Shaykh Ibn Baaz on the Kufr (Apostasy) of Illusionary Magicians
In the Name of Allaah, the Most Merciful, the
Ever-Merciful…
The great scholar, the late Muftee of Saudi
Arabia and head of their permanent council of scholars, Shaykh
‘Abdul-’Azeez ibn Baaz (d.1420, may Allaah have Mercy on him),
commented on a seminar about magicians and religious swindlers held in
1415. After acknowledging the accuracy of their speeches on the topics of
witchcraft, the practice of sorcery and its reality, and other topics, the
shaykh noted that they had not discussed illusionary magic, and felt the
need to add the following clarification:
Their magic could also be illusionary, and the
shaykhs did not discuss illusionary magic. Allaah has clearly mentioned
that they could also perform illusionary tricks on people, as He, the Glorious
and Most High, said in Soorah Taa-Haa:
يخيل إليه من سحرهم
أنها تسعى
( And it was made to seem from their magic that they were moving ) [20:66]
( And it was made to seem from their magic that they were moving ) [20:66]
So they would make the people think that the ropes they threw
down were actually snakes moving about. Similarly, the sticks also appeared to
the people to be snakes, while this was merely an illusionary trick on the
eyes.
So when Moosaa (Moses) threw his staff down, it devoured them,
doing away with their ropes and sticks. When the magicians saw this, they
fell down in prostration as believers in what Moosaa (Moses) had come with (may
Allaah raise his rank and grant him peace). They paid no attention thereafter
to the threats of Fir’own (Pharoah):
قالوا لن نؤثرك على ما
جاءنا من البينات والذي فطرنا فاقض ما أنت قاض إنما تقضي هذه الحياة الدنيا إنا
آمنا بربنا ليغفر لنا خطايانا وما أكرهتنا عليه من السحر والله خير وأبقى
( They said, “We would not prefer you over the clear proofs that have reached us, nor over the One who created us. Judge however you will, your judgment is only for this worldly life. Verily we have believed in our Lord, so that He might forgive our mistakes and the magic you forced us to perform, as (the reward from) Allaah is better and more lasting.” ) [20:72-73]
( They said, “We would not prefer you over the clear proofs that have reached us, nor over the One who created us. Judge however you will, your judgment is only for this worldly life. Verily we have believed in our Lord, so that He might forgive our mistakes and the magic you forced us to perform, as (the reward from) Allaah is better and more lasting.” ) [20:72-73]
What I mean is that magicians could use things to change the
apparent reality, by the Permission of Allaah, the Mighty and Majestic.
Any number of things (could be used): foods, drinks (potions), or something
else.
They could also create illusions that lead someone to think
things are not really the way they are, like an illusion that convinces someone
that a rope or a stick becomes a slithering snake.
It could also be made to seem that some birds, snakes, or
scorpions have come out of his body, while that did not really happen, rather
it was all just an illusion. He tricks someone through the illusionary
magic he does.
Another kind of illusionary magic is when they trick a man into
thinking that his wife is ugly, and so he hates and despises her; or the wife
is convinced that her husband is ugly when he approaches her, and so she
despises him.
There are other examples of what they do, and it
is all kufr (apostasy), all of their magic is kufr,
whether it is done through Satanic acts that harm the people, or through
illusions, causing people to see things for other than what they really are
– a man is convinced he looks like a hideous animal, or that a woman’s husband
has turned black after he had been white, or that he is diseased or other
things that a man is made to believe about his wife, from the work of
magicians, and thus it causes hatred, animosity, and splitting.
Source: Shaykh Ibn Baaz’s Fatwaa Collection (8/105) [Click here for the Arabic source.]
