Islam and magic

In Islamic culture and Muslim communities throughout the world, Magic is "widespread and pervasive".[1] Magic or sorcery (seeking to alter the course of events usually by calling on a supernatural force) and Divination (attempts "to predict future events or gain information about things unseen"),[2] encompass a wide range of practices. These include protection from black magic, the evil eye, jinn and other demons; thought to bring "illness, poverty, and everyday misfortunes".[3] Or alternately practices seek to bring "good fortune, health, increased status, honor, and power".[3] Techniques include the production of amulets and other magical equipment, evocation, casting lots, and astrology,[4] and unique to the Islamic world, the concept of jinn.[3] While differing definitions may explain some of the dispute,[5] magic have been called a "vital element of everyday life and practice" in both the contemporary and historical Islamic world,[6] the topics generating a "staggering" amount of "literature;[7] but also declared to be "evil" in any and all of their forms,[8] denying its practitioners entrance into heaven, and earning them death as "divinely sanctioned" punishment.[9] As of 2005, this division was on display in bookstalls in market places across the Muslim Middle East and North Africa, where "handbooks for practitioners of the occult" were found alongside "books full of warnings and condemnations" of the handbooks contents.[7] Over the centuries, magic practices have "become intricately interwoven with religious elements and practices" in Islamic culture despite the efforts orthodox Islamic scholars to stamp out magic, so that the line between what is forbidden and what is allowed has become "blurred".[6]

Terminology
Sihr

The word usually translated as "magic" in the Quran is siḥr.[Note 1] According to Adam Silverstein, the "Arabic word for 'magic' is siḥr, ... in the Qur'an Siḥr means ... 'black magic,' but in modern Arabic the same word is used for 'entertaining magic'".[11][12] The Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic defines siḥr as "bewitchment, beguilement, enchantment, fascination"; and the plural form (ashar) as "sorcery, witchcraft, magic".[13] Toufic Fahd in the Brill Encyclopedia of Islam usually uses "magic as the translation of sihr", but "occasionally uses sorcery or witchcraft".[14] Fahd himself first defines sihr as that which leads its subject to "believe that what he sees is real when it is not", but also includes "everything that is known as 'white' or 'natural magic'".[15] In his examination of what about sihr is haram and what isn't in contemporary Islamic society, Remke Kruk defines the practice of sihr as magic or sorcery, and translates material objects called sihr as "charms".[14] Emilie Savage-Smith gives a very broad definition including "anything wondrous, including elegant and subtle poetry, ... sleight-of-hand tricks, ... the healing properties of plants, ... invocations to God for assistance, ... invocations to jinn or demons or the spirits of the planets, and on occasion even to the divinatory art of astrology."[16]

Other terms

Toufic Fahd gives a number of definitions of related terms in Encyclopedia.com. Magic/sihr is part of

  • Ulūm al-ghayb, "the occult sciences" of Islam, "include divination, astrology, oneiromancy", ... prophecy, magic (siḥr). Fahd further divides Siḥr in three sections:
    • Black magic (ʿilm al-siḥr),
    • Theurgy (ʿilm al-khawāṣṣ wa-al-ṭalāsim) (theurgy is the practice of rituals, performed with the intention of invoking the action or evoking the presence of one or more deities, especially with the goal of achieving henosis -- uniting with the divine -- and perfecting oneself);[17] and
    • white or natural magic (ʿilm al-ḥiyal wa-al-shaʾwadhah).[18]
Branches of magic

Dastghaib Shirazi lists "the more commonly used branches" of the art of magic as

  • as-Simiya - combines "will-power with particular physical and material forces for manipulating the natural order", and includes "eye-enchantment".[19]
  • al-Limiya or "the knowledge of subjugation of the spirits" -- uses the psyche to bring "higher and stronger spirits" (such as "the spirits of the stars", and jinn) under the control of the magician.[19]
  • al-Himiya or talisman -- combines "the powers of the higher spiritual world" with the base elements of nature to "produce awe-inspiring effect".[19]
  • ar-Rimiya or ash-Sha'badhah -- such as "sleight of hand, jugglery", creates the illusion of super-natural effects.[19]

Supplementary fields of magic are

  • al-Kimiya or alchemy -- the transmuting (i.e. the attempt to transmute) base metals into gold or silver.[19]
  • al-Khafiyah or the hidden knowledge -- discovers the names of "the angels or the satans" to be used to invoke those beings.[19]

Still others (all forbidden) are

  • Shoabada -- is the creating of an illusion (such as by moving a burning ball in circles so that it appears to be a circle of fire); "All the fuqaha [Islamic jurists] are unanimous that Shobada is ... is a type of magic", and "Harām" (forbidden).[19]
  • Taskhirāt -- "the method of controlling Angels, Jinns, souls or various wild animals"; is "also Harām and considered a form of sorcery".[19]
  • Qayafa -- the art of determining the lineage of an individual by use of magic.[19]
Divination

Divination (i.e. "prediction of future events or gaining information about things unseen"[20] by way of an occultic, standardized process or ritual), has been called "a branch of magic" by "Muslim encyclopedists, such as al-Afkānī, Tāshköprüzade, and Ḥājjī Khalīfah", according to Fahd.[18] Shia cleric Sayyid Abdul Husayn Dastghaib Shirazi of Al-Islam.com[19] and historian Emilie Savage-Smith[16] calls divination in Islam Kaḥanat -- Dastghaib Shirazi specifying that it is where the one predicting uses knowledge obtained from "some groups of Jinns".[19] ("All the jurists are unanimous in their opinion that Kahanat or soothsaying is Harām", according to Dastghaib Shirazi and all those who go to "a sorcerer, a soothsayer or a liar and testifies to what he says" become infidels, according to the Holy Imam A.S. This is because "Allah the Almighty does not wish people to have knowledge of the future".)[19]

Toufic Fahd describes the difference between divination and magic as blurred. Both have a "practical and nontheoretical character"; use "supernatural means to predict natural elements", and share the technique of obtaining knowledge from "demonic inspiration"; but in "Islamic magical literature", the two "run parallel without mingling".[18]

Other definitions
  • Witchcraft -- Sources on Islam and magic differ in their use of the term "witchcraft". It is sometimes seems to be used in place of "magic" (Pew Research Center survey on Muslim beliefs),[21] other times as a synonym for it (IslamQA),[22] sometimes excluded from use (Toufic Fahd),[18] sometimes avoided in favor of "sorcery" because it (witchcraft) "evokes the wrong associations" (Remke Kruk)[14] -- i.e. because it is "a late medieval Christian heresy",[23] or because unlike sorcery it is "a psychic act" that uses no spells, rites or medicines.[24][14] G. Hussein Rassool includes witchcraft as a subset of a "wider" definition of magic: "Witchcraft refers to toxic actions that are carried out by persons presumed to have access to the supernatural world."[1]

