Question: A listener from Iraq asks: What is to be done to nullify magic?
Shaykh ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Bāz: In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Bestower of Mercy. All praise is for Allah, Lord of all creation, and the final good outcome belongs to those who fear Him. May blessings and peace be upon His servant and Messenger, the best of His creation, whom He entrusted with His revelation – our Prophet, leader and master, Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh – and upon his family, his Companions and all those who follow his path and are guided by his guidance until the Day of Judgement.
To proceed:
Siḥr (magic) is treated through two means:
The first is ruqyah prescribed in Islam.
The second is permissible remedies that have been tried in treating it.
Among the most effective and beneficial treatments is ruqyah prescribed in Islam. It has been established that Allah removes and nullifies magic through ruqyah.
There is also a third means: finding and destroying the knots or other things the magician has made. This, too, is among the means of removing and nullifying magic.
Among the forms of ruqyah used is reciting over the person affected by magic: Sūrat al-Fātiḥah, Āyat al-Kursī, “Say: O disbelievers”, “Say: He is Allah, One”, “Say: I seek refuge in the Lord of daybreak” and “Say: I seek refuge in the Lord of mankind”, together with the verses concerning magic in Sūrat al-Aʿrāf, Sūrat Yūnus and Sūrat Ṭā Hā.
In Sūrat al-Aʿrāf, these are the words of Allah, Glorified is He:
﴿وَأَوْحَيْنَا إِلَى مُوسَى أَنْ أَلْقِ عَصَاكَ فَإِذَا هِيَ تَلْقَفُ مَا يَأْفِكُونَ فَوَقَعَ الْحَقُّ وَبَطَلَ مَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ فَغُلِبُوا هُنَالِكَ وَانْقَلَبُوا صَاغِرِينَ﴾
“And We inspired Moses: ‘Throw your staff,’ and at once it swallowed what they were falsely producing. Thus the truth was established, and what they had been doing came to nothing. So they were defeated there and returned humiliated.” [Q 7:117–119]
In Sūrat Yūnus, Allah, Glorified is He, says:
﴿وَقَالَ فِرْعَوْنُ ائْتُونِي بِكُلِّ سَاحِرٍ عَلِيمٍ فَلَمَّا جَاءَ السَّحَرَةُ قَالَ لَهُمْ مُوسَى أَلْقُوا مَا أَنْتُمْ مُلْقُونَ فَلَمَّا أَلْقَوْا قَالَ مُوسَى مَا جِئْتُمْ بِهِ السِّحْرُ إِنَّ اللَّهَ سَيُبْطِلُهُ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُصْلِحُ عَمَلَ الْمُفْسِدِينَ وَيُحِقُّ اللَّهُ الْحَقَّ بِكَلِمَاتِهِ وَلَوْ كَرِهَ الْمُجْرِمُونَ﴾
“And Pharaoh said: ‘Bring me every learned magician.’ Then, when the magicians came, Moses said to them: ‘Throw whatever you are going to throw.’ When they had thrown, Moses said: ‘What you have brought is magic. Allah will surely nullify it. Indeed, Allah does not allow the work of those who spread corruption to prosper. And Allah establishes the truth by His words, even though the criminals dislike it.’” [Q 10:79–82]
In Sūrat Ṭā Hā, Allah, Glorified is He, says:
﴿قَالُوا يَا مُوسَى إِمَّا أَنْ تُلْقِيَ وَإِمَّا أَنْ نَكُونَ أَوَّلَ مَنْ أَلْقَى قَالَ بَلْ أَلْقُوا فَإِذَا حِبَالُهُمْ وَعِصِيُّهُمْ يُخَيَّلُ إِلَيْهِ مِنْ سِحْرِهِمْ أَنَّهَا تَسْعَى فَأَوْجَسَ فِي نَفْسِهِ خِيفَةً مُوسَى قُلْنَا لَا تَخَفْ إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْأَعْلَى وَأَلْقِ مَا فِي يَمِينِكَ تَلْقَفْ مَا صَنَعُوا إِنَّمَا صَنَعُوا كَيْدُ سَاحِرٍ وَلَا يُفْلِحُ السَّاحِرُ حَيْثُ أَتَى﴾
“They said: ‘O Moses, either you throw, or we shall be the first to throw.’ He said: ‘Rather, you throw.’ Then suddenly, through their magic, their ropes and staffs appeared to him to be moving. So Moses felt fear within himself. We said: ‘Do not fear. You will certainly have the upper hand. Throw what is in your right hand; it will swallow what they have made. What they have made is only a magician’s trick, and the magician will not succeed wherever he goes.’” [Q 20:65–69]
These noble and magnificent verses are recited, with gentle blowing into water. Afterwards, the water over which the recitation has been performed is poured into a larger quantity of water. The person affected by magic then washes with it and drinks a little of it – such as three sips. By Allah’s permission, the magic is removed and nullified, and the person afflicted is restored to health. This has been tried with people affected by magic. We and others have tried it, and Allah has benefited those afflicted with such things through it.
