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Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:Witchcraft and the Occult: Difference between revisions
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Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:Witchcraft and the Occult (view source)
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The hadith literature are replete with references to witchcraft and the occult. The belief in the "evil eye" عين | The hadith literature are replete with references to witchcraft and the occult. The belief in the "evil eye" عين الحسد is particularly prominent. According to this ancient and widespread belief, the act of envying what another person has or possess can put the metaphysical, mystical "eye" upon them, bringing misfortune of various kinds on whom is on the receiving end of the eye. This eye can be warded off by, variously, giving the person who is envious the object of their envy, using charms made to look like the eye itself (among them the so-called خمسة or hamsa), prayers, scripture reading, or various forms of magic. The belief itself is widespread in Middle Eastern and Mediterranean societies and is attested to widely in ancient Greek literature, where it was part of the metaphysical world of the ancient Greek paganism. The [[hadith]] tradition paints the prophet [[Muhammad]] himself as contending with the evil eye via prayers. Like with the evil eye, the tradition is unanimous in recognizing the reality of سحر "sahr" as in magic or witchcraft, which is envisioned as a black, malevolent force in league with [[shaytan]]. | ||
==Evil Eye== | ==Evil Eye== | ||
{{Quote|[http://www.islam-qa.com/en/ref/20954 Definition of the evil eye, and ways of protecting oneself against it and treating it]<BR>Islam Q&A, Fatwa No. 20954|The Arabic word al-‘ayn (translated as the evil eye) refers to when a person harms another with his eye. It starts when the person likes a thing, then his evil feelings affect it, by means of his repeated looking at the object of his jealousy. Allaah commanded His Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) to seek refuge with Him from the envier...Everyone who puts the evil eye on another is envious, but not every envier puts the evil eye on another. The word haasid (envier) is more general in meaning than the word ‘aa’in (one who puts the evil eye on another), so seeking refuge with Allaah from the one who envies includes seeking refuge with Him from the one who puts the evil eye on another. The evil eye is like an arrow which comes from the soul of the one who envies and the one who puts the evil eye on another towards the one who is envied and on whom the evil eye is put; sometimes it hits him and sometimes it misses. If the target is exposed and unprotected, it will affect him, but if the target is cautious and armed, the arrow will have no effect and may even come back on the one who launched it.}} | {{Quote|[http://www.islam-qa.com/en/ref/20954 Definition of the evil eye, and ways of protecting oneself against it and treating it]<BR>Islam Q&A, Fatwa No. 20954|The Arabic word al-‘ayn (translated as the evil eye) refers to when a person harms another with his eye. It starts when the person likes a thing, then his evil feelings affect it, by means of his repeated looking at the object of his jealousy. Allaah commanded His Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) to seek refuge with Him from the envier...Everyone who puts the evil eye on another is envious, but not every envier puts the evil eye on another. The word haasid (envier) is more general in meaning than the word ‘aa’in (one who puts the evil eye on another), so seeking refuge with Allaah from the one who envies includes seeking refuge with Him from the one who puts the evil eye on another. The evil eye is like an arrow which comes from the soul of the one who envies and the one who puts the evil eye on another towards the one who is envied and on whom the evil eye is put; sometimes it hits him and sometimes it misses. If the target is exposed and unprotected, it will affect him, but if the target is cautious and armed, the arrow will have no effect and may even come back on the one who launched it.}} | ||
== Quran == | |||
=== Magic === | |||
The verse 113:4 (Those who blow on knots), is typically believed to be referring to those who practice magic,<ref>https://surahquran.com/english-aya-4-sora-113.html</ref><ref>https://versebyversequranstudycircle.wordpress.com/2012/07/23/tafseer-of-surah-al-falaq-part-4/</ref> with knots being commonly associated with magic in antiquity.<ref>https://www.jstor.org/stable/1520741</ref> | |||
{{Quote|{{Quran|113|1-5}}|1. Say: I seek refuge in the Lord of the dawn | |||
2. From the evil of what He has created | |||
3. And from the evil of the utterly dark night when it comes | |||
4. <b> And from the evil of those who blow on knots </b> | |||
5. And from the evil of the envious when he envies}} | |||
And verse 113:5 (evil of the envious when he envies) is believed to be referring to the 'The Evil Eye'.<ref>See tafsirs on [https://quranx.com/Tafsirs/113.5 ''verse 113:5'']</ref> | |||
Emran El-Badawi (2024)<ref>El-Badawi, Emran. Female Divinity in the Qur’an: In Conversation with the Bible and the Ancient Near East (p. 147 - 155). Springer Nature Switzerland. 2024. Kindle Edition. | |||