Beings, afflictions, and tools often involved in magic are

  • Jinn -- supernatural creatures in Islam who may be good or evil but who are mentioned frequently in magical works throughout the Islamic world (often mentioned together with devils, i.e. shayāṭīn, and held responsible for misfortune, possession and diseases), to be summoned and bound to a sorcerer.
  • Rūḥanīyah -- spiritual beings.[18]
  • Sarʿ - possession by jinn or other spirits[14]
  • Masruʿ - possessed, also sometimes as 'showing signs of possession'[14]
  • Tilsam, hirz - the "most common Arabic terms" employed for amulets [25]
  • Ruqyah -- Kruk defines it as an incantation made up of 41 "Quranic verses, formulas and short chapters".[26] Mission Islam gives a broader definition "the recitation of Qur'an, seeking of refuge, remembrance and supplications that are used as a means of treating sicknesses and other problems" including two types: good, Ar-Ruqyah Ash Shar'eeyah; and bad, Ar Ruqyah Ash Shirkiyah[27]https://www.missionislam.com/health/ruqiyahrecitation.html

Not forbidden is

  • Karamat -- the ability "to perform extraordinary acts" (aka miracles) is given by God only to those with great "piety and abstinence".[19]

Scriptural basis
Quran

The Quranic verse dealing with magic in the most detail is Q.2:102,[28] (sixty five other verses reportedly also relate to the subject of magic).[18]

  • They ˹instead˺ followed the magic promoted by the devils during the reign of Solomon. Never did Solomon disbelieve, rather the devils disbelieved. They taught magic to the people, along with what had been revealed to the two angels, Hârût and Mârût, in Babylon. The two angels never taught anyone without saying, “We are only a test ˹for you˺, so do not abandon ˹your˺ faith.” Yet people learned ˹magic˺ that caused a rift ˹even˺ between husband and wife; although their magic could not harm anyone except by Allah’s Will. They learned what harmed them and did not benefit them—although they already knew that whoever buys into magic would have no share in the Hereafter. Miserable indeed was the price for which they sold their souls, if only they knew![29]

Q.2:102 and many other verses describe magic in a negative light. It practices are secrets that the humans "ought not to have known";[18] devils/fallen angels teach it; it's practitioners will end up in hell; other verses condemn it as a pagan practice. But the description in Q.2:102 of magic as revealed by supernatural creatures (Fallen angels (Hārūt and Mārūt) suggests it is, (in the words of Toufic Fahd), a "fragment of a celestial knowledge ...".[18] Based on the verse, Irmeli Perho describes magic as "part of God’s creation, like good deeds and bad deeds; like belief and unbelief". Since the magicians "evil actions will only take place if God allows it", magic is accommodated in the Islamic doctrine of "an omnipotent God".[30]

Not all verses make negative references to supernatural powers or those that use them. Surah al-Isra suggests that the Quran itself bestows barakah (magical blessings) upon hearers and heals them.[31] Solomon in An-Naml, Surah 27, is described as having the power to speak with animals and jinn, and command birds and devils, (which according to Islam, he only possesses with God's permission).[32][33] Surah Al-Falaq (Surah 113) is used as a prayer to God to ward off black magic, and according to hadith-literature, was revealed to Muhammad to protect him against Jann, the ancestors of the jinn.[34]

Muhammad, sira and hadith

In a examination of hadith on magic and witchcraft, Irmeli Perho writes that "magic is seen as a power distinct from God, whereas in the Qurʾān magic is a power that is ultimately subject to God’s will".[35] In Verse Q.10:2 Muhammad is falsely accused of being a magician by his opponents ('Yet the disbelievers said, “Indeed, this ˹man˺ is clearly a magician!”').[36][37] Witchcraft or black magic is mentioned in sira (biography of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad) and hadith (reports about what Muhammad said and did), where Muhammad becomes ill because of an evil doer who uses a magic charm which is hidden "in a well" (in some versions of the story "hair left on the Prophet's comb" and "some other objects" are the charm, in another version "a string with a number of knots upon it");[38] the Prophet suffered from the magic but prays and recieves a dream or a visit from Gabriel to tell him what to do, in the end through God's power is cured.

One scholar, (Irmeli Perho), notes that all versions of the hadith (and all hadith dealing with witchcraft) signify Islamic belief in the power of magic to harm even so great a man as the Prophet of Islam, but the many different variants of the hadith include different solutions to the curse of the charm -- in some God's power against the charm is so great Muhammad does not bother to take the magic object(s) out of the well; in others he is asked if he took them out, if he burned them, if he made a counter spell against the charm. In many hadith he answers “God, He is powerful and great, has already cured me", but in one version that statement is absent and Muhammad is only cured after the charm (a knot) is taken and disassembled -- these representing (to Irmeli Perho) belief in Islam in different levels of the power of magic. In the hadith where Muhammad says "God has already cured me", God’s power is described as "sufficient to counter the power of magic" and only an outsider/enemy is involved in magic, whereas in the latter hadith "human action" was required to counter the magic.[39] Believers in human action against harmful witchcraft will indicate support for use of "protective spells" and counter spells.[35]

Pre-Islamic influence

Scholars of the history of religion have linked several magical practises in Islam with pre-Islamic Turkish and East African customs. Most notable of these customs is the Zār.[40] Other pre-Islamic cultures and practises that had influence on early Islamic belief were Jewish, Sabians of the city of Harran, Aramaic, Iraqi practises; the danger and prevention of the evil eye, the astrology and the "special occult properties of plant, animal, and mineral substances" of late antiquity,[41]

Religious permissibility

The legitimacy of practising magic is disputed among scholars; it being judged variously as a superstition to be dismissed, as allowed if the magic is "good" (with different criteria used for what is "good"), or forbidden as sinful.

Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (1292-1350), a disciple of Ibn Taimiyya, who became the major source for Wahhabism, entirely disregards magic, including exorcisms, as superstition.[42]

According to Remke Kruk, the traditional "scholarly definition" of magic distinguishes between natural, or sympathetic magic -- which "makes use of the hidden properties (in Arabic: khawass) of natural substances"; and "demoniac magic" -- which "involves the help of spirits, usually malevolent spirits (demons)."[43] Ibn al-Nadim (c.932-c.992) argues that good supernatural powers are received from God after purifying the soul, while sorcerers please devils and commit acts of disobedience and sacrifices to demons.[44] Al-Razi (1149 or 1150–1209) and Ibn Sina (c. 980–1037), describe magic as merely a tool with the outcome of an act of magic determining whether it is legitimate or not.[45] Whether or not sorcery/magic is accessed by acts of piety or disobedience is often seen as an indicator whether sorcery/magic is licit or illicit, according to Moiz Ansari.[46] Magic where the mind is directed "toward an object other than God" is forbidden, but utilizing "demons and jinn" to perform magic is not necessarily sinful (according to Toufic Fahd). Fahd quotes Ḥājjī Khalīfah in "summarizing the views of the Muslim theologians": 'The obedience of demons and jinn to humans is not something unimaginable, either from the standpoint of reason or from the standpoint of accepted practice.'[18] Tabasi (d.1089)[Note 2] offered a wide range of rituals to perform sorcery, but also agreed that only magic in accordance with sharia is permissible.[45]

Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406) brands sorcery, talismans, and prestidigitation as forbidden and illegal.[47] Al-Ghazali, although admitting the reality of magic, regards learning all sorts of magic as forbidden.[45] Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703–1792), founder of Wahhabism, considered sorcery (defined as the performance of black magic, divination, or astrology) as one of the few sins where killing was a "divinely sanctioned punishment".[9] 20th century scholar Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani stated that those who have "the conviction that sorcery has effect of its own accord, and not because of God's decision and will" will not enter paradise.[5] Complicating matters is that non-forbidden practices are sometimes used under the term "sorcery" (siḥr) and sometimes excluded. The influential scholar Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (c.1150–1209) "includes under sorcery the use (isti'ana, seeking help) of the hidden properties (khawass) of foodstuffs, medicines and unguents"; and that traditional medicines are both widely practices in the Islamic world and "never subject to religious censorship".[5] Popular Wahhabi-trained author of several books on the dangers of jinn and magic, Wahid 'Abd al-Salam (or Ibn al-Salam ) Bali, uses "sorcery" (siḥr) to mean "demonic, not on sympathetic magic".[5] khawass often refers to "God's holy names and of various Qur'anic texts" and belief that these have a powerful supernatural effect is "very much a part of Islamic daily practice", nonetheless some (Qasim Mahmud al-Mahmud)[48] have denounced "these religious texts also as demonic" and Islamically "unacceptable".[49] (al-Mahmud accused a Islamic healer of the forbidden practice getting help from a jinn after the healer maintained that all fragments of text of the Quran have a 'spirit servant', and if a Muslim reads the appropriate "text a fixed number of times according to the abjad, they "will immediately obtain what" they desire.)[50]

Practices/Treatments

The categories of practices and treatments mentioned below sometimes overlap, and sometimes are historical and may no longer be commonly practiced or practiced at all.

Magic

"Most" magic in the early Islamic world was "protective in nature", asking for God's beneficence in general and His intervention specifically against the supernatural powers of the evil eye, shayatin (devils) and jinn, both mentioned in the Quran.[51] Incantations, spells, evocation, theurgy all involve contacting some spirit/supernatural being/deity and employing them for some purpose.

Incantations and spells

According to Toufic Fahd in encyclopedia.com, "incantations and spells" are "meant to compel the jinn and the demons to accomplish a desired end, by pronouncing the formula `Azamtu ʿalaykum ('I command you')". Nothing about the practice of commanding jinn is found in the Qurʾān or ḥadīth, but Fahd quotes scholar Ḥājjī Khalīfah (1609–1657) defending the practice:

This thing is possible and lawful, according to reason and the law; whoever denies it is not highly regarded, because he winds up failing to acknowledge the omnipotence of God: to subjugate the spirits, to humble them before him, and to make them subordinate to men, is one of the miracles of [God's] creation.[52]

This practice is lawful in Islam according to Fahd, provided its practitioner does not act "in a manner that is wicked and harmful to others", and does not direct their "mind toward an object other than God".[18]

According to some (Ibn Khaldūn and the Pseudo-Majrīṭī) magical ability is not acquired, but must be something in the magician's "nature",[53] specifically they must have a disposition called al-tibaʿ al-tamm, "the perfect nature"; "the person who possesses it attains 'knowledge of the secrets of creation, of natural causes, and of the mode of being of things'".[54]

Evocation of spirits

"Evocation" involves ordering "the spirits of the dead, the demons, and the planets" to carry out the wishes of the magician, (whereas with "incantations and spells" it is jinn and demons who are compelled to obey the magician).[18]

"To evoke the spirit of a planet" (Fahd writes), a ritual must be performed where the magician is dressed in the right color ("red-gray for Saturn, white-gray for Jupiter, the yellow-green-red of red-gold for Mars, red-gold for Venus, a mixture of all colors for Mercury, and green-white for the Moon"), perfumed with the "scent" of the planet, has consumed the right "essence and flavor" of the planet, mounted an "image of whatever it is one plans to ask of the spirit invoked", and then waited for the might moment in the zodiac.[18]

Theurgy

The difference between magic and theurgy (ʿilm al-khawāṣṣ wa-al-ṭalāsim) is (according to Ibn Khaldūn),

the sorcerer does not need any aid, while those who work with talismans seek the aid of the spiritualities of the stars, the secrets of numbers, the particular qualities of existing things, and the positions of the sphere that exercise an influence upon the world of the elements, as the astrologers maintain. The philosophers, therefore, say that sorcery is a union of spirit with spirit, while the talisman is a union of spirit with body.[55]

Talisman

According to Ḥājjī Khalīfah, the art of talismanry (al-Himiya) is intended

to combine the active celestial forces with the passive earthly forces at moments favorable to the desired action and influence, with the help of vapors [able] to strengthen and attract the spirit of the talisman, with the intent of producing unusual manifestations in the world of generation and decay. In comparison with magic, this science is more accessible, for both its principles and its causes are known. Its usefulness is obvious, but mastery comes only after a great deal of effort.[56]

According to Savage-Smith, the amulets and talismanic objects (there being no difference between them) used by early Muslims "chiefly took the form of pious invocations to God, through Quranic quotations and prayers", and were used "to ward off the evil eye and misfortune", and to gain good fortune, increase fertility, "potency or attractiveness".[57] Early talismanic objects "reflect pre-Islamic magical symbolism" and contain symbols such as a "long horned stag", oryx, scorpion, lion or dog, stars, "a frame of pseudo-writing";[57] and magic squares.[58]

