To refuting false claims of magicians that all their actions and practices are but for proving that Islam is true, and that they are the only believers; we mention the following points:
Islam is a faith of reason and logic, with rules and laws that should be followed by humanity to establish faith and then realize piety (that is, illumination by Al’lah’s Light).
It is not a haphazard course that asks you to break the existing natural laws and the perceptible cosmic discipline, or to oppose the ability for sound thinking with which man has been honoured above the animals.
Such acts of the magicians which contradict reality – like stabbing one’s own abdomen with a knife or a spear, or treading on fire – are indeed mere magic and fancy deception, in which magicians give the observer the impression that they are doing this. In fact, Islam is a faith of facts, where man can perceive its sublimity only by following its rules, not by watching the acts of tricksters and charlatans.
If Islam can be proved to be correct according to the ability to stab oneself with skewers, we must then follow the worshipers of fire and of cows.
Ibn Battuta told us about the magicians in India and China, for he had heard of and seen wonders performed by them.
Once, he visited the sultan of a region in India, and there he met two men who wrapped themselves in blankets so as to live with the spirits in a world of devilish and low companions.
These were men who had performed strange rites where they had covered their heads and used embers to tear out their hair, as some people do with the hair of their armpit.
The sultan ordered them to show Ibn Battuta their wonders, so one of them sat cross-legged and then rose up in the air until he was floating cross-legged over the heads of the people there.
Because of that scene Ibn Battuta lost consciousness, and when he came to, the first person was still levitating, and the other took a shoe and began to beat the floor with it. The shoe then floated up to the neck of the cross-legged one and began to strike him as he slowly came down, until it transpired that he was once again sitting on the floor.
Ibn Battuta told of another wonder which he had seen when he was in China. That occurred when the prince ordered one of the magicians to show them his wonders, and so he threw a long rope in the air. Its end stretched up into the sky until it could no longer be seen, and he ordered a boy to climb the rope, and the boy did so till he disappeared. Then the magician called on him three times to come down, but the child did not. So the magician took a knife in his mouth and ascended the erect rope behind the child until he also disappeared. Then he threw down the boy’s arm, his leg, the other arm… and his head. Having cut him up with the knife, he came down the rope again with his clothes completely covered in blood. He kissed the floor before the prince and talked to him in Chinese. The prince ordered him to be given money. Then the magician took the boy’s limbs and joined them together. After that he kicked him with his leg and the boy got up, alive and well.
A judge who was named Fakhr al deen – who was accompanying Ibn Battuta – said to him: “By God, they were neither ascending, nor descending, and not even cutting off limbs, but it was mere illusion and trickery”.
God the Almighty says about Pharaoh’s magicians: “…they bewitched the people’s eyes and terrified them by a display of great wonders.”
The Holy Qur’an,
Fortress 7, Al-A’raf (The Heights), verse 116
As long as the proof of the correctness of Islam is to be found in doing deeds such as stabbing yourself with skewers, eating glass, and walking over fire, then it would be more deserving to regard the faith of the worshippers of cows and of fire as the right one, as they can perform such wonders. This is so because the wonders shown to Ibn Battuta in India and China, which are still practiced by these magicians to this day, are more amazing than those who are supporters of true faith and Islam.
That means that stabbing oneself with skewers would not merit a mention in comparison with the trickery and wonders of India and China’s magicians who worship cows and fire, and so we should wonder whether their faith might be the right one, since those conjurers we mentioned prove that they are in close obedience to Al’lah and His blessedness by stabbing themselves with knives.
Some Russian magicians, who call themselves hypnotists, display their wonders in the theatres of Damascus. One of them stares into the eyes of a girl in front of people, and gestures with his fingers in front of her face until she faints and falls down. Then he carries her over to a table with his two hands, and puts her lying on it before the very eyes of the attendees. He starts murmuring, and then the table rises half a meter in the air. He takes a thick rope and binds her well to the table, then pours gasoline over her, and sets fire to it from a distance, so that both the table and the girl are engulfed in flame. After that he claps his hands and the same girl comes out through the back door of the theatre, safe and sound, to greet the attendees. When the show ends, the magician gets his reward.