Seven sidr leaves may also be crushed and added to the water over which the recitation is performed. There is no harm in this, and Allah may also bring benefit through it. Seven leaves of sidr – the lote tree, are crushed while fresh and green, then placed in the water over which the recitation is performed. The person affected by magic drinks whatever amount is manageable and washes with the remainder.
This is among the beneficial remedies and beneficial forms of ruqyah.
There are also permissible remedies known to those who practise this kind of treatment, which may be useful in treating and removing magic. The eminent scholar Ibn al-Qayyim referred to this when explaining the Islamically prescribed form of nushrah [treatment to remove magic]. Shaykh ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān ibn Ḥasan Āl ash-Shaykh also mentioned it in his book Fatḥ al-Majīd, his commentary on Kitāb at-Tawḥīd, in the chapter concerning nushrah.
As for going to soothsayers, magicians or charlatans, this is not permissible. The Islamically prescribed method is what we have mentioned: reciting over the person affected by magic, or reciting over water which the person then drinks and washes with. If seven fresh, green sidr leaves are crushed and placed in it, this too may be beneficial, by Allah’s permission, together with the recitation. This is something that has been tried.
Those who use this treatment while being sincere to Allah and turning to Him in seeking healing are generally restored to health, by Allah’s permission. The person affected by magic should humbly implore Allah and frequently ask Him to heal him and grant him well-being. He should be sincere in his request and know that his Lord is the One who heals, and that harm and benefit, giving and withholding, are in His hand, not in the hand of anyone else, Glorified and Exalted is He. Yes.
Presenter: May Allah bless you. What is Your Eminence’s view of a saying circulated by many who frequent magicians’ places? They say: “Only a magician can undo magic.” Some also say: “I go to the magician so that he can show me where the knots are, so that I can then undo them.”
Answer: Magicians and soothsayers must not be visited. The Prophet forbade going to them and asking them questions. He said:
من أتى عرافًا فسأله عن شيء لم تقبل له صلاة أربعين يومًا.
“Whoever goes to a diviner and asks him about anything will have no prayer accepted from him for forty days.” (Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, no. 2230)
And he said:
من أتى كاهنًا فصدقه بما يقول فقد كفر بما أنزل على محمد.
“Whoever goes to a soothsayer and believes what he says has disbelieved in what was revealed to Muḥammad .” (Aḥmad, al-Musnad, no. 9536)
Magicians are disbelievers. It is not permissible to go to them or ask them questions.
As for the statement, “Only a magician can undo magic,” it is reported from al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, the distinguished Tābiʿī, that he said:
لا يحل السحر إلا ساحر.
“Only a magician can undo magic.”
The Prophet was asked about this. He was asked about nushrah – meaning removing magic from a person affected by it – and he said:
هُوَ مِنْ عَمَلِ الشَّيْطَانِ.
“It is from the work of Satan.” (Abū Dāwūd, as-Sunan, no. 3868; Aḥmad, al-Musnad, no. 14135)
This means treating it by means of magic. He said, “It is from the work of Satan,” meaning nushrah performed through magic and its various forms. This is from the work of Satan. It was narrated by Imām Aḥmad and Abū Dāwūd with a good (jayyid) chain of transmission. This ḥadīth is found in the chapter on nushrah.
The point is that undoing magic through the satanic nushrah practised by magicians is, as the Prophet said, “from the work of Satan”. This is what the Chosen Prophet said: “It is from the work of Satan.”
It is therefore not permissible to undo it through magicians – that is, it is not permissible to undo magic through magicians, which is called nushrah. Rather, it is undone through recitation and permissible remedies. Yes.
Presenter: May Allah bless you.
References
- Ibn Bāz, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn ʿAbd Allāh (d. 1420 AH/1999 CE), “al-Wasāʾil ash-Sharʿiyyah li-Ibṭāl as-Siḥr” [The Islamically Prescribed Means of Nullifying Magic], Fatāwā Nūr ʿalā ad-Darb, official website of Shaykh Ibn Bāz, fatwa no. 7940 (https://binbaz.org.sa/fatwas/7940).
- The Qurʾān: [Q 7:117–119], [Q 10:79–82], [Q 20:65–69].
- Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj (d. 261 AH/875 CE), Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, ed. Muḥammad Fuʾād ʿAbd al-Bāqī, no. 2230, 4/1751.
- Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal (d. 241 AH/855 CE), al-Musnad (Muʾassasat ar-Risālah edition), no. 9536 (15/331) and no. 14135.
- Abū Dāwūd as-Sijistānī (d. 275 AH/889 CE), as-Sunan, Kitāb aṭ-Ṭibb, Bāb fī an-Nushrah, no. 3868.
- Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah (d. 751 AH/1350 CE), Iʿlām al-Muwaqqiʿīn ʿan Rabb al-ʿĀlamīn, ed. Mashhūr Āl Salmān, 6/558.
- Āl ash-Shaykh, ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān ibn Ḥasan (d. 1285 AH/1869 CE), Fatḥ al-Majīd Sharḥ Kitāb at-Tawḥīd, Bāb mā jāʾa fī an-Nushrah, pp. 301–302, including the report from al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī.