White or Natural Magic

According to Ḥājjī Khalīfah,[59] natural magic (al-shaʾwadhah) "involves imaginary phenomena ... aerial illusions, atmospheric vapors, playing with fire, tricks with bottles, cups, and glasses, illusions with eggs, fruits produced out of season, wax figures, animal taming, discovery of hidden objects, preparation of magic ink, and so on", often concocted from mixtures of "natural essences, ointments, liquified materials, or even special words with suggestive powers".[18] Savage-Smith describes "confidence tricks, sleight-of-hand trick" using "lamps, candles, vapours, bottles, cups and glasses, eggs," etc., as "magic as trickery and conjuring" practiced by disreputable individuals in medieval Islamic times.[60]

Black magic and love sorcery

According to Remke Kruk, while traditional handbooks of magic, such as ones "circulated under the name 'al-Buni'[61] and their later offshoots", including a work referred to as the 'Diyarbi book',[62] - The other books are full of information on how "khawass, hidden properties, of various Qur'an chapters and verses and of God's holy names" can be put to work in invocations, "all these books contain instructions not only about how to banish, but also about how to destroy and kill enemies and how to drive people", such as married or unmarried couples, "apart (tafriq)" invoking angels and/or jinn.[63][64] These practices are condemned by orthodox Muslims.[63]

Wonderworking and marvels

Savage-Smith writes that "by the thirteenth century" in the Islamic world "there were manuals of sorcery giving spells for flying, for becoming invisible, for walking on water, for giving someone a dog's head", and other "amazing things".[65]

Evil eye (prevention against)

The evil eye, (Arabic: ألعين‎ , al-ʿayn), where misfortune befalls someone after another person has looked at them, usually with feelings of jealousy[66] -- is recognized by Ibn Sīnā and Ibn Khaldūn, mentioned in verse Al-Falaq 113:5: “And from the evil of the envier when he envies.”[66] and a number of hadith.[66] Ibn Sīnā explains the evil eye as "an admiring tendency of the soul that exercises [the evil eye], by this property, a weakening influence on the object of its admiration" [the victim of the evil eye] [67]

For Ibn Khaldūn, the effect is

natural and innate. It cannot be left alone. It does not depend on the free choice of its possessor. It is not acquired by him. [It is] an influence exercised by the soul of the person who has the evil eye. A thing or situation appears pleasing to the eye of a person, and he likes it very much. This [circumstance] creates in him envy and the desire to take it away from its owner. Therefore he prefers to destroy him.[68]

To protect against the evil eye, the fatwa sites Islamweb and IslamQA recommend reading specific verses of the Qur'an, duʿāʾ supplications and getting the person who gave you the evil eye to "wash his face, hands, elbows, knees, the end of his feet, and the inside of his lower garment in a vessel" and then pour that water over the victim of the evil eye.[69][66] IslamQA gives specific duʿāʾ to recite for protection from evil eye,[66] and Islamweb gives verses of the Quran.[69]

Divination

In the early and classical Islamic world divination (gaining information about future events or things unseen by occult methods)[20] encompassed a range of techniques, "grouped roughly" into those "largely intuitive" (for example, water diviners observed the behaviour of animals, such as the hoopoe, to discover "the presence of underground water")[70] and those employing "numerical or mechanical methods".[20] interpreting the will of God by examining "the conformation of animal parts"; the patterns appearing on the "surface of water, oil, or ink, (hydromancy); dream interpretation (oneiromancy);[71] "Few details remain of the specific methods" used in these intuitive techniques.[70] Predicting changes in weather patterns "based on the visibility of important star-groups", was the subject of a tract by al-Kindi c. 801–873 CE) and another tract "is still in circulation today, at least in Iraq".[72]

In modern times in the Middle East, "fortunetelling"

focuses more on spiritual protection and family counseling than prediction and prophecy. In addition to reading cards, dice, palms, and coffee grounds, activities include selling amulets to ward off evil spirits and providing advice for marital problems. In Afghanistan, fortunetellers operate out of small shops or outside of mosques and shrines across the country but are rarely consulted to portend the future; most often their clients are women or the elderly seeking guidance for problems affecting their families.[3]

In Iran and Pakistan this fortunetelling is also widespread.[3]

Physiognomy

Divining using "specific parts of the human body" (physiognomy), such as twitching eyelids or other involuntary movements, "the shape and appearance of the hands, joints, and nails" (`ilm al-kaff) and chiromancy or palmistry (employing lines on the hands - ʿilm al-asārīr), "were, and still are popular" in the Muslim world.[73] Physiognomy does not try to align "physical characteristics with character traits" but to use them to read the future. Twitching eyelids, for example, would not indicate a nervous personality but might foretell "the success or failure of an enterprise".[73]

Astrology
Main article: Islam and astrology

In Islamic history, Astrology (ʿilm al-nujūm, "the science of the stars"), was "by far" the most popular of the "numerous practices attempting to foretell future events or discern hidden things", according to Savage-Smith.[74] It has several sub categories:

  • the relatively simple "non-horoscopic astrology" that involves "the prediction of events based upon the rising or setting of certain star groups";
  • "judicial astrology" involving "calculating the positions of planets and the mathematical production of horoscopes"
    • to determine the fate of individuals, countries, or dynasties,
    • of "auspicious and inauspicious days"; and
    • to answer specific questions -- the location of lost objects, buried treasure, or "the diagnosis and prognosis of disease".[74]

Sortilege

Sortilege, or practice of casting lots and interpreting the results produced by chance (qurʿa), was used both to predict the future, and "as a means of determining a course of action or deciding between courses of action".[75] While casting lots was "considered legitimate" in Islam, according to Savage-Smith, two practices involving chance are prohibited by the Quran:

  • istiqsam -- a pre-Islamic "use of rods to settle disputes or give simple omens";[75]
  • maysir ("the game of the left-handed"), "involving arrows and the slaughtering of animals".[75]

Letter number interpretation

Using the "numerical values of letters" to form a word (ʿilm al-ḥurūf) has been used as divination. Treatises on divination maintained that "the victor and vanquished" of some battle or event could be determined by "calculating the numerical value of the names of the contenders, dividing each by nine, and finding the remainders on the chart".[76] More complicated techniques involved combining the letters of one of the 99 names of God "with those of the name of the desired object" (jafr). An "even more" complicated form involved creating an "intricate circular chart ... concentric circles, letters of the alphabet, elements of astrology, and poetry" and calculating "the degree of the ecliptic on the eastern horizon".[76]

