eat glass.
These are people who pretend to be strictly obedient to Al’lah. If you ask them about their reason for doing such deeds, they will answer you thus: “it is to confirm and prove the rightness of Islam in front of unbelievers”, even though they carry out their deeds in Muslim villages that include no such unbelievers. In doing so, they treat all people as unbelievers except themselves!