Black Magic-Defined

What is the difference between black magic and white magic?  There is no difference!  All magic is black magic (except for fake magic such as misdirections or optical illusions).  The reality of magic involves seeking help from the jinn, which involves pleasing the jinn (i.e. worshipping them).  Therefore, all magic involves shirk!  The nature of jinns is they crave attention and adoration considering they somewhat suffer from an inferiority complex to humans.

The proofs that man is better than jinn include:

1. intelligence and knowledge
2. Shaytan having to prostrate to Adam (as)
3. jinn follow our civilizations and religions
4. the only time intentional encounters between jinn and man take place are during black magic
5. jinn cannot harm humans unless Allah wills it

Ibn Taymiyyah (rahmatullah) held the opinion that Shaytan is the father of all jinn (as Adam (as) is the father of all man).  Insha’Allah, in a future post, I will elaborate more on jinn as this post is intended more for magic.

What are the types of magic?  They involve summoning jinns to attach/kill other people or overtake their bodies, to break marriages or prevent/hinder intercourse, and to even blow on knots with incantations (Surat Falaq, 113).  Others try to use magic to fight magic by trying to lift spells while others use it as a form of fortune-telling to predict the future.

One must differentiate between astrology and astronomy.  Astronomy (a permissible field to study) is the science which maps the movement of the stars.  Astrology is the metaphysical craft that attempts to predict the future (zodiacal signs fall under this category).    What are the evils in visiting an astrologer or sorcerer?

• If you believe in what the fortune teller says, you claim that this person has knowledge of the unseen (an attribute of Allah), hence this is a form of shirk.
  • Proof:  Abu Hurayrah narrated, “Whoever comes to a soothsayer and believes what he says, or has intercourse with a woman in her back passage, has nothing to do with that which has been revealed to Muhammad (SAW)”  [Abu Dawud]
• If you do not believe in what the fortune-teller says, then your prayer is not accepted for forty days!
  • Proof: “Whoever went to a fortune-teller and asked about some matter (of the unseen) and believes him, his prayer will not be accepted for forty days” [Muslim] (I believe another narration exists that does not mention the “believes him” part, however, I was unable to locate this hadith, today.  Insha’Allah, I will update this.

Now, we understand the dangers of never going to a soothsayer or a fortune-teller.  Now consider, if we were to phone the fortune-teller?  There is agreement that this is still not acceptable, correct?  What if we were to email or snail mail the fortune-teller for advice?  Still, no good, right?  What if the fortune-teller was send us his opinions on a small piece of paper wrapped up in a cookie?  Do we understand now the fitnah of fortune cookies?  Therefore, insha’Allah, we must never read fortune-cookies or our zodiac signs, even if it is for fun.  It is still haram, even if we do not believe in the contents in which we are reading.  I personally eat my fortune cookies, I am just careful not to read its contents.

Well, one may ask, I’m just doing magic or astrology for the fun of it.  To them, we should respond that one’s heart can become attached to this practice, instead of to Allah.  One may therefore start believing others know of ilm al-ghayb (unseen future).  In case of magicians, one may believe that they have power to bring good/evil.  Allah (SWT) and His messenger (SAW) have clearly prohibited these actions.  It is haram to even read about black magic.

To conclude, I would like to end with two hadith.  One in which Rasoolullah (SAW) told us to avoid the seven deadly sins.  After shirk, magic was listed second in a hadith found in Bukhari.  The second hadith worth mentioning is that whoever has done magic has done shirk (found in Nisa’i).