Approved treatments

Magic or traditional healing without any dispute and approved by orthodox scholars includes

Miracles

Miracles belong to licit magic and are considered gifts of God. According to Ibn Khaldūn,

The difference between miracles and magic is this: a miracle is a divine power that arouses in the soul [the ability] to exercise influence. The [worker of miracles] is supported in his activity by the spirit of God. The sorcerer, on the other hand, does his work by himself and with the help of his own psychic power, and, under certain conditions, with the support of devils. The difference between the two concerns the idea, reality, and essence of the matter.[77]

According to contemporary Shia cleric Sayyid Abdul Husayn Dastghaib Shirazi, the ability "to perform extraordinary acts" (miracles) or Karamat happens because of the great "piety and abstinence" of the miracle worker and is not sinful (according to Dastghaib Shirazi), provided there can be no question that the performer of the miracle[19]

  • "is invoking God",
  • is "the most righteous and knowledgeable person of his time",
  • and does not claim to be a prophet.[19]

Quranic treatment

"Quranic treatment" is mad up of practices based "exclusively" on "reciting Qur'anic texts, and defining exactly what this implies". Elements of the 'Qur'anic treatment include "talking about the patient's troubles", recitation of ruqyah[78] -- i.e specific Quranic verses (and dua) (see notes below) and prolonging the treatment "if no progress is observed".[63] Though based on revealed scripture, religious belief, parts of the treatment also have "obvious psychotherapeutic value" -- recitation of scripture the patient believes to be divine, emphasis on the patient talking about their problems, "repetition of simple rituals within a well-defined time schedule over a certain period of time"[63] -- and as of 2005, was "highly fashionable" even among the Muslim elite in places like Cairo.[63]

In contemporary Muslim society

According to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in 2011-2012 of Muslims around the world,[79] a majority of Muslims surveyed in the Middle East North Africa, Turkey, South Asia, and Southeast Asia believe in Jinn -- However, less than 20% of those surveyed thought that making offerings to jinn was an "acceptable part of Islamic tradition". Belief in talismans, witchcraft and spiritual healers, was not as widespread, ranging from one half to a quarter of Muslims in these regions. More religious Muslims are more likely to believe in jinn, talismans and other supernatural entities.[21]

In Saudi Arabia, "Harry Potter books are forbidden" and men and women have been beheaded on charges of sorcery.[11] Sorcery is also a crime in Nigeria. As of 2013, "stricter laws, arrests, and executions have resulted in efforts to deter magical practices" in "Afghanistan, Gaza, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia".[3]

In Syria in January 2015 ISIS beheaded a male street performer ("known for entertaining locals with ... magic tricks like making coins and cell phones disappear") in a public square. (Although Adam Silverstein suggests this may be less strict enforcement than ISIS's confusion over the definition of sihr).[12][11] According to Ahmed Ferky Ibrahim, (professor of Islamic law at McGill University), while "capital punishment for magic is rooted in Islamic history", it was seldom applied historically. "'When you read 16th- through 19th-century Ottoman court records, for instance, you realize there was no inquisition of magicians, no witch hunts, as was the case in Christian Europe ...The frequent persecution of magicians is indeed a recent phenomenon'".[11]

Scholar Remke Kruk found books on magic and sorcery "extremely well represented" in "street stalls and bookshops" in the Muslim world from Marrakesh to Cairo to Yemen circa 2005. Practical handbooks on the subject were common, but with the "orthodox" Islamic revival, "religious pamphlets condemning various practices" also became popular, starting around 1990.[80] G. Hussein Rassool states that

Throughout the Muslim world, there are sorcerers, fortune tellers and traditional healers; many are in violation of interpretations of the Shari’ah (Islamic law). This leads the magicians or healers that use magic or witchcraft into the realm of major Shirk which refers to the association of a partner with Allah, the summoning other than God and relying on others beside Allah.[1]

Kruk writes that "over the centuries" the Islamic scholars of "official Islam" have worked to forbid magical practices, but despite their efforts magic practices have "become intricately interwoven with religious elements and practices" in Islamic culture. Consequently, the line between forbidden and allowed "is so blurred that neither the practitioner nor the client" are often aware of when they are crossing that line.[6]

This is in part because practices approved by strict Muslims to counteract magic include things like the use of water "over which the Quran has been recited" or to which have been added "salt, rose essence, oil of black caraway, or the leaves of the lote tree". At the same time, in traditionally practised "magic and sorcery" now under attack from Islamic conservatives and revivalists, recitation of the 99 names of God and verses of the Quran play "a major part".[80]

The practice of many Islamic healers who claim to talk to jinn for the purpose of curing and preventing the evil eye and exorcism of possession by jinn, is believed to be the major sin of shirk by more strict/conservative/orthodox Muslims. Kruk points out how fine the differences between approved and disapproved practices can be -- it is acceptable to get in touch with jinn "in exorcisms" to threaten them, it is shirk to ask their help in a healing;[50][81] dissolving Quranic texts written on paper in water is forbidden, but "writing in bowls with ink that is washed off by the water poured into the bowl", is recommended by the well known conservative cleric Wahid 'Abd al-Salam Bali.[26] Kruk worries that the rise of stricter forms of Islam has led to an attack on healing "practices that used to be well integrated into Islamic life".[82]

Cases and punishments

Saudi Arabia, were witchcraft is punishable by death, "created and formalized" a special "Anti-Witchcraft Unit" in 2009, not only to investigate and pursue alleged witches, but to "neutralize their cursed paraphernalia, and disarm their spells". In that year, in just one region (Makkah) alone, "at least 118 people were charged with practicing magic or 'using the book of Allah in a derogatory manner'".[83] By 2011, the Anti-Witchcraft Unit had established nine witchcraft-fighting bureaus in cities across the Saudi, and processed "at least 586 cases of magical crime". In 2007, an Egyptian pharmacist, Mustafa Ibrahim, was beheaded in Riyadh after being convicted on charges of "practicing magic and sorcery" as well as other charges.[83] In 2008, police went to the trouble of luring a well-known Lebanese television psychic, Ali Hussain Sibat, into a sting operation while he was in Saudi on hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca). He was sentenced to death but had his sentenced reduced to 15 years in prison[3] "after outcry from international human rights organizations".[84] Accused in Saudi Arabia are often foreign domestic workers from Africa and Indonesia who human rights workers allege often are simply practicing folk medicine from their coutry or who charged with witchcraft by their employers in retaliation for taking those employers to court for not paying wages.[83]

