Sixthly
In former times, people and men of religion were good-hearted and simple.
Some of them turned for help to writings written on paper – including Qur’anic verses and invocations of God that ask Him for their recovery – although they are, in fact, fruitless, and avail nothing, as God does not change people’s conditions until they themselves change.
Such cases require honest repentance, with true citing of Al’lah and seeking refuge in His Holy Lofty Presence, followed by straightening oneself for His orders.
But later, magicians exploited this method to create false talismans, spells, and amulets on which – if you examined them – you would find language and Qur’anic words written, as people of evil used to do, reversely or head over heels. Their creators may even omit some words or verses, or add symbols and vague words to them, and then advise people to always keep the item with them, or to drink the water over which the wording has been read or in which it has been soaked. This poor man or woman, who has been afflicted with something which they deserve, will keep spiritually heading for the magicians and thinking of them.
They also give them drugs containing urine mixed with water, or containing decadent blood, or anything that will cause damage to the victim and will inactivate the mechanism of their thinking, so that they become mentally deranged.
If such unfortunate people do not change what is in their spirits, and are determined to carry out wrongdoing, and if they continue to elevate other gods besides Al’lah, real harm will afflict them. People sometimes continue to resort to such gods, although they are vehement disputers.
God’s messenger (cpth) was asked about a report that included a spell and a drug for someone who might have been touched by the jinn. In response, he (cpth) said:
“Three men will never enter heaven: A habitual drinker of wine, one who breaks off ties of blood, and one who believes in magic.”[57]
And in another quote from the prophetic tradition he gives the following warning:
“A person who is pessimistic and who makes others feel pessimistic is not one of us (a believer); nor is one who makes predictions or asks others to make predictions for them, or who bewitches people or asks the magician to bewitch others for them; and one who turns to an augur and believes their sayings is one who does not believe what has been revealed to Mohammad.”[58]
To reveal the reason that magic is inserted in the category of polytheism and disbelief, Sheikh As-Sa’dee (may Al’lah have mercy upon him) says: “Magic comes under the heading of polytheism in two regards. Firstly, this is so in regard to dealing with devils and adhering to what they say, so that the magician may even seek to be near to them in order to serve and fulfill his aim (where he aims at nothing but spreading indecency and wickedness). Secondly, this is so in regard to pretending to know about unseen matters and participating with God in His Omniscience, and then in adopting the methods that lead to such a situation that come from the branches of polytheism and disbelief.”
It was reported in the holy prophetic saying: “The penalty for the magician is killing him with the sword.”[59]
In fact, diseases, poverty, and stress are means for turning the spirit away from this lower life and diverting it from its lusts. This is so that a certain person – who gives up this worldly life because of whatever of these afflictions have befallen them – may then turn to their Provider in repentance and recognize Him, the Almighty. Thereupon the way of belief will be opened before them, after misfortune has taken away whatever obstacles of yearning had been standing in the way of the belief of the spirit. Then, if the spirit reaches true faith – which is to know scientifically that there is no God but Al’lah – and becomes certain of it, how imminent its attainment of purity will be, and how easy its achievement of perfection! At that time, there will be no need for hardship, disaster, or affliction; besides, no enchanter will be able to affect such a spirit. Instead, this believing spirit will gain happiness piled upon happiness, which is, by right, real life, with its most supreme purposes, for God says: “What does Al’lah gain by your punishment if you are grateful, offering good acts, and ye believe? ...”
The Holy Qur’an,
Fortress 4, An-Nisa’ (Women), verse 147
So we can see that distress and calamity are just the means for making people repent to God and return to the straight path of righteousness. “And indeed, we will make them taste of the lightest chastisement before the greatest chastisement in order that they may repent and return.”
The Holy Qur’an,
Fortress 32, As-Sajda (The Prostration), verse 21
If they repent and return to their Provider, then what are these remedies for “the lightest chastisement”? He or she who frequently goes to the people who create such spells and talismans, seeking refuge in them to relieve his or her affliction, indeed throws him- or herself on the brink of a crumbling precipice and forgets the noble verse: “…God does not change people’s conditions until they themselves change….”
The Holy Qur’an,
Fortress 13, Ar-Ra’d (The Thunder), verse 11
Such a person has forgotten the sins they committed that caused their affliction. “What has befallen you of misfortune is the fruit of your own labors. He forgives much.” What God the Great says is true.
The Holy Qur’an,
Fortress 42, Ash-Shura’ (Consultation), verse 30
Since a believer does not taint his or her faith with wrong deeds, he or she is safe from humiliation, indignity, and loss; but if they incline to this lower life, God will cure them. They should then be patient and search for the cause of their affliction so as to retreat from it in repentance to Al’lah.
This repentant is the one who is rightly guided to happiness and heaven; as the Almighty states: “Those who say, when afflicted with calamity: ‘To Al’lah we return’...”: the repentant one yields to Al’lah and bears up patiently, knowing for certain that their affliction is a mercy and goodness from Al’lah to him or her, and so they resort to none but Al’lah. “…and to Him is our repentance.”: this means that we should say: “Oh, Provider! I have turned to you in repentance, retreating from my wrongdoing.” “Upon such ones will be Al’lah’s blessings and compassion...”: because of the patience they had, and by bearing witness to God’s compassion, they turned their hearts toward Him, the Almighty. As a result their spirits became purified and deserved to be overwhelmed with the Godly revelation: “…and such are the rightly guided ones”: that is: the rightly guided ones are guided to righteousness, from where they get light from Al’lah by entering into His presence.