Now, how can stabbing oneself with a skewer or spear deserve to be mentioned in comparison to raising the dead to life after burning their body? Does not this trickery surpass that of those who stab themselves with spears, or eat glass to confirm the rightness of Islam??
How strange their sayings are, and the strangest thing would be to believe them.
The right thinking and sound of mind would not accept that a person could stab their body with a knife without being harmed; if such a thing was so, the noble messengers (far be it for them) would be the foremost in such fields: “Their apostles replied: ‘we are indeed mortals like you’…”
The Holy Qur’an,
Fortress 14, Ibrahim (Abraham), verse 11.
Furthermore, some of their noble companions were martyred in battles as a result of stabbing and wounding.
So, these acts are indisputably restricted to magicians.
There are some who have tried to explain such acts scientifically, but they have failed, as no science can physically explain the ability to safely tread on firebrands or to pass a spear through the abdomen.
It is well known that the human body consists of flesh, bones, blood vessels, and the nervous system.
We wonder: have they different physical structures from those of other mortals? Or have they been created differently, or do they belong to another species, so that neither fire nor spears nor knives affect them? They were begotten as we were, and eat the same food we eat.
They are human in origin, but they have allowed the spirits of their malignant companions, the jinn, to surround their bodies, and to commit hidden adultery through their spirits.
They are accompanied by devilish companions who break laws and come to our world by use of their spirits in response to the call of the human devil magicians, and then these jinn pass through the bodies of these magicians to surround their spirits.
Thus they made these magicians into garments for their spirits; hence the control of these spirits of the jinn, whose bodies are originally created from fire, protects these magicians from being burnt by the firebrands on which they tread. So, as a result of this, the magicians are able to start carrying out the deceptive, devilish actions of the jinn, and indeed these are not in fact physical wonders, but rather are spiritual ones.
Among those who watch the magician’s wonders, if there was but one Godly and enlightened believer, whose heart was strictly attached to the shining lamp – the messenger Mohammad (cpth) – and if this person was to mention the name of Al’lah within their spirit, then the spirits of the devilish companions would flee from the magician’s body.
Thereupon, the magician would be unable to work a single wonder, and would certainly know that if he truly treaded on a firebrand, his feet would burn, and if he stabbed his abdomen with a spear he would die.
It is only when the true faith that is based upon the illumination of God’s light is lost that the spirits of devilish companions appear to these magicians according to their whim.
But, in the presence of true believers, whose hearts are loyal to their shining lamp (cpth), this magic becomes inactive, the magicians’ trickery is frustrated, and the spreading of their malignant spirits is hampered. In this case, the devilish companions will indeed burn, because the believer is near to Al’lah, and this is exactly what happened to the devils of Pharaoh’s magicians in the presence of our master Moses (peace is through him), so that the magicians believed in Moses (pth).
The same thing afflicted the magicians in the Arabian peninsula in the presence of our master Mohammad (cpth), except for a few of them, who were beaten by the noble, righteous companions of the prophet.
Where there is no true belief, magic and magicians spread widely, but indeed, they cannot harm anyone with their magic except those who are negligent and disobedient, and who fail to repent and follow the right path.
If people truly turn to God in repentance, they will be released from the influence of magic, and then will enter the worlds of everlasting blessings and eternal delight through their hearts, to be with the prophets, the true martyrs, and those who gained the ability to do good deeds. Their life will be good, and they will be heart-cured.
Thus, the acts of these magicians are nothing but mere magic and the making of connections with the worlds of devilish jinn, and secretly working together with them so as to bewitch people’s eyes with these deceptions and fancies.
It is no miracle for a man to fly in the air or walk over water, because many animals and insects can do so. Righteousness itself is the real miracle.
The scholar Emin Keftaroh (may God have mercy upon him) was correct when he said: “The real miracle is to break the habits of your own spirit, not to break cosmic discipline.”