In Iran in 2011, advisers and aides of the then President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, were arrested on charges of black magic. According to "a sorcerer well-known" among the Iranian ruling class, Ahmadinejad met with him "at least twice and gathered intelligence for him on 'Jinn who work for Israel's intelligence agency, the Mossad, and for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency'". (Ahmadinejad denied the charges).[83][85] 25 "confidants" of Ahmadinejad and his chief of staff Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei were "arrested and charged with being 'magicians.'"[86]

Methods of counteracting sorcery approved by scholars

As a "good representative" of the kind of literature attacking the practice of magic,[82] Kruk cites a popular, widely available book (al-Sarim al-Battar fi tasaddi li-l-sahara al-ashrar), on "how to deal with sorcery and its evil effects", written from an orthodox and strict Wahhabi viewpoint, by Saudi shaykh Wahid 'Abd al-Salam (or Ibn al-Salam ) Bali. [Note 3] The book calls for

  • treating sihr al-junan (madness-sorcery), sihr al-khumul (apathy-sorcery), various sexual afflictions, by incantations to drive out the jinn that is occupying the victim's brain or other parts of his body;[87] or
  • treating inability to have intercourse with your wife by urinating on the heated blade of a sharp axe.[88]
  • treating a stomach ache by drinking water "over which Qur'anic passages have been recited".[87]
  • describing sihr al-nazif (sorcery which allegedly causes vaginal bleeding outside menstruation and may go on for months) as being brought about by 'a trampling of the devil on one of the veins in the womb'. It's treatment is drinking water over which a "Qur'anic incantation has been recited", and taking baths in the water "for three days".[89]
  • treating the evil eye (which is not caused by jinn) with "ritual bathing" and "pious incantations".[90]
  • "foremost" among the ruqa (spells and incantations) allowed to be recited into the ear of the afflicted by Islamic healers is the ruqya; an incantation made up of 41 "Quranic verses, formulas and short chapters".[Note 4]

The conservative Saudi fatwa website Islam Question and Answer gives similar advice for treating 'someone who has been affected by sihr" -- a large number of verses from the Quran to recite for the Quran "has a great effect in removing (the effects of) sihr", as well as duʿāʾ; a recommendation of reciting the verses "into water", or adding "seven green lote leaves" to water, which in either case the sihr victim should then "drink some and wash with the rest".[91]

Shia cleric Sayyid Abdul Husayn Dastghaib Shirazi, who states on his webpage on Al-Islam that "a Muslim who indulges in magic and does not repent is punished by death",[19] goes on to affirm that "many" Islamic jurists are of the opinion that "countering one magic spell by another is permitted", and gives examples of how

  • ‘ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (the first Shia Imam and fourth Rashidun caliph) told a victim of witchcraft to carry a prayer of invocation/supplication written "on the skin of deer" and always keep it with him;[19]
  • how Abbas the Safawid compelled a Christian to convert to Islam using tasbih (prayer beads) "made of dust from Imam Husain (a.s.)’s grave",[19] (both sounding very much like magic charms).

See also

References

Notes
  1. The root sin-ha-ra Arabic: سحر‎ appears 20 times in the Quran (found with a search of "magic" in English in Dr. Mustafa Khattab, the Clear Quran)[10]
  2. who did not subscribed to the rationalized framework of magic of most Ash'arite theologians
  3. Bali's first book --Wiqayat al-insan min al-jinn wa-l-shaytan -- was more narrowly on the dangers of jinn and how to protect yourself from them
  4. the ruqya consists of the following Qur'anic verses, formulas and short chapters: 1. a'aidhu-formula; 2. al-Fatiha; 3. a 'iidhu-formula; 4. al-Baqara 1-5; 5. a'aidhu- formula; 6. al-Baqara 102; 7. a 'aidhu; 8. al-Baqara 163-4; 9. a 'adhu; 10. al-Baqara 285-6; 11. a'aidhu; 12. al-Baqara 255; 13. a'aidhu; 14.Al-'Imran 18-9; 15. a'adhu; 16. al-A 'raf54, 56; 117-122; 17. 30x the Qur' ainic words: waalqd al-sahara sdjidina; 18. a'aidhu; 19. Yunus 81-2, repeated; 20. a'adhu; 21. Taha 69; 22. a'aidhu; 23. al- Mu'minuna 115-8; 24. a 'aidhu; 25. al-Safat 1-10; 26. a'acdhu; 27. al-Ahqaf29-32; 28. a 'aidhu; 29. al-Rahman 33-6; 30. a 'aidhu; 31. al- hashr 21-4; 32. a 'aidhu; 33. al-Jann 1-9; 34. a'adhu; 36. basmala; 37. al-Ikhlas; 38. basmala; 39. al-Falaq, repeated a number of times; 40. basmala; 41. an-Nas [26]