The Holy Qur’an,
Fortress 2, Al-Baqara (The Cow), verse 156-157
Those who seek refuge in Al’lah and obey none but Him (rather than an augur or a foreteller or a fortuneteller or a magician) will enter heaven. Meanwhile, those who seek refuge in those types of charlatans will avail nothing by it but more grief, difficulties and fatigue, so confirming the saying of the jinn, who believed: “Some men of mankind have sought the help of jinn, but they caused them more fatigue.”
The Holy Qur’an,
Fortress 72, Al-Jinn (The Jinn), verse 6
Many magicians may cooperate against a single victim, where this collaboration hides behind the mask of a severe quarrel that takes place among them.
For example, when a woman is possessed by the devil, such a magician will exhaust and oppress her increasingly over time, in a way that will make her family turn to one who they believe can relieve her. This supposed savior will usually be another magician. At this point, the devil will release her because of an agreement between them, thus delivering her to the stronger magician. He will destroy her and make her enter into the entrances of the devils so easily, because she will have has surrendered herself to him and trusted him. In this case, she will not have changed the hidden contents of her spirit, preferring instead to ask for help from other gods than Al’lah. This is polytheism.
Female magicians often pretend to be sick. When one of them does so, she puts on a great pretense and deceives all her family with a supposed disease. She remains in a state where she is groaning and pretending, seeming to derive no benefit from any medicine until such a point as her family turn to a magician sheikh for help. As soon as this happens, she soon recovers from her disease and ends her pretense in order to make her family submit themselves to this magician and couple with him, becoming linked to him by their feelings of gratitude and appreciation, and consequently developing feelings of loyalty to him. The greatest affliction then befalls them: a quick and terrible descent.
Again, you may ask: can the magician and the devil make anyone a target of their harm, playing with him or her as they see fit?!
In reply we say the following: undoubtedly, the devil has no power or might, and his cunning is weak indeed, except against the deserving ones. Where these pitiable people resort to the magicians and call upon those who would sooner harm than help them, verily they have gone far astray.
Had the bewitched one not committed extreme and forbidden actions, the magician would have not affected and bewitched them.
God says: “Thus, We let some of the wrong-doers have power over others because of what they are wont to earn.”
The Holy Qur’an,
Fortress 6, Al-An’am (Livestock), verse 129
The oppressed one was originally an oppressor. If they repent and stop perpetrating forbidden acts and encroaching upon the money and honor of others, and then do as many good deeds as possible, they will be released from the magicians’ influence, and their devils shall never have any more effect on them.
The noble verse refers to this when God says: “He has no power over those who have believed and always put their trust in their Provider. Yet his authority is over those who trust him and follow his guidance.”
The Holy Qur’an,
Fortress 16, An-Nahl (The Bees), verse 99-100
Note also the noble verse: “You shall have no power over those obedient to Me, except those who have followed you, tempted by this life.”
The Holy Qur’an,
Fortress 15, Al-Hijr (Stone Buildings), verse 42
And also God the Almighty says: “Shall I tell you upon whom the devils descend? They descend upon every lying sinner.”
The Holy Qur’an,
Fortress 26, Ash-Shu’ara’ (The Poets), verse 221-222
This means that they descend upon those who yearn for and love this worldly life and who perpetrate the most serious of sins.
If such people do not repent, the devils will oppress and antagonize them until they submit to them, whereby they will taste their hellish company in this life before our elevation comes.
If a person does not withdraw from their tyranny and repent in order to escape, they will surrender to the devils, and then the devils will stop tormenting them, as they will have become a submissive servant to them. Such a person will become a disbeliever and adopt their conduct; that is, they will commit serious sins and forbidden actions until they become one of the pupils of the rebellious devils of humankind. Alternatively, after tasting such bitterness as a result of these devils, they may become one of the magicians who make predictions.
Had such a person turned to God in repentance and believed in Him, they would have been able to escape from their claws, and then they would attain supreme pleasures and everlasting bliss.
The above-mentioned verses show us that these devils have an influence on those who trust them and believe in their power.
This means that all that was said about the noble messenger (cpth) that suggests that he was once bewitched and that he remained affected by magic and its devils for months is false. These statements are nothing but the interpolated sayings of the submissive disbelievers of the Jewish religion, because the noble messenger (cpth) expelled them from the Arabian peninsula due to their breaching of the covenants.
They are false sayings because the Holy Qur’an disproves them, and because God’s messenger (cpth) always seeks refuge in Al’lah, and he is too far above the qualities of those over whom the devils deservedly have a dominant influence. He is exalted (cpth) high above their falsehoods.
Hence the devil has power over those who obey him, and over the polytheists, but he has no power over God’s messenger (cpth), the apostle of the Provider of all the worlds.
A note: Neither the devil nor the magician approach those infidels who are rich and who live luxurious lives, giving free rein to their lusts and not caring about religion. The devils do not even try to affect these kinds of people, lest they believe that there are other invisible worlds which were previously unknown to them. This suggestion may lead them to become afraid that there is another life to come. As a result, they may start to believe in a deity, an accounting and responsibility, whereupon they may start to believe in God. Thus, the devil does not approach such people as they naturally follow his aberrant conduct, and he keeps away from affecting their nerves so that they will continue straying from the right path.