The scholar Emin made every effort to correct the false touchstone of belief which people depended on in order to recognize holy men. Indeed, some people still do depend on this touchstone, which is to witness the mere idle acrobatics that are performed by those pretenders to uprightness, the magicians. These actions are also performed by unbelievers, but neither the righteous ancestors nor their successors ever took part in such actions.
In fact, if you examine the manners and the deeds of the magicians (who pretend to be Muslim) you will find them to be the greatest perpetrators of sin and adultery of the entire population.
These acts (stabbing themselves with skewers, eating glass, walking over water or fire (as they pretend to do), and foretelling unseen matters by means of devilish companions) are nothing but magic, trickery, and amusing stories. “…magicians shall never prosper, whatever they do.”
The Holy Qur’an,
Fortress 20, Ta Ha ‘Ta-ha’ (Pure), verse 69
Islam is a faith comprised of logic and high laws, wherein there is no breaking of the magnificently strict cosmic discipline which the true faith will generate in your spirit if you think and contemplate deeply. If this occurs, you will be fit for God’s order and will be able to enter into His presence, where the disgraceful habits and unworthy qualities of the spirit are replaced with perfect characteristics such as kind behavior, generosity, bravery, and other high moral traits.
Righteousness is the real power.
Because skewers do not affect them, and fire does not burn them, and moreover they pretend falsely to know unseen things (in spite of the fact that these are things that none but Al’lah knows, but their devilish companions tell them what they have heard from the jinn companions of other people) – because of all these things, among all the people in this time, if the performers of such so-called miracles were really and truly obedient and beloved of Al’lah, then they would free their Muslim brothers from the hands of their occupiers, as neither bullets nor bombs can affect them! They would be able to establish a huge army, as there are thousands of thousands of them.
Yet they behave like poor beggars, asking people for money. They cannot even enrich themselves in order to avoid being humbled before people.
We heard about the companions of God’s messenger Mohammad (cpth), and how they suffered from wounds while they were fighting, and how some of them lost their eyes in battle. Omar Ibn Al Khattab, Othman Ibn Affan, and Ali Ibn Abu Taleb (may God honor them) were martyred, and earned the honor of martyrdom as a result of being stabbed with daggers, spears and swords.
So do those ‘obedient followers’ who stab themselves with skewers and the like have a different physical construction from that of other mortals, which means that they are not affected by material objects? Do they surpass the martyred companions in their nearness to Al’lah??
The Qur’an is the everlasting miracle of the messenger (cpth), and there can be no further miracles beyond this.
With clear wording, in the verse in His Book, the Almighty says: “Nothing hinders us from giving signs except the fact that the ancients disbelieved them. To Thamoud we gave the she-camel as a visible sign, yet they oppressed themselves with it. We give signs only by way of warning.”
The Holy Qur’an,
Fortress 17, Al-Isra’ (The Night Journey), verse 59
When the Quraysh people asked the messenger (cpth) to show them a miracle, the Almighty inspired him with the verse: “Nothing hinders us from giving signs except that the ancients disbelieved them...” The ancients perished because miracles were shown to them but they did not believe in them.
The Thamoud people asked our master Saleh (pth) to bring into being a she-camel as a miracle, but they oppressed themselves when they robbed it of its young, and so they perished. That was God’s last act towards them. Their story ended with their destruction at His hands, although God did not wish that end for them.
God says, addressing those who seek a miracle from the messenger (cpth): “…We give signs only by way of warning…” All signs, such as drought, hurricanes, and earthquakes, are sent to cause fear. When these disasters occur, humanity’s spirit will seek refuge in its Provider, fearing the final account and the torment, knowing that there is a Hand which directs and sustains us.
If people do not feel afraid so that their thoughts and their spirits gather to think of their beginnings when they were mere semen, and of their end when they will be buried, they will not be truthful in seeking the truth, and then they will never be guided.