Citations
  1. Rassool, G. Hussein (2018). "Magic, witchcraft and demonic possession from an Islamic perspective (Abstract)". Evil Eye, Jinn Possession, and Mental Health Issues (1st, ebook ed.). Routledge. ISBN 9781315623764. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
  2. Savage-Smith, Magic and Divination in Early Islam, 2004: p.xiii
  3. Perlmutter, Dawn (Spring 2013). "The Politics of Muslim Magic". Middle East Quarterly. 20 (2). Text "jstor" ignored (help)
  4. Savage-Smith, Magic and Divination in Early Islam, 2004: p.xiii-li
  5. Kruk, "Harry Potter in the Gulf", BJMES, May 2005: p.53-4
  6. Kruk, "Harry Potter in the Gulf", BJMES, May 2005: p.48
  7. Kruk, "Harry Potter in the Gulf", BJMES, May 2005: p.49
  8. "There is no good magic in Islam. Q.181342". Islam Question and Answer. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
  9. DeLong-Bas, Natana J. (2004). Wahhabi Islam: From Revival and Reform to Global Jihad (First ed.). New York: Oxford University Press, USA. p. 251. ISBN 0-19-516991-3.
  10. "[search. "magic"]". Quran.com. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  11. Mansoor, Sanya (30 June 2015). "What does the Islamic State consider 'sorcery'?". CSMonitor. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  12. Rose, Nick (30 January 2015). "The Islamic State's War on Magic". Vice. Retrieved 3 December 2021.
  13. Wehr, Hans. J. Milton Cowan (ed.). A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic (PDF). p. 340. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  14. Kruk, Remke (May 2005). "Harry Potter in the Gulf: Contemporary Islam and the Occult". British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. 32 (1): 47–73. JSTOR 30037661.
  15. Fahd, T., "Siḥr", in: Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition, Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W.P. Heinrichs. Consulted online on 02 December 2021 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_7023> First published online: 2012. First print edition: ISBN 9789004161214, 1960-2007
  16. Savage-Smith, Magic and Divination in Early Islam, 2004: p.xii
  17. Edmonds III, Radcliffe G. 2019. "The Illuminations of Theurgy: Philosophy and Magic" pp. 314-377. Drawing Down the Moon: Magic in the Ancient Greco-Roman World. Princeton University Press.
  18. Fahd, Toufic (1987). "Magic: Magic In Islam". encyclopedia.com. Translated by David M. Weeks. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  19. Sayyid Abdul Husayn Dastghaib Shirazi. "The Thirty-First Greater Sin: Sorcery". Greater Sins. 2. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  20. Savage-Smith, Magic and Divination in Early Islam, 2004: p.xxx
  21. "Chapter 4: Other Beliefs and Practices". PEW Research Center. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  22. "Search results for magic". Islam Question and Answer. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
  23. Robbins Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology, p. 7
  24. Edward Evans-Pritchard says in his Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic among the Azande (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1937), p. 21)
  25. Savage-Smith, Magic and Divination in Early Islam, 2004: p.xxiii
  26. Kruk, "Harry Potter in the Gulf", BJMES, May 2005: p.63
  27. "Ruqyah - Spiritual Healing". Mission Islam. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  28. Quran.com 2:102
  29. [quran.com/2/102 Q.2:102] translation by Dr. Mustafa Khattab, The Clear Quran
  30. Perho, Irmeli (2012). Magic in the ḥadīths (PDF). Orientalia Suecana. LXI Suppl. p. 185. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
  31. Sengers, G. (2003). "Chapter Five Koran Healing". In Women and Demons. Leiden, Niederlande: Brill. doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004475984_008 p. 124
  32. Cite Quran|27|19
  33. Tafsir Ibn Kathir for surah 21, verse 19
  34. Josef von Hammer-Purgstall Die Geisterlehre der Moslimen Staatsdruckerei, 1852 digit. 22. Juli 2010 p. 31 (German).
  35. Perho, Irmeli (2012). Magic in the ḥadīths (PDF). Orientalia Suecana. LXI Suppl. p. 183. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
  36. Q.10:2 quran.com
  37. "Magic – Oxford Islamic Studies Online". www.oxfordislamicstudies.com. Archived from the original on 2018-08-06. Retrieved 2018-08-05.
  38. James Hastings; John Alexander Selbie; Louis Herbert Gray (eds.). "Magic (Arabian and Muslim)". Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics: Life and death-Mulla. p. 252. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  39. Perho, Irmeli (2012). Magic in the ḥadīths (PDF). Orientalia Suecana. LXI Suppl. pp. 188–190. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
  40. Geister, Magier und Muslime. Dämonenwelt und Geisteraustreibung im Islam. Kornelius Hentschel, Diederichs 1997, Germany.
  41. Savage-Smith, Magic and Divination in Early Islam, 2004: p.xviii-xx
  42. al-Jawziyya, Ibn Qayyim. Zad al-Ma'ad [Provisions of the Hereafter]. pp. 1/475.
  43. Kruk, "Harry Potter in the Gulf", BJMES, May 2005: p.52
  44. Amira El-Zein Islam, Arabs, and Intelligent World of the Jinn Syracuse University Press 2009 ISBN 978-0-815-65070-6 page 77
  45. Travis Zadeh Commanding Demons and Jinn: The Sorcerer in Early Islamic Thought Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2014 p-154
  46. Moiz Ansari, Islam And the Paranormal: What Does Islam Says About the Supernatural in the Light of Qur'an, Sunnah And Hadith, iUniverse 2006 ISBN 978-0-595-37885-2 page 173
  47. Khaldûn, Ibn (2015-04-27). The Muqaddimah: An Introduction to History - Abridged Edition. Princeton University Press. p. 578. ISBN 978-0-691-16628-5. Archived from the original on 2021-07-18. Retrieved 2021-05-04.
  48. al-Mahmud, Qasim Mahmud- 'Abu 'Uthman' Al-sihr fi 'l-shari'a al-islamiyya; nash'atuhu, hukmuhu, al-wiqaya minhu. ('Amman: Dar Wa'il, 2001), pp. 236-24
  49. Kruk, "Harry Potter in the Gulf", BJMES, May 2005: p.54
  50. Kruk, "Harry Potter in the Gulf", BJMES, May 2005: p.64
  51. Savage-Smith, Magic and Divination in Early Islam, 2004: p.xvii
  52. Ḥājjī Khalīfah, ed. Flügel, 1955–1958, vol. 4, pp. 205–207, quoted in Fahd, Toufic (1987). "Magic: Magic In Islam". encyclopedia.com. Translated by David M. Weeks. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  53. (Ibn Khaldūn, trans. Rosenthal, 1967, vol. 3, p. 167. quoted in Fahd, Toufic (1987). "Magic: Magic In Islam". encyclopedia.com. Translated by David M. Weeks. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  54. (al-Majrīṭī, op. cit., p. 187; cf. Fahd, 1966, p. 192, n. 29; quoted in quoted in Fahd, Toufic (1987). "Magic: Magic In Islam". encyclopedia.com. Translated by David M. Weeks. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  55. Ibn Khaldūn, trans. Rosenthal, 1967, vol. 3, p.166. quoted in Fahd, Toufic (1987). "Magic: Magic In Islam". encyclopedia.com. Translated by David M. Weeks. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  56. Ḥājjī Khalīfah, ed. Flügel, 1955–1958, vol. 4, pp.165ff, quoted in Fahd, Toufic (1987). "Magic: Magic In Islam". encyclopedia.com. Translated by David M. Weeks. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  57. Savage-Smith, Magic and Divination in Early Islam, 2004: p.xxii-xxiii