A PDF of the relevant pages can be read on an r/AcademicQuran post: ''[https://www.reddit.com/r/AcademicQuran/comments/1f0auhr/the_historical_context_of_surahs_113_and_114/ The historical context of Surahs 113 and 114].'' </ref> notes its link with previous superstitions around magic, with both the Qur'anic surah's 113 and 114 belonging to a genre of popular literature centered around magic protection from higher powers, which was prevalent in antiquity. The amulet, like many other magical artifacts from that time, includes invocations of multiple divinities or angels to maximize protection, a practice common in Syriac and Greco-Egyptian traditions, and there have been early Islamic papyri found as small amulets with these surah on.<ref>Ibid. pp. 152.</ref> However these Qur'anic amulets/phrases are distinct in their strict monotheism, invoking only the one God, unlike the multiple deities in earlier traditions. El-Badawi (2024) draws a link between these apotropaic readings and the protective role they play, emphasizing that the Qur'anic Surahs maintain a connection with this ancient tradition of seeking divine protection through sacred texts. | |||
At least once, angels ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harut_and_Marut#:~:text=Harut%20and%20Marut%20(Arabic%3A%20%D9%87%D9%8E%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%8F%D9%88%D9%92%D8%AA,Babylon%20and%20teach%20humans%20magic. Harut and Marut] are named in this verse) and satans (believed to be jinn) teach humans magic: | |||
{{Quote|{{Quran|2|102}}|and they follow what the Satans recited over Solomon's kingdom. Solomon disbelieved not, but the Satans disbelieved, <b>teaching the people sorcery,</b> and that which was sent down upon Babylon's two angels, Harut and Marut; they taught not any man, without they said, 'We are but a temptation; do not disbelieve.' From them they learned how they might divide a man and his wife, yet they did not hurt any man thereby, save by the leave of God, and they learned what hurt them, and did not profit them, knowing well that whoso buys it shall have no share in the world to come; evil then was that they sold themselves for, if they had but known.}}This verse also seems to imply that Jews would also perform this magic. | |||
{{Quote|<i>jinn, jinnah coll. {{!}} demons, jinn jānn {{!}} demon, jinni majnūn {{!}} jinn-possessed</i> Sinai, Nicolai. Key Terms of the Qur'an: A Critical Dictionary (p. 187). Princeton University Press. Kindle Edition.|An even more unequivocal Qur’anic rejection of magic—which can for present purposes be defined as the attempt to coerce superhuman powers other than God into serving human interests—emerges from an isolated Medinan resonance of the theme of Solomon’s association with powerful spirits. This is found in Q 2:102, containing the only Medinan reference to “the devils” (al-shayāṭīn) in the plural (see QP 193–196). Taken together with the preceding verse, Q 2:101, the passage accuses the Israelites (who are addressed from v. 83 onwards) of discarding “God’s scripture” in favour of “that which the devils recited during the reign of Solomon.”<sup>22</sup> “That which the devils recited” is sorcery, and by indicting the Israelites for preferring sorcery over revelation the verse polemically exploits what Crone calls the “well-attested phenomenon” of Jewish magic (QP 194–195).}} | |||
At least some Jinn appear to have magic powers able to transport King Solomon several hundred miles from Israel to Yemen in the blink of an eye.<ref>Maududi - Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi - Tafhim al-Qur'an [https://quranx.com/Tafsir/Maududi/27.38 (Tafsir on verses 27:38-14)] </ref> | |||
{{Quote|{{Quran|27|38-40}}|38. He said: O chiefs! Which of you will bring me her [the queen of Sheba's] throne before they come unto me, surrendering? | |||
39. A stalwart of the jinn said: I will bring it thee before thou canst rise from thy place. Lo! I verily am strong and trusty for such work. | |||
40. The one who had knowledge of the Book said, ‘I will bring it to you in the twinkling of an eye.’ So when he saw it set near him, he said, ‘This is by the grace of my Lord, to test me if I will give thanks or be ungrateful. Whoever gives thanks, gives thanks only for his own sake. And whoever is ungrateful [should know that] my Lord is indeed all-sufficient, all-generous.’}} | |||
And pharaoh has wizards in his employ in ancient Egypt, who's magic is overthrown by Moses's. | |||
{{Quote|{{Quran|7|109-120}}|Said the Council of the people of Pharaoh, 'Surely this man is a cunning sorcerer | |||
who desires to expel you from your land; what do you command?' | |||
They said, 'Put him and his brother off a while, and send among the cities musterers, | |||
to bring thee every cunning sorcerer.' | |||
And the sorcerers came to Pharaoh, saying, 'We shall surely have a wage, if we should be the victors?' | |||
He said, 'Yes, indeed; and you shall be among the near-stationed.' | |||
He said, “You throw”; when they threw, they cast a magic spell upon the people’s eyes and terrified them, and they brought a great magic. | |||
And We signalled to Moses: ‘Throw down your staff.’ And behold, it was swallowing what they had faked. | |||
So the truth came to pass, and false was proved what they were doing. | |||
So they were defeated there and returned humiliated. | |||
The sorcerers fell to the ground in homage,}} | |||
Verse 68:51 has also been taken by classical scholars to refer to the Evil Eye: | |||