Pharaoh’s people disbelieved the miracles shown to them by our master Moses (pth), such as the staff that changed into a serpent, the bright hand, and all the nine signs: “They said whatever miracles you may work to confound us, we will not believe in you.”
The Holy Qur’an,
Fortress 7, Al-A’raf (The Heights), verse 132
They did not believe and profited nothing from the miracles, as they were occupied with vice, and so they perished.
God says in the noble verse: “When you do not show them a miracle, they say: ‘Have you not yet got one?’...”: that is: will you not show us a miracle that confirms your mission?
He (cpth) replied to them as the Almighty ordered: “…say ‘I follow only what is revealed to me by my Lord,’…”: i.e. in the Holy Qur’an, “…this book is a veritable proof from your Lord, a guide and a mercy to true believers”: do you not think of my revelation? Does it not guide you to the truth? This Qur’an is a miracle, and its true guidance is something that profits you. Does it include anything that is in contradiction of logic?
The Holy Qur’an,
Fortress 7, Al-A’raf (The Heights), verse 203
Many were shown miracles, but they availed them nothing. Should you not think of this Qur’an and be guided by it?
If people do not follow the course of belief shown by the Almighty, nothing will profit them, no matter what they see and hear, because God says: “If We sent down the angels to them and caused the dead to speak with them, and ranged all things before them, they would still not believe unless Al’lah willed it…”
The Holy Qur’an,
Fortress 6, Al-An’am (Livestock), verse 111
The Almighty God’s will is based upon humanity’s truthfulness in seeking the truth and leaving behind forbidden matters. “…God does not change people’s conditions until they themselves change...”
The Holy Qur’an,
Fortress 13, Ar-Ra’d (The Thunder), verse 11
“Perfected are the words of your Lord in truth and justice...”
The Holy Qur’an,
Fortress 6, Al-An’am (Livestock), verse 115
If a person truly seeks the truth, God will change their condition.
Faith penetrates into a person’s heart through their honesty, not through their witnessing of miracles; therefore, they should think of death until their spirit complies with them and gathers together with their thought. Thereupon, if they think of the cosmic miracles such as the sun, the moon, night and day, rain and the clouds, the skies, the stars and the asteroids, and all the other visible signs, they will deduce that there is a Creator who provides and steers and whose Hand controls the universe, which will lead to their becoming upright and directing themselves towards Al’lah, as faith spreads into every atom of their spirit.
At this point, they become charitable to all of creation, and it was for this that we were created and came to this world. Each man and woman must truly become somebody with whom all of creation feels at ease, and when they pass into the eternal abode in the hereafter, their faces will be lit up with white light in God’s presence due to their good deeds, until they are elevated to the lofty heavens.
This was the purpose of the Provider of worlds in creating us. For the greatest happiness we were created, and this is the way that leads us there.
Signs are no longer revealed to people, and this has been the case since the time of our master Jesus (pth). The Almighty said: “If We will, We can reveal to them a sign from the heavens before which they will bow their heads in utter humility.”
The Holy Qur’an,
Fortress 26, Ash-Shu’ara’ (The Poets), verse 4
There is no verse in the Holy Qur’an indicating that God has revealed a single sign to His messenger (cpth) other than the Holy Qur’an. God says: “Is it not enough for them that We have revealed to you the Book for their instruction?”
The Holy Qur’an,
Fortress 29, Al-’Ankabut (The Spider), verse 51
Now, after this revelation and clear verses is there any who dares to say that there are miracles other than the Qur’an, or ‘supernatural tricks’, as they call them, by way of evasion?
Indeed, miracles were not of profit to any of the nations that preceded the Muslims. God the Almighty set examples of former people before us. The Israelites were shown miracles: ‘the parting of the sea, the staff with which our master Moses (pth) struck the rock whereupon twelve springs gushed from it, the serpent, the luminous hand, and the rest of the nine miracles of our master Moses (pth)…’ and yet, when he left them for forty days, they reverted to worshipping the lower life, in spite of the presence of our master Haroun (pth) among them. So the miracles of Moses availed them nothing.