  58. Savage-Smith, Magic and Divination in Early Islam, 2004: p.xxv-xxvi
  59. Ḥājjī Khalīfah, ed. Flügel, 1955–1958, vol. 4, pp. 646–647, quoted in Fahd, Toufic (1987). "Magic: Magic In Islam". encyclopedia.com. Translated by David M. Weeks. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  60. Savage-Smith, Magic and Divination in Early Islam, 2004: p.xxviii-xxix
  61. M. El-Gawhary, Die Gottesnamen im magischen Gebrauch in den al-Buni zugeschrieben Werken. (Diss. Bonn, 1968), cited in the introduction of Dorothee Anna Maria Pielow, Die Quellen der Weisheit. Die arabische Magie im Spiegel des Usul al-H'ikma von Ahmad Ibn 'Ali (sic) al-Buni. (Hildesheim etc.: Georg Olms Verlag, 1995), pointed out that the name of Abu al-Hasan al-Shadhili, who lived later than al-Buni, is repeatedly mentioned in al-Buni's Shams al-ma 'arif (Beirut: Al-maktaba al-thagafiyya, n.d.). This might indicate that at least this work was compiled posthumously. quoted from Kruk, "Harry Potter in the Gulf", BJMES, May 2005, p.51
  62. "'Diyarbi' is the usual vocalisation if this name. It is also sometimes written as 'Diyarbi', see for instance Taha Husayn Al-Ayyam (Cairo: Dar al-Ma'arif, n.d.; originally published 1929) vol. I, p. 97. C. Brockelmann, Geschichte der arabischen Literatur, Suppl. II p. 445, gives the name of the author as 'al-Daira-bi': Ahmad b. 'Uthman al-Dairabi al-Shafi'i al-Azhari, d. 1151/1738. For a survey of the contents of his Mujarrabat (or Fath al-malik al-majid), see Pielow, Quellen, p. 61 ff." Quoted from Kruk, "Harry Potter in the Gulf", BJMES, May 2005, p.50 note 9
  63. Kruk, "Harry Potter in the Gulf", BJMES, May 2005: p.51
  64. For translations of relevant passages from al-Buni's Usul, see Pielow, Quellen, pp. 125-9; for an example of 'destroying the wrongdoer', see Ibn al-Hajj - al-Maghribi al-Tilimsani, Shumus al-anwar, 2 parts in one volume (Beirut: Dar al-Jil, n.d.) II, p. 162. quoted from Kruk, "Harry Potter in the Gulf", BJMES, May 2005, p.51, note 11
  65. Savage-Smith, Magic and Divination in Early Islam, 2004: p.xxix-xxx
  66. "Protection from the Evil Eye: How? 20954". Islam Question and Answer. 18 March 2003. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  67. quoted in A. Goichon, Directives et remarques, Paris, 1951, p. 523. quoted in Fahd, Toufic (1987). "Magic: Magic In Islam". encyclopedia.com. Translated by David M. Weeks. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  68. Ibn Khaldūn, trans. Rosenthal, 1967, vol. 3, pp. 170–171. quoted in Fahd, Toufic (1987). "Magic: Magic In Islam". encyclopedia.com. Translated by David M. Weeks. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  69. "Evil eye and its cure. 89017". Islamweb.net. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  70. Savage-Smith, Magic and Divination in Early Islam, 2004: p.xxxi
  71. John Lamoreaux. The Early Muslim Tradition of Dream Interpretation
  72. Savage-Smith, Magic and Divination in Early Islam, 2004: p.xxxii
  73. Savage-Smith, Magic and Divination in Early Islam, 2004: p.xl-xli
  74. Savage-Smith, Magic and Divination in Early Islam, 2004: p.xxxvii
  75. Savage-Smith, Magic and Divination in Early Islam, 2004: p.xxxiii
  76. Savage-Smith, Magic and Divination in Early Islam, 2004: p.xxxv
  77. Ibn Khaldūn. Al-muqaddimah. Edited by M. Quatremère. Paris, 1858–. Translated by Franz Rosenthal as The Muqaddimah: An Introduction to History, 2d ed., 3 vols. (Princeton, 1967); vol. 3, p. 159; quoted in Fahd, Toufic (1987). "Magic: Magic In Islam". encyclopedia.com. Translated by David M. Weeks. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  78. "Quranic Treatment and Healing Through Ruqyah". Iqra Sense. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  79. the worlds muslims: unity and diversity. executive summary. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
  80. Kruk, "Harry Potter in the Gulf", BJMES, May 2005: p.50
  81. Kruk, Remke (May 2005). "Harry Potter in the Gulf: Contemporary Islam and the Occult". British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. 32 (1): 64. JSTOR 30037661.
  82. Kruk, "Harry Potter in the Gulf", BJMES, May 2005: p.65
  83. Jacobs, Ryan (19 August 2013). "Saudi Arabia's War on Witchcraft". The Atlantic. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
  84. "Saudi Arabia: Witchcraft and Sorcery Cases on the Rise". Human Rights watch. 24 November 2009. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
  85. NAJAH MOHAMMED ALI (19 May 2011). "Is Ahmadinejad practicing black magic? Are his aides sorcerers? Do djinns haunt the ayatollahs? In Iran, bizarre charges fly as president and the supreme leader clash". Al Arabiya. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
  86. Goldman, Russell (9 May 2011). "Iranian President Linked to Black Magic, Summoning Genies". ABC News. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
  87. Kruk, "Harry Potter in the Gulf", BJMES, May 2005: p.59
  88. Kruk, "Harry Potter in the Gulf", BJMES, May 2005: p.61
  89. Kruk, Remke (May 2005). "Harry Potter in the Gulf: Contemporary Islam and the Occult". British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. 32 (1): 60. JSTOR 30037661.
  90. Kruk, "Harry Potter in the Gulf", BJMES, May 2005: p.62
  91. Ibn Baaz (21 November 2000). "Ways of Treating Magic. #12918. Majmoo' Fataawa Wa Maqaalaat Mutanawwi'ah Li Samaahat Al-Shaykh Ibn Baaz , Vol. 8, p. 144". Islam Question and Answer. Retrieved 4 December 2021.

Sources and bibliography
  • Fahd, Toufic (1987). "Magic: Magic In Islam". encyclopedia.com. Translated by David M. Weeks. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  • Fahd, T., "Siḥr", in: Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition, Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W.P. Heinrichs. Consulted online on 2 December 2021 doi:10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_7023 First published online: 2012. First print edition: ISBN 9789004161214, 1960-2007
  • Kruk, Remke (May 2005). "Harry Potter in the Gulf: Contemporary Islam and the Occult". British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. 32 (1): 47–73. JSTOR 30037661.
  • Savage-Smith, Emilie (2004). "Introduction". In Emilie Savage-Smith (ed.). Magic and Divination in Early Islam. Ashgate/Variorum. pp. xiii–li. ISBN 9780860787150. Archived from the original on 2021-07-18. Retrieved 2020-08-25.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.