{{Quote|{{Quran|68|51}}|And the Unbelievers would almost trip thee up with their eyes when they hear the Message; and they say: "Surely he is possessed!"}} | |||
Such as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Kathir Ibn Kathir's] prominent tafsir:<ref>https://quranx.com/Tafsir/Kathir/68.48</ref> | |||
{{Quote|[https://quranx.com/Tafsir/Kathir/68.48 Tafsir Ibn Kathir commentary for verse 68:48]|The Effect of the Evil Eye is Real. | |||
In this Ayah is a proof that the effect of the evil eye and its affliction by the command of Allah is real. Many Hadiths have been reported concerning this through numerous routes of transmission.}} | |||
==Hadith== | ==Hadith== | ||
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{{Quote|{{Muwatta|50|50|1|1}}|Yahya related to me from Malik that Muhammad ibn Abi Umama ibn Sahl ibn Hunayf heard his father say, "My father, Sahl ibn Hunayf did a ghusl at al-Kharrar. He removed the jubbah he had on while Amir ibn Rabia was watching, and Sahl was a man with beautiful white skin. Amir said to him, 'I have never seen anything like what I have seen today, not even the skin of a virgin.' Sahl fell ill on the spot, and his condition grew worse. Somebody went to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and told him that Sahl was ill, and could not go with him. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, came to him, and Sahl told him what had happened with Amir. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, ''''Why does one of you kill his brother? Why did you not say, "May Allah bless you?" (ta baraka-llah) The evil eye is true. Do wudu from it'''.' Amir did wudu from it and Sahl went with the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and there was nothing wrong with him." | {{Quote|{{Muwatta|50|50|1|1}}|Yahya related to me from Malik that Muhammad ibn Abi Umama ibn Sahl ibn Hunayf heard his father say, "My father, Sahl ibn Hunayf did a ghusl at al-Kharrar. He removed the jubbah he had on while Amir ibn Rabia was watching, and Sahl was a man with beautiful white skin. Amir said to him, 'I have never seen anything like what I have seen today, not even the skin of a virgin.' Sahl fell ill on the spot, and his condition grew worse. Somebody went to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and told him that Sahl was ill, and could not go with him. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, came to him, and Sahl told him what had happened with Amir. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, ''''Why does one of you kill his brother? Why did you not say, "May Allah bless you?" (ta baraka-llah) The evil eye is true. Do wudu from it'''.' Amir did wudu from it and Sahl went with the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and there was nothing wrong with him." | ||
}} | }}{{Quote|{{Bukhari|7|71|636}}|Narrated By Abu Huraira : The Prophet said, “The effect of an evil eye is a fact.” And he prohibited tattooing.}} | ||
=== '''The evil eye causes black spots, and a type of prayer (ruqya) can prevent it:'''<ref>https://simplyislam.academy/blog/what-is-ruqyah</ref> === | |||
{{Quote|{{Bukhari|7|71|634-635}}|Narrated by ‘Aisha: “The Prophet ordered me or somebody else to do Ruqya [recitation or incantation of the Qur’an for purposes of healing] (if there was danger) from an evil eye.” Narrated by Um Salama: That the Prophet saw in her house a girl whose face had a black spot. He said, “She is under the effect of an evil eye; so treat her with a Ruqya.”}} | |||
===Responsible for the deaths of many Muslims=== | ===Responsible for the deaths of many Muslims=== | ||
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The evil eye is responsible for the deaths of many Muslims (second only to the will of Allah). | The evil eye is responsible for the deaths of many Muslims (second only to the will of Allah). | ||
{{Quote||The | {{Quote|[https://www.abuaminaelias.com/dailyhadithonline/2021/04/20/death-by-nazar/ Hadith on ‘Ayn: Many Muslims die by the evil eye] | ||
|Jabir reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “A great many from my nation who die, after the judgment, decree, and providence of Allah, die by the evil eye.” Definition of the evil eye, and ways of protecting oneself against it and treating it] - Islam Q&A, Fatwa No. 20954</ref>}} | |||
===Muhammad was affected by the evil eye=== | ===Muhammad was affected by the evil eye=== | ||
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{{Quote|{{Al Tirmidhi||3|15|1460}}|Narrated Jundab: | {{Quote|{{Al Tirmidhi||3|15|1460}}|Narrated Jundab: | ||
That he heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) saying: "The punishment of the Sahir is a strike of the sword."}} | That he heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) saying: "The punishment of the Sahir(sorcerer/witch) is a strike of the sword."}} | ||
==Scholars== | ==Scholars== | ||
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==External Links== | ==External Links== | ||
*[ | *[http://www.islam-qa.com/en/cat/2013 Rulings on witchraft, the evil eye and destructive envy] ''- Islam Q&A'' | ||
[[Category:QHS]] | [[Category:QHS]] | ||
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[[Category:Sihr (Magic)]] | [[Category:Sihr (Magic)]] | ||
[[Category:Muhammad]] | [[Category:Muhammad]] | ||
[[ar:القرآن_والحديث_والعلماء:_السحر_والتنجيم]] | |||