Will imaginary wonders have more influence upon people, such that they may believe them more than these miracles (such as the parting of the sea into twelve parts, each part as high as a massive mountain, and wherein the water was as immovable as the mountains)?
The Israelites saw that miracle, and yet, when they came out of the sea and passed by a group of people who worshipped idols, they asked our master Moses (cpth) to make them an idol so that they could worship it.
Is this fake stabbing with skewers comparable to these miracles!?
Our master Jesus (pth) raised the dead to life, and made the likeness of a bird from clay and breathed into it, and then it became a living bird of flesh and blood by Al’lah’s leave. And he gave sight to the blind and healed lepers by Al’lah’s leave.
In spite of all that, the Jews accused him of lying and plotted to kill him, and in doing so, they deprived themselves of this great grace (Jesus, peace is through him), for the Almighty gave him and his mother a shelter on a peaceful hill-side watered by a fresh spring.
How far the allegers of these wonders are from the prophets and their miracles!
Miracles are carried out according to the needs of the age and its people, and as we mentioned before, because our master Moses (pth) was sent at the time when magic prospered, he was given miracles that overcame and frustrated this contemporary magic all over the world, and made the magicians despise their science and prostrate themselves before the majesty of the science of our master Moses.
But neither Pharaoh nor his people, nor even the Israelites, profited from these miracles.
Our master Jesus (pth) was sent at the time when medicine prospered, and so was given miracles that surpassed the contemporary medical sciences, and yet his people profited nothing from them.
Our master Mohammad (cpth) was sent at a time when poetry, eloquence, and fluency prospered to the extent that a given tribe might become high or become low through a line of poetry, and so he was given the miracle of the Holy Qur’an which amazed and incapacitated all the eloquent scholars and fluent men of the time, even if they were opposed to him.
The people of Quraysh sent many eloquent and fluent men to our master Mohammad (cpth) so as to look into what he was reciting, and afterwards they returned submitting, praising, and bowing down their heads before this miracle. Although he challenged them all to bring forth one similar line, they could not do so, and he challenged all people in the same way throughout the ages, but they also failed and will never succeed in bringing forth a line that is similar. The Qur’an is the everlasting miracle, from more than 1,400 years ago until the hour of resurrection.
We wonder: could the noble companions guide the striking forces of aggressive nations to the light by stabbing themselves with skewers, or would it be better to acquaint all the world with this everlasting miracle?
It is known intuitively that the noble companions, the followers and leaders of the Muslims, and even the common people among them did not deal in magic.
They neither learnt it nor taught it.
Do you not see, dear reader, with your own eyes, how the non-Arabs profess Islam one after the other by virtue of this stabbing with skewers as well as other trickery and amusing stories!? And if such things, as they pretend, truly confirm the rightness of Islam, then the magicians of India and China deserve to be followed more than these people, as they far surpass those charlatans in their miracles, which include cutting up and joining back together people’s bodies, killing people by burning them and then raising the dead to life, etc. …
Shall we believe them and worship fire or cows?!
Finally, Islam is a faith of reason; as God’s messenger (cpth) said: “Man’s faith is what he apprehends, and he who apprehends nothing, has no faith.”[3]
Islam is innocent of what some accuse it of – contradicting logic and reason – and it is untouched by that which opposes God’s sayings in the Holy Qur’an and the Sunna of His noble messenger (cpth).
Watching wonders and miracles achieves nothing for humanity. Only one thing can release humanity from disbelief and transfer it to true belief. This thing is contemplation and deep thought about creation, as this is the creation of the great Creator, who supervises humanity with His provision and direction.
A seeker of truth will be honest for their faith if they know for certain that they will die, for then they will fear this inescapable end.
The beginning of the way of belief may also be found in listening (which is associated with thinking): listening to the call of the herald that requests humanity to believe in God, leading us, when we are honest, to true witnessing.
The Holy saying reads: “To think for an hour is better than to worship for sixty years.”[4]
If you seek the truth and think